Allen v. Stephens

• Decision Date: 10 August 1897
• Citation: 102 Ga. 596,29 S.E. 443
• Parties: ALLEN et al. v. STEPHENS.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

29 S.E. 443

102 Ga. 596

ALLEN et al.

v.STEPHENS.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Aug. 10, 1897.

Limitations—Accrual of Cause of Action.

1. As a general rule, "where a right depends upon some condition or contingency, the cause of action accrues, and the statute runs only from the fulfillment of the condition or contingency." This is true because "it is a general rule of law that, if a plaintiff sues on a cause of action, he must recover, once for all, all damages incident to it, past, present, and future, certain or contingent." 13 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law, pp. 720-

2. Accordingly, where a party's right to recover a greater or less fractional part of a sum of money in the hands of another depended up on whether a widow did or did not marry before she died, he was not bound to sue until she either married or died, and therefore the statute of limitations did not begin to run against him until the happening of one or the other of these events. (Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from superior court, Carroll county; S. W. Harris, Judge.

Action by A. W. Allen and others against Josie Stephens. Defendant had judgment, and plaintiffs bring error. Reversed.

Cobb & Bro., Oscar Reese, and John T. Pendleton, for plaintiffs in error.

Adamson & Jackson, for defendant in error.

PER CURIAM. Judgment reversed.