National Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Educ., Inc. v. Peachtree Hotel Co.
| Decision Date | 24 October 1991 |
| Docket Number | No. A91A1403,A91A1403 |
| Citation | 201 Ga.App. 637,411 S.E.2d 884 |
| Parties | NATIONAL PARENTS' RESOURCE INSTITUTE FOR DRUG EDUCATION, INC. v. PEACHTREE HOTEL COMPANY. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Trotter, Smith & Jacobs, Sylvia K. Kochler, Scott K. Tippett, Atlanta, for appellant.
Stokes, Lazarus & Carmichael, Michael W. Lord, Atlanta, for appellee.
The National Parents' Resource Institute for Drug Education, Inc. ("PRIDE") appeals from the grant of summary judgment to the Peachtree Hotel Company ("the hotel") in the hotel's suit on an account under a contract for rooms provided during PRIDE's national conference in Atlanta. PRIDE alleges that the trial court erred by granting the hotel's motion for summary judgment because it was not a party to any contract with the hotel and because an arbitration clause in the contract deprived the trial court of jurisdiction. Held:
1. As PRIDE does not question the amount due or the legal sufficiency of the contract, the only question is whether PRIDE is a party to the contract. PRIDE's contentions that it is not a party to this contract are directly contradicted by the contract with the hotel and letters from and to PRIDE in the record.
The record shows the contract was signed by PRIDE's Associate Director and the contract shows the "group requests master billing for room, tax and planning function." "Where the terms of a written contract are clear and unambiguous, the court will look to the contract alone to find the intention of the parties." Health Service Centers, Inc. v. Boddy, 257 Ga. 378, 380, 359 S.E.2d 659. Accordingly, the contract plainly shows that PRIDE was a party to the contract and we may not consider parol evidence to take from or vary the terms of the contract. Buice Grading, etc., v. Bales, 187 Ga.App. 263, 265, 370 S.E.2d 26.
In any event the record in this case supports fully that PRIDE was obligated under the contract. A letter to the hotel from PRIDE's Associate Director advised "this letter is to confirm that [PRIDE] has complete control over housing for the PRIDE Conferences," and requested that she be contacted in the event of problems or questions.
Additionally, the record shows that the manager of conference operations for PRIDE informed the hotel by letter, with a copy to PRIDE's Associate Director, "please find enclosed the signed contract for the PRIDE 1989 housing block." This letter was in reply to the hotel's earlier letter which stated, Therefore, PRIDE's argument that the Associate Director merely signed a tentative contract is contrary to the record.
Based upon the evidence of record, PRIDE was a party to the contract, and as PRIDE has never disputed the amount owed or that it was not paid, the trial court did not err by finding that the hotel was...
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