Bacon v. Edwards
| Decision Date | 08 April 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 29559,29559 |
| Parties | Ollie BACON et al. v. Dorsey EDWARDS et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Elkins, Flournoy & Garner, T. M. Flournoy, Jr., Columbus, for appellants.
T. Edward Tante, IV, Vincent P. McCauley, Columbus, for appellees.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
This is an appeal from a judgment based on a jury verdict that permanently enjoined appellants from violating restrictive covenants in a subdivision. The only issue on appeal is whether a judgment in favor of the appellees was barred by laches.
The judgment appealed from reads:
'Now it is ordered, adjudged and decreed that the defendants, Ollie Bacon and Eddie Bacon are hereby permanently enjoined from allowing that certain building presently on lot 2, block (d), Lokey Estates Subdivision, Columbus, Georgia, to remain on the said property, since the same building has been found to be in violation with the covenants and restrictions applicable to lots located in the said subdivision, said covenants and restrictions being set forth on a map and plat of the said subdivision recorded in Deed Book 35, pp. 90-A and 90-B in the office of the Clerk of the Superior Court of Muscogee County, Georgia.'
Appellees own a house and lot in a subdivision, and appellants own a lot which is adjacent to that of the appellees. On May 17, 1974, the appellees filed their complaint seeking to enjoin the appellants from violating restrictive covenants applicable to the lot adjacent to them. A temporary restraining order was granted and was continued as an interlocutory injunction. The appellants presented several defenses in responsive pleadings, including the defense of laches. The case was then tried before a jury; appellants moved for a directed verdict on laches, but this motion was denied; the jury returned a verdict for appellees; the judgment set forth above was entered on the verdict; and a motion for a new trial was denied by the trial judge.
Appellants have enumerated three errors under which they argue only one point: The evidence shows laches as a matter of law so that a verdict should have been directed in their favor.
The evidence in the case, construed favorably for the appellees, shows the following: Appellees purchased their lot in 1966; at that time, they familiarized themselves generally with the restrictive covenants on the subdivision; the covenants provided that they could be enforced by injunction; during the early fall of 1973, appellants began constructions on their lot of a small building (18 34 ); the first stage of construction consisted of laying out 'batter boards' to mark the corners and digging out an area for the foundation; the digging came to within five feet of appellees' property; the construction site was in plain view of the appellees' house; appellees noticed the digging during the fall of 1973, but they took no action at that time; they were concerned, but they wanted no trouble with their neighbors and assumed that the architectural committee of the subdivision would prevent any violations of the restrictive covenants; by February, 1974, appellants had completed the necessary excavation, footings, a brick foundation, a concrete slab, and a portion of the studs for the walls; in late February, appellees voiced an objection to the appellants' construction on the ground that the new building would destroy the value of appellees' property; appellees were told that if they didn't like it they could move; the same day that they voiced the objection, appellees contacted the real estate agent through whom they had purchased the property; within a day or two, they acquired a copy of the restrictive covenants; appellees then contacted a city building inspector, who inspected the site but took no action; ten or twelve days later, appellees contacted a lawyer; the first lawyer sent them to a second lawyer who sent them to a second city official; that official inspected the property but did not resolve the problem; appellees then contacted a third lawyer, who sent them to a fourth lawyer, who finally filed the present suit on May 17, 1974; and by that time, the appellants' building had been ninety per cent completed at a cost of about $2,000 plus many hours of appellants' labor.
It is well settled by numerous decisions of this court that the extraordinary equitable relief of injunction will be denied a party where, with full knowledge of his rights, he has been guilty of delay in asserting them, and has allowed large expenditures to be made by another party on whom great injury would be inflicted by the grant of the injunction. Davies v. Curry, 230 Ga. 190, 196 S.E.2d 382 (1973); Bales v. Duncan, 231 Ga. 813, 204 S.E.2d 104 (1974); Holt v. Parsons, 118 Ga. 895, 45 S.E. 690 (1903); Black v....
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...submitted to a jury. Davidson Mineral Properties v. Gifford-Hill & Co., 235 Ga. 176, 178, 219 S.E.2d 133 (1975); Bacon v. Edwards, 234 Ga. 100, 103, 214 S.E.2d 539 (1975); Jackson v. Chatham County, 225 Ga. 641, 645, 170 S.E.2d 418 (1969). 21. 263 Ga. at 66-67, 428 S.E.2d 328. 22. See Dobbs......
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...failed to act, for the restrictive covenants expressly give the right to enforcement at law. The statement in Bacon v. Edwards, 234 Ga. 100, 103, 214 S.E.2d 539, that "[a] mere objection or protest, or a mere threat to take legal proceedings is not sufficient to exclude consequences of lach......
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