Jim Walter Corp. v. Ward

• Decision Date: 26 September 1979
• Docket Number: No. 57337,57337
• Parties: JIM WALTER CORPORATION et al. v. WARD et al.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

Page 159

258 S.E.2d 159

150 Ga.App. 484

JIM WALTER CORPORATION et al. v. WARD et al.

No. 57337.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

Argued March 7, 1979.

Decided June 5, 1979.

Rehearing Denied June 28, 1979.

Certiorari Granted Sept. 26, 1979.

Edwin F. Hunt, Atlanta, Groover & Childs, Denmark Groover, Jr., Macon, Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan, D. Robert Cumming, Jr., Thomas A. Cox, Atlanta, for appellants.

James, Ship & Wilcox, John E. James, Tommy Day Wilcox, O'Neal, Stone & Brown, H. T. O'Neal, Jr., Manley F. Brown, Macon, Alston, Miller & Gaines, G. Conley Ingram, Dana D. Lamer, Atlanta, for appellees.

McMURRAY, Presiding Judge.

We are concerned here with two shell structures or "prefabricated houses" which were constructed in 1969 on two tracts of land in Houston County, Georgia. One of these properties was owned by Willie Ward and the other was owned by Bertha Williams and Johnnie Mae Williams, jointly. Both Willie Ward and Bertha Williams contend that they did not purchase and did not want these shell dwellings constructed on their respective properties.

In 1969 a transfer of property was recorded from Bertha and Johnnie Mae Williams to Roosevelt Williams and the separate loan deeds and notes were made from both Roosevelt Williams as to one property and Willie Ward, Sr. as to the other, to Jim Walter Corporation, a Florida corporation. Other papers were also allegedly signed by these individuals as to the purchase and financing of these prefabricated structures, as well as the obtaining of hazard insurance from Best Insurors, Inc. in favor of Jim Walter Corporation. Subsequent thereto, for value received, the right, title and interest of Jim Walter Corporation in these loans and security deeds were transferred to Mid-State Homes, Inc., another Florida corporation. Jim Walter Corporation owns all of the stock of Best Insurors, Inc., and Mid-State Homes, Inc.

On June 21, 1978, Willie Ward and Bertha Williams brought this action involving conspiracy, fraud and forgery in the State Court of Bibb County in two separate counts (one as to Willie Ward and one as to Bertha Williams) against Jim Walter Corporation, Mid-State Homes, Inc., Freda Herndon, Pinky Corse, James Locke and Paul M. Shelton.

Count 1 alleges, with reference to plaintiff Willie Ward, that "the defendants, tacitly and by indirection, confederated together and combined and conspired and made common cause to perpetuate frauds" in attempting to sell plaintiff Ward a prefabricated structure for use on property described therein belonging to Ward, alleged to be blind and illiterate. Ward alleges and contends that he did not want the shell structure but that it was left there while he was absent from home. He contends that defendant Corse "working in combination with some of the other conspirators" forged his name on a security deed evidencing a purported indebtedness to the defendant Jim Walter Corporation in the amount of $10,440 which was unknown to him. Other papers were also alleged to have been forged with reference to this transaction. In furtherance of the conspiracy the fraudulent deed was recorded and thereafter fraudulently conveyed, sold and assigned and transferred to defendant Mid-State Homes, Inc. Plaintiff Ward further alleges: he had never heard of a security deed and did not know the meaning of the term. He did not have the slightest suspicion that his name had been forged on any such instrument but that the defendants and their agents thereafter threatened him with information that they possessed the power and authority to sell his land on the courthouse steps and throw him and his family off of it; he has lived in constant fear of the defendants since about November 1, 1969, and as a result of defendants' continuous threats of eviction has made payments to them in an amount not less than $7,663. Sometime in June, 1977, he learned of the forged instruments and has not paid any of the defendants anything since learning of same. Attempts were then made on or about June 10, 1978, by the defendant Paul M. Shelton to get him to execute a new security deed and note then and there presented to him by defendant Shelton who advised him that the defendants knew the original papers were forgeries. Plaintiff Ward contends he tendered back to defendants, Jim Walter Corporation and Mid-State Homes, Inc., the structure placed on his premises in 1969. He contends he is entitled to recover of the defendants $7,663, this being the amount in which he has been defrauded by reason of fraudulent, illegal and oppressive conduct; and in addition, he seeks punitive damages in the amount of $150,000 to deter the defendants from ever again repeating the trespass.

