City of Calhoun v. Holland

• Decision Date: 23 November 1966
• Docket Number: No. 23700,23700
• Citation: City of Calhoun v. Holland, 152 S.E.2d 752, 222 Ga. 817 (Ga. 1966)
• Parties: CITY OF CALHOUN v. Mrs. Beulah HOLLAND.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 752

152 S.E.2d 752

222 Ga. 817

CITY OF CALHOUN v. Mrs. Beulah HOLLAND.

No. 23700.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

Nov. 23, 1966.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 14, 1966.

Syllabus by the Court

The governing officials of a municipal corporation have no right to waive the provisions of Code Ann. § 69-308, in regard to the presentation of written notice of a claim against the corporation within six months of the happening of the event upon which the claim is predicated, and the municipality can not be estopped by the representations of its governing officials to a claimant that the claim will be settled without litigation.

T. L. Shanahan, Calhoun, Warren Akin, Cartersville, for appellant.

Harbin M. King, Calhoun, for appellee.

COOK, Justice.

This court granted certiorari to review the ruling by the Court of Appeals in Holland v. City of Calhoun, 114 Ga.App. 51, 150 S.E.2d 155, summarized in Headnote 1 as follows: 'Where the plaintiff appeared twice before the governing authority of the municipality to present her claim for injuries, and was assured that the city would wait until her medical information was complete and would then settle the claim, the fact that notice in writing was not given until more than six months had elapsed does not under these facts bar the prosecution of the suit.' A statement of the facts necessary to an understanding of the case appears in the opinion by the Court of Appeals.

Code Ann. § 69-308 provides in part: 'No person, firm or corporation, having a claim for money damages against any municipal corporation on account of injuries to person or property, shall bring any suit at law or equity against said municipal corporation for the same, without first, and within six months of the happening of the event upon which such claim is predicated, presenting in writing such claim to the governing authority of said municipality for adjustment, stating the time, place, and extent of such injury, as nearly as practicable, and the negligence which caused the same, and no such suit shall be entertained by the court against such municipality until the cause of action therein shall have been first presented to said governing authority, for adjustment * * *'

The Court of Appeals, in the body of the opinion, held: 'The maintenance of a water system is a proprietary, private and governmental function of the municipal corporation as to the acts in the performance of which an equitable estoppel or estoppel in pais may be applied as though it were a private corporation.' Four cases by this court are cited in support of this ruling, as follows: City of Atlanta v. Gate City Gas Light Co., 71 Ga. 106; Mayor, etc., of City of Athens v. Georgia R.R., 72 Ga. 800; City of Jefferson v. Holder, 195 Ga. 346, 24 S.E.2d 187; and City of Summerville v. Georgia Power Co., 205 Ga. 843(2), 55 S.E.2d 540.

While these cases hold that a municipal corporation, under some circumstances,...