Bailey v. Williams, 20635

• Decision Date: 09 October 1959
• Docket Number: No. 20635,20635
• Parties: Mrs. Dock BAILEY et al. v. W. Morgan WILLIAMS, Jr., Adm'r, et al.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 673

110 S.E.2d 673

215 Ga. 395

Mrs. Dock BAILEY et al. v. W. Morgan WILLIAMS, Jr., Adm'r, et al.

No. 20635.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Oct. 9, 1959.

Syllabus by the Court.

The judgment of the trial court sustaining a general demurrer to the petition in this case was not error for any reason assigned.

Mrs. Dock Bailey, Rosa Lee Hicks, Laura Bailey Freeman, Beverly Bailey, Mrs. Inez Bailey Holden, Mrs. Billie Dean Bailey Hembree, Mrs. Jo Ann Prickett, and Mrs. Betty Sue Bailey Crump filed their suit in equity against W. Morgan Williams, Jr., administrator of the estate of W. Morgan Williams, Sr., and Thomas Irwin. The allegations of the petition were in substance that on June 8, 1956, the plaintiffs signed a deed conveying to Thomas Irwin their undivided interest in described land; that thereafter Thomas Irwin conveyed a one-half undivided interest in said land to W. Morgan Williams, Sr.; that partitioning proceedings are pending involving said land, to which the petitioners are not parties and of which they received no notice; that Rosa Lee Hicks is a minor; that Mrs. Billie Dean Bailey did not sign her name to the deed, and that her name was not signed by anyone in her presence. It was alleged that the money received by the plaintiffs above named had been tendered to the above named defendants. The petition further alleges as follows: 'That plaintiffs were totally unfamiliar with said tract of land and did not actually know where said land was located, and had never been on it or seen it; that plaintiff Mrs. Dock Bailey is the widow of Dock Bailey, and the remaining plaintiffs are their children; that all of them were born and raised on the farm and all have limited education; that none of them are familiar with transactions involving the values and conveyance of real estate and timber lands; that none of them have had business experience of any consequence, and that there is a decided and great disparity of mental ability in contracting a bargain as compared with that of the defendants in this case, all of which was well known to the defendants in this case at the time.

'That plaintiffs received for their interest in said land the total sum of Four Hundred ($400.00) Dollars, coupled with the agreement on the part of the defendants that they would pay the past due taxes chargeable to their one-eighth interest in the above tract of land. The defendants then and there represented to the plaintiffs that the others interested in said property had agreed to sell their interest for this amount. Plaintiffs further say that as a matter of fact, the defendants were businessmen, familiar with the value of real estate and timber lands, such as plaintiffs have since found this tract of land to be, and they had inspected said land and knew that it was solidly covered with merchantable saw timber and pulpwood and that it was worth many times what they paid plaintiffs, and plaintiffs were deceived and defrauded thereby and were overreached in said matter, the defendants knowing and plaintiffs being unaware of the value of said land, heavily timbered as it was, was well worth over Twenty Thousand ($20,000.00) Dollars.'

The prayers of the petition were that the partitioning proceedings be enjoined; that the deed executed by the plaintiffs be canceled; and that the plaintiffs have damages and general relief. A general demurrer to the petition was sustained as to all the plaintiffs except Rosa Lee Hicks and Mrs. Billie Dean Bailey, and the temporary restraining order as to the partitioning proceeding was dissolved except as to the above-named two plaintiffs. These two plaintiffs are not parties in this court. The exception here is to the judgment sustaining the general demurrer and dissolving...