16 Ga. App. 480 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1915
The Political Code, § 910, provides that “no person, firm or corporation, having a claim for money damages against any municipal corporation of this State on account of injuries to person or property, shall bring any suit at law or equity against said municipal corporation for the same, without first presenting in writing such claim to the governing authority of said municipality for adjustment, stating the time, place, and extent of such injury, as near as practicable, and the negligence which caused the same, and no such suit shall be entertained by the courts against such municipality until the cause of action therein has been first presented to said governing authority for adjustment.” It has been many times decided by the Supreme Court and this court that a substantial compliance with these requirements is all that is necessary, since the object of the notice therein provided for is to put the municipal corporation in possession of such facts as will enable it to investigate the actual merits of the claim and to determine whether to pay it. In Langley v. Augusta, 118 Ga. 590-
The paper which this section of the code requires to be presented is there designated as “a claim for money damages;” and a claim for money should state the amount of money claimed. One of the things required by this section is a statement of the “extent” of the injury. The reason for this requirement is obvious. The object and purpose of the statute was to require such information as would apprize the governing authority of the municipality of the amount of the claim and enable the proper officials to investigate the injury complained of and determine whether or not to adjust the demand without suit. It can readily be seen that if no specific amount of damages is claimed in the notice or demand, it would be impossible for the city, acting through the proper officials, to determine whether or not the demand is reasonable or excessive,
In conformity with the view expressed above, this court in Smith v. Elberton, 5 Ga. App. 286 (63 S. E. 48), said that “notice of the time, place, and extent of the injury to person or property, claimed to have been inflicted by the corporation, and the amount of the damages claimed, shall be .given to its officers.” In Kennedy v. Savannah, 8 Ga. App. 98 (68 S. E. 652), this court held that a notice which described certain personal injuries suffered by the plaintiff by a fall, whereby he incurred a- doctor’s bill of $150, hospital fees of $30, and was permanently injured as therein described,
The notice given to the governing authority of the city of Macon in this case sets out the time, the place, and the nature of the alleged injury, but fails to set out the “extent” of the injury, or claim any specified amount as damages, or indicate for what maximum amount the injury could be compensated. The court therefore erred in overruling the demurrer.
Since our holding will necessarily result in dismissal of-the suit, the remaining questions raised by the demurrer need not be now considered. Judgment reversed.