Housing Authority of City of Douglas v. Marbut Co., 46818

• Decision Date: 20 October 1972
• Docket Number: No. 2,No. 46818,46818,2
• Parties: HOUSING AUTHORITY OF CITY OF DOUGLAS v. MARBUT COMPANY
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 574

193 S.E.2d 574

127 Ga.App. 379

HOUSING AUTHORITY OF CITY OF DOUGLAS v. MARBUT COMPANY.

No. 46818.

Court of Appeals of Georgia, Division No. 2.

Oct. 20, 1972.

E. R. Smith, Jr., Douglas, for appellant.

H. J. Quincey, Douglas, Martin, Snow, Grant & Napier, Cubbedge Snow, Macon, for appellee.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court

PANNELL, Judge.

The question raised here on appeal from a judgment in favor of a materialman against the Housing Authority of the City of Douglas is whether the Housing Authority is bound by the provisions of Code §§ 23-1705 and 23-1706, so as to be liable to materialmen for supplies furnished to a contractor who contracted with the Authority for the furnishing and installing of new sinks and water heaters in an existing building owned by the Authority where the contract price was in excess of $1,000 and the Authority failed to require or secure a payment bond from the contractor for the use of subcontractors and materialmen. Held.

1. Code § 23-1705, insofar as material here reads as follows: 'No contract with this State, a county, municipal corporation, or any other public board or body thereof, for the doing of any public work shall be valid for any purpose, unless the contractor shall give: . . . (2) A payment bond with good and sufficient surety or sureties, payable to the State, county, municipal corporation, or public board or body thereof for which the work is to be done, and for the use and protection of all subcontractors and all persons supplying labor, materials, machinery, and equipment in the prosecution of the work provided for in said contract. The payment bond shall be in the amount of at least the total amount payable by the terms of the contract. (3) Provided, however, that this section shall not apply where the total contract price does not exceed $1,000.' (Ga.L.1910, p. 86; 1916, pp. 94, 95; 1956, p. 340.)

Code § 23-1706 reads in part as follows: 'If such payment bond, together with affidavit when necessary, shall not be taken in manner and form as herein required, the corporation or body for which work is done under the contract shall be liable to all subcontractors and to all persons furnishing labor, skill, tools, machinery or materials to the contractor or subcontractor, for any loss resulting to them for such failure.' Section 8 of the Housing Authority's law (Ga.L.1937, pp. 210, 218; Code Ann. § 99-1115) provides: 'An Authority shall constitute a public body corporate and politic, exercising public and essential governmental functions, and having all the powers necessary or convenient to carry out and effectuate the purposes and provisions of this Chapter, . . .' The Housing Authority of the City of Douglas is a public body within the meaning of Code Section § 23-1705 (Culbreth v. Southwest Ga. Regional Housing Authority, 199 Ga. 183, 189, 33 S.E.2d 684; Williamson v. Housing Authority of Augusta et al., 186 Ga. 673, 691, 199 S.E. 43) unless there is some other provision of law excepting it from the operation of this Code Secti...