Montega Corp. v. Hazelrigs, 27142

Decision Date03 May 1972
Docket NumberNo. 27142,27142
Citation229 Ga. 126,189 S.E.2d 421
PartiesMONTEGA CORPORATION v. A. E. HAZELRIGS.
CourtGeorgia Supreme Court

Long, Wienberg, Ansley & Wheeler, Palmer H. Ansley, J. Kenneth Moorman, Neely, Freeman & Hawkins, Albert H. Parnell, Wall & Campbell, Alford Wall, Atlanta, for appellants.

Shoob, McLain & Jessee, C. James Jessee, Jr., Christopher D. Olmstead, Atlanta, for appellee.

Syllabus Opinion by the Court

JORDAN, Justice.

Hazelrigs, the guardian of Brand, sought damages and equitable relief against Montega Corporation for Brand, alleging a continuing and abatable wilful trespass and nuisance, in that Montega, by reason of construction activities on its land adjacent to land owned by Brand, caused and was causing unnatural flooding and the deposit of soil and rocks on Brand's property. This is an appeal from an interlocutory order, duly certified by the trial judge, overruling the defendant's motion to strike paragraph 18 of the petition, as follows:

'As a further direct and proximate result of defendant's intentional, wilful and malicious acts, plaintiff has suffered severe mental and emotional pain and suffering and has become seriously mentally ill and has been committed to the Central State Hospital in Milledgeville, Georgia, for treatment. Accordingly, plaintiff is entitled to recover from defendant the sum of $250,000 as damages for such mental illness and mental pain and suffering.'

The defendant contends that this paragraph 'constitutes an effort to allege and claim an item of damage not recognizable under Georgia law based upon the allegations contained in the complaint.' Held:

We affirm. What the plaintiff relies upon, as disclosed by the allegations under attack, when viewed with the remainder of his complaint, is that an intentional trespass to property will support a claim for mental illness occasioned thereby, unaccompanied by actual physical injury. The leading case of Chapman v. Western Union Telegraph Company, 88 Ga. 763, 15 S.E. 901, on which the defendant relies in seeking a reversal here, is not authority to the contrary. The Court of Appeals, in commenting on this case and others, has stated: 'In cases where mere negligence is relied on, before damages for mental pain and suffering are allowable, there must also be an actual physical injury to the person, or a pecuniary loss resulting from an injury to the person which is not physical; such an injury to a person's reputation, or the mental pain and suffering...

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20 cases
  • Hayes v. Irwin
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia
    • 4 June 1982
    ...or pecuniary loss, recovery is allowed only if the conduct complained of was malicious, willful, or wanton. Montega Corp. v. Hazelrigs, 229 Ga. 126, 189 S.E.2d 421 (1972). An award of damages pursuant to both Ga. Code Ann. §§ 105-2002 and 105-2003 is prohibited, since it would in effect con......
  • Mayor & City Council of Richmond Hill v. Maia
    • United States
    • Georgia Court of Appeals
    • 30 March 2016
    ...damages for mental distress may be recovered without proof of physical injury.") (citations omitted); Montega Corp. v. Hazelrigs, 229 Ga. 126, 127, 189 S.E.2d 421 (1972)("In cases where mere negligence is relied on, before damages for mental pain and suffering are allowable, there must also......
  • Fennelly v. Lyons
    • United States
    • Georgia Court of Appeals
    • 13 July 2015
    ...306(2), 664 S.E.2d 296 (2008).46 Grizzle, 292 Ga.App. at 306(2), 664 S.E.2d 296 (punctuation omitted); see Montega Corp. v. Hazelrigs, 229 Ga. 126, 127, 189 S.E.2d 421 (1972) (“In cases where mere negligence is relied on, before damages for mental pain and suffering are allowable, there mus......
  • Chambley v. Apple Restaurants, Inc.
    • United States
    • Georgia Court of Appeals
    • 16 July 1998
    ...or pecuniary loss, recovery is allowed only if the conduct complained of was `malicious, wilful, or wanton.' Montega Corp. v. Hazelrigs, [229 Ga. 126, 189 S.E.2d 421 (1972)].... The Montega test for recovery for a purely mental injury is essentially the same as the test for recovery for `pu......
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