53 Ga. App. 329 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1936
Huckabee Automobile Company, as conditional vendor of a Buick automobile in the possession of Thomas Gibson as conditional vendee, sued George I. Bentz and E. C. Franklin for damages to the car caused by their alleged negligence. The petition alleged the original contract price of the automobile to be $1745, and that on October 7, 1933, the date of the injury thereto by the defendants, there remained a balance due on said contract of approximately $480. The petition further alleged that as a result of the injury to the car it was necessary to expend $136.95 for repairs, and that in addition to this specific damage the automobile, before the alleged injury, was of the value of $950 and by reason of said injury it had depreciated in value, not in excess of $700. The petition set the total amount of damages at $386.95. The defendant filed a demurrer to the petition, on the grounds that it “sets forth no cause of action against these defendants,” and that it “affirmatively shows that plaintiff herein has not been damaged by the alleged acts of negligence of the defendants.” In the municipal court the demurrer was upheld. On certiorari to the superior court that judgment was held erroneous, and the case is here to test the correctness of that ruling.
The argument of the plaintiff in error may be stated thus: Where property is sold under a conditional-sale contract, and while in this status is injured by the negligent acts of a third party, the conditional vendor has no right of action therefor against such third party, if the value of the property after the injury exceeds the necessary expenditure made in repairing the property plus the balance due on the conditional-sale contract. Concretely applied, defendant says that when the amount of repairs, $136.95, is added to the $480 balance due the plaintiff on the contract, it is less than the alleged value of the car after the wreck, and that therefore his interest is amply protected by security and he has shown no injury to himself. Such an argument can not be upheld. In this State, either the conditional vendor or vendee of property may bring an action for the recovery of damages to such property, caused by the negligent acts of a third party. In the event of a
Judgment affirmed.