In Count 2 plaintiff Bertha Williams alleges that the defendants "tacitly and by indirection, confederated together and combined and conspired and made common cause to perpetrate frauds" upon her in placing a similar structure on a small tract of land that she owned along with Johnnie Mae Williams. She alleges that one of the defendants, while unknown to her, put a nine-year-old child up to forging the names of Johnnie Mae Williams and Bertha Williams on a warranty deed conveying their property to one Roosevelt Williams. In furtherance of the conspiracy the fraudulent deed was attested as signed in the presence of a notary public in order that it be placed of record, and the fraudulent deed was subsequently recorded. The defendants then caused the minor child to forge the name of Roosevelt Williams on the security deed which was also fraudulently attested as executed by a notary public thus enabling it to be placed of record. The defendants then caused said fraudulent security deed to be recorded and thereafter transferred by defendant Jim Walter Corporation to defendant Mid-State Homes, Inc. The shell home was then hauled on her property against her wishes and the same name of Roosevelt Williams was then forged as to written authorization for the purpose of fire insurance on the structure. Plaintiff Williams then alleges she has been constantly pressured and harassed since 1969 to pay for said structure and for heavy fire insurance premiums by certain agents of the defendants, verily believing that the defendants had the power and authority to evict her and remove her from her premises. As a result of her fear that the defendants would carry out their threats to do this she has paid them a sum of not less than $4,203.60. She alleges that she did not learn of the forged instruments until shortly before the filing of this lawsuit and she has not paid the defendants anything since learning of the fraud. Plaintiff Williams contends she has tendered back to the defendants, Jim Walter Corporation and Mid-State Homes, Inc., the structure placed on her premises in 1969 and that she is entitled to recover from the defendants $4,203.60 which is the amount that she has been defrauded by them. She also seeks, because of fraudulent, illegal and oppressive conduct, to recover punitive damages in the amount of $150,000 to deter defendants from ever again repeating the trespass. Service was not accomplished against all of the individual defendants but was obtained against the two corporations.

A trial was held after the defendants answered generally denying the claims but admitting in their answer and in discovery proceedings the placing of the structures on the property as well as the corporate connection between Best Insurors, Inc., Mid-State Homes, Inc., and Jim Walter Corporation. A jury verdict was returned in favor of plaintiff Ward (in Count 1) against the defendants Jim Walter Corporation, Mid-State Homes, Inc., Freda Herndon and Paul M. Shelton in the amount of $7,663 as actual damages and $200,000 as punitive damages. The jury also returned a verdict in favor of plaintiff Bertha Williams (in Count 2) of $4,203.60 as actual damages and $200,000 as punitive damages against the same defendants. Two separate judgments were entered as to Count 1 and Count 2 generally following the verdict. The defendants appeal. Held :

1. The defendants first enumerate error that the statute of limitations of four years after the right of action accrues had occurred since the transactions upon which both plaintiffs base their claims took place in 1969, more than eight years prior to the filing of the complaint, and the trial court erred in declining to grant defendants' motions for directed verdict. Defendants further contend that no evidence has been shown for suspending the running of the statute of limitations as to either of the plaintiffs and certainly no later than the end of 1973. If there be any evidence authorizing the jury to find that the statute of limitations was tolled due to the lack of knowledge of the plaintiffs, that is, of that character which involves moral turpitude, and has the effect of debarring or deterring action, the trial court did not err in denying defendants' motions for directed verdict. See Code Ann. § 3-807; Anderson v. Foster, 112 Ga. 270(1), 37 S.E. 426; Ponder v. Barrett, 46 Ga.App. 757(2), 169 S.E. 257. Compare Webb v. Lewis, 133 Ga.App. 18, 21(2), 209 S.E.2d 712. The evidence authorized the jury to conclude that the original fraud (actual fraud involving moral turpitude) was of a nature to debar and deter the plaintiffs from their actions, being ignorant and illiterate persons; and tolled the statute of limitations until discovery of the fraud. See Brown v. Brown, 209 Ga. 620, 622(7), 75 S.E.2d 13; Mullins v. Barrett, 204 Ga. 11, 15, 48 S.E.2d 842; Smith v. Holman, 117 Ga.App. 248, 249(2), 160 S.E.2d 533; Larkins v. Boyd, 205 Ga. 69, 72, 52 S.E.2d 307; Jones v. Spindel, 239 Ga. 68, 69-70(1), 235 S.E.2d 486. Compare Austin v. Raiford, 68 Ga. 201; Barrett v. Jackson, 44 Ga.App. 611, 162 S.E. 308; Middleton v. Pruden, 57 Ga.App. 555, 196 S.E. 259. The evidence here fails to show that the fraud was not continuing in nature from the time the frauds were committed until the...