180 Ga. 90 | Ga. | 1935
As appears upon a review of the pleadings and the evidence in this case, the prayers for equitable relief are based upon the contention that the assessment of more than $16,000, made by the commissioners of roads and revenues of Chattooga County in 1928 for bridge funds, was unauthorized and in violation of section 514 of the Civil Code of 1910, which requires that in the assessment of county taxes the several levies for county purposes must be specifically allocated. See also Sullivan v. Yow, 125 Ga. 326 (54 S. E. 173). The plaintiffs in their petition and evidence and argument contend that it was not the intention to apply the assessment of four mills upon the taxable property of Chattooga County to the building or repair of bridges as set forth in the assessment, but on the contrary the assessment levied was merely a colorable transaction to place the money extracted by levy from the taxpayers’ pockets to the road fund and maintenance of a county chain-gang, by the accumulation of a surplus which, at the end of the fiscal year, would go into the general funds of the county applicable to any of the purposes for which county taxes may be levied. The defendants contend that the assessment was authorized by law in the circumstances of the case. At the conclusion of the
We do not lose sight of the fact that this court, from its earliest history, has been inclined to leave the solution of any contested issue of fact to the unhampered determination of a jury, and the precious privilege of trial by -jury would be indeed but a hollow mockery were any other rule than this observed. The Code, however, recognizes that there are instances in which it is entirely proper for the court to direct a verdict. Section 5926 declares: “Where there is no conflict in the evidence, and that introduced with all reasonable deductions or inferences therefrom demands a particular verdict, the court may direct the jury to find for the party entitled thereto.” The court can not direct a verdict where there is any inference supported by the evidence which would authorize a verdict to the contrary. “The mere fact that there are conflicts in the testimony does not render the direction of a verdict in favor of a party erroneous, when it appears that the conflicts are immaterial, and that, giving to the opposite party the benefit of the most favorable view of the evidence as a whole and of all legitimate inferences therefrom, the verdict against him is demanded.” Sanders Manufacturing Co. v. Dollar Savings Bank, 110 Ga. 559 (2) (35 S. E. 777); Skinner v. Braswell, 126 Ga. 761 (2) (55 S. E. 914). See Cook v. Washington, 166 Ga. 329 (143 S. E. 409). If, under the rules of law, the evidence which is pre
We are of the opinion that the judge in the present instance did not err in the direction of a verdict in this case. There is no evidence that contradicts the testimony offered by the defendants that at the time the assessment was made in August, 1938, the board of commissioners of Chattooga County had contracted with the State Highway Board to build a road from Summerville to Eome, which would cross the Chattooga Eiver, and which under the agreement was to be bridged by a concrete bridge to be erected, as was the road to be constructed, upon a 35-75 per cent, basis. At the time the estimate was made the exact cost of the bridge and its necessary approaches could not be precisely determined, but it was known that the bridge would cost upwards of $31,000. The one-fourth cost of the bridge, as finally ascertained, was $8710.58. For this amount the county, under its contract, was clearly liable, and it was right and proper for the county authorities, by assessment of taxes for bridge funds, to raise the money with which to discharge the obligation of the county. There is no contradiction of the evidence to the effect that the county’s ordinary liabilities for the repair and painting of bridges for the year 1938 amounted to some $3300. There is no contradiction of the evidence that the county commissioners had for some time intended and discussed the removal of another bridge, known as the Trion bridge, which might cost between $3000 and $4000. The $8700 to be paid as the county’s part of the new concrete bridge, and the $3300 actually expended upon numerous bridges during the year 1938, and $3500 (the average between the $3000 and $4000 estimates) for the removal of the Trion bridge, would amount to over $15,000. The amount which the 4-mill assessment made in August, 1938, was estimated to raise was $16,343.70. As said by Mr. Justice Hill in Vornberg v. Dunn, 143 Ga. 111 (84 S. E. 370) : “We can not say, as a matter of law, that the margin is too great for these pur
Learned counsel for the plaintiffs say, in their brief: “We rely solely [italics ours] upon the decision in this case rendered by this
Judgment affirmed.