Hopkins v. City of Atlanta
| Decision Date | 17 February 1931 |
| Docket Number | 7905. |
| Citation | 157 S.E. 473,172 Ga. 254 |
| Parties | HOPKINS v. CITY OF ATLANTA et al. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Syllabus by Editorial Staff.
Persons whose separate acts of negligence combine to produce single injury may be sued jointly, though owing different duties toward plaintiff.
Party injured by concurring negligence of two tort-feasors may maintain joint or several suit against tort-feasors.
Petition by purchaser against vendors and city as joint tort-feasors for injury sustained by collapse of sewer under lot did not misjoin causes of action.
Purchaser erecting house on lot sued city and vendors as joint tort-feasors for injuries caused by collapse of sewer under lot. Petition alleged that sewer was built by vendor twenty years ago in bottom of ravine which traversed lot; that vendor without properly protecting or strengthening sewer permitted horses and wagons to drive over it; that city tapped onto sewer which later collapsed, and used same for drainage from street for distance of two blocks, and in addition issued permits for residents to tap water, utilizing it for sewage and drainage; that, as result of collapse ground gave way under foundations of house, causing damage.
Corporation held not chargeable with fraud of president acting individually for own profit without contemplating profit to corporation.
Error from Superior Court, Fulton County; Virlyn B. Moore, Judge.
Petition by P. B. Hopkins against the City of Atlanta and others. To review the judgment, plaintiff brings error.
Reversed in part and affirmed in part.
Etheridge Peck & Etheridge, of Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.
J. L Mayson, C. S. Winn, J. C. Savage, J. W. De Loach, Tye, Thomson & Tye, Hewlett & Dennis, and Lovick G. Fortson, all of Atlanta, for defendants in error.
Syllabus OPINION.
P. B. Hopkins filed a petition to recover for damages against the city of Atlanta, W. J. Davis, and E. O. Kellum, joint tort-feasors, and to enjoin S. B. Karp and the Atlanta Banking & Savings Company from proceeding with three actions brought by them against Hopkins (the facts which gave rise to the damage having been pleaded as a defense to said actions), and asking that all these actions be consolidated and tried as one case, to avoid a multiplicity of suits, as the same facts would determine the outcome of all said cases.
P. B Hopkins, a contractor, erected a house on a lot on Glen Iris drive, Atlanta, Ga., which was purchased by him under a contract with W. J. Davis and E. O. Kellum, owners, which contract provided for deferred payments for the sale of the lot and required the plaintiff to erect a house thereon. The contract further provided that Davis and Kellum would procure a first loan on the house when completed, and Davis, for the Atlanta Banking & Savings Company, of which he was president, further agreed that, upon the completion and sale of the house, that company would buy the notes given for the purchase of the house, and out of the proceeds make the deferred payments due Davis and Kellum on the lot, which agreement was fully consummated. Davis procured a first loan on the premises from Atlanta Banking & SavingsCompany, and for that company purchased the notes of S. B. Karp, who bought the house from the plaintiff; the company disbursing the proceeds of both loans and paying the amount of the first loan for labor and materials entering into the house, and out of the proceeds of the purchase-money notes paid Davis and Kellum for the deferred amounts due on the lot. Thereafter there was a cave-in and collapse of the front yard of the house, and plaintiff discovered for the first time that there was a sewer about thirty feet underground running through the lot and under the house, which had collapsed and washed the dirt away up to the surface, causing the cave-in. Plaintiff alleged, on information and belief, that this sewer was built by W. J. Davis about twenty years ago in the bottom of a ravine which traversed this lot from...
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Hopkins v. City Of Atlanta, 7905.
...172 Ga. 254157 S.E. 473HOPKINS.v.CITY OF ATLANTA et al.No. 7905.Supreme Court of Georgia.Feb. 17, 1931.Syllabus by Editorial Staff. Purchaser erecting house on lot sued city and vendors as joint tort-feasors for injuries caused by collapse of sewer under lot. Petition alleged that sewer was......