Fulton County v. Gordon Water Co, (No. 17980.)

• Decision Date: 14 October 1927
• Docket Number: (No. 17980.)
• Citation: 140 S.E. 45,37 Ga.App. 290
• Parties: FULTON COUNTY. v. GORDON WATER CO.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

37 Ga.App. 290

140 S.E. 45

FULTON COUNTY.

v.GORDON WATER CO.

(No. 17980.)

Court of Appeals of Georgia,

Division No. 2.

Oct. 14, 1927.

(Syllabus by Editorial Staff.)

Error from City Court of Atlanta; Hugh M. Dorsey, Judge.

Action by the Gordon Water Company against Fulton County. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant brings error. Affirmed.

Ralph H. Pharr and Dorsey, Shelton & Dorsey, all of Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.

Levi O'Steen and Craighead & Craighead, all of Atlanta, for defendant in error.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court.

JENKINS, P. J. [1-3] 1. "A county is not liable to suit for any cause of action unless made so by statute." Civ. Code 1910, § 384. The petition in a suit brought against a county must indicate that the liability sought to be established comes within the provisions of this rule. Seymore v. Elbert County, 116 Ga. 371, 42 S. E. 727. Such liability to suit may be shown by indicating that the claim arises by reason of the taking of private property by county authorities for the benefit of the public (Bates v. Madison County, 32 Ga. App. 370, 123 S. E. 158), or by county authorities as an incident in the performance of an undertaking by the county authorized by statute. Accordingly, where it appears that the county of Fulton is the owner of property adjacent to property owned by the state, both premises lying beyond the limits of the city of Atlanta, and the state, by legislative enactment, appropriates a sumof money to defray a portion of the expense necessary "for the purpose of extending the water mains of the city of Atlanta, in connection with the county of Pulton, to the property of the Georgia Training School for Girls, and the adjacent property of the county of Fulton" (Ga. Laws 1924, p. 19), such sum to be expended under "an agreement between Fulton county and city of Atlanta and board of managers of Georgia Training School for Girls, " and where, pursuant to the terms of that act and the provisions stipulated therein the county authorities, under a contract entered into with such board of managers, proceed to the construction of a water main leading from such premises owned by the state, adjacent to the premises owned by the county, so as to connect with the water system of the city of Atlanta, and in so doing connect that main with a privately owned water main intervening between the property described and the water system of the city of Atlanta, so as to make use of such privately owned water main for a portion of the...