Sanks v. Georgia, 28

• Decision Date: 08 December 1969
• Docket Number: No. 28,28
• Citation: 27 L.Ed.2d 741,91 S.Ct. 593,401 U.S. 144
• Parties: Lelia Mae SANKS et al. v. GEORGIA et al
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

401 U.S. 144

91 S.Ct. 593

27 L.Ed.2d 741

Lelia Mae SANKS et al.

v GEORGIA et al.

No. 28.

Argued Dec. 8, 1969.

Reargued Nov. 17—18, 1970.

Decided Feb. 23, 1971.

Syllabus

As a condition precedent to making a defense against a summary eviction proceeding, Georgia law provided that the tenant post a surety bond for double the amount due at the end of the trial, the landlord becoming entitled to such double rent should the tenant lose his case. Following the Georgia Supreme Court's upholding of that statutory scheme over due process and equal protection challenges by appellants, indigent tenants seeking to contest summary eviction, appellants left the premises their landlords initially sought to recover, and entirely new legislation was enacted containing neither the bondposting nor double-rent requirement. Held: These ensuing developments make it inappropriate for this Court to resolve the issues originally raised by appellants since it cannot be determined to what extent adjudication of those issues would be material to any further litigation ensuing on remand. Pp. 147—153.

225 Ga. 88, 166 S.E.2d 19, appeal dismissed and remanded.

Michael D. Padnos, Atlanta, Ga., for appellants.

Alfred L. Evans, Jr., Atlanta, Ga., for appellees.

Mr. Justice HARLAN delivered the opinion of the Court.

We noted probable jurisdiction in this case, 395 U.S. 974, 89 S.Ct. 2150, 23 L.Ed.2d 763 (1969), because the judgment of the Georgia Supreme Court appeared to raise substantial questions under the Fourteenth Amendment that were deserving of our plenary consideration, and because whatever conclusion this Court might reach with respect to them would definitively settle this aspect of the litigation. In brief, the Georgia Supreme Court upheld, over due process and equal protection challenges, a state statutory scheme that compelled appellants, both indigent persons who sought to contest landlord petitions for summary eviction from their homes, to post, as a condition precedent to offering any defense to summary eviction, a surety bond in double the potential amount of rent due at the end of trial. The statutes, this aspect of which was also upheld by the Georgia Supreme Court, provided further that the landlords would become entitled to such double rent should the tenant-appellants lose their cases.

The case was first heard by us at the 1969 Term, and was thereafter set for reargument at the present Term. 399 U.S. 922, 90 S.Ct. 2229, 26 L.Ed.2d 788 (1970). At reargument it became apparent that events occurring subsequent to our notation of probable jurisdiction had so drastically undermined the premises on which we originally set this case for plenary consideration as to lead us to conclude that, with due regard for the proper functioning of this Court, we should not now adjudicate it.

I

The Georgia statutory scheme under which this case was initiated, Ga.Code Ann. §§ 61—301 to 61—305 (1966), and § 61—306 (Supp. 1969), operated in the following manner. A landlord seeking summary eviction could file an affidavit in a local court, alleging that the tenant for one or more statutorily enumerated reasons, was unlawfully holding possession of the premises and had refused the landlord's demand to relinquish possession. (§ 61—301.) When such an affidavit had been filed the local judicial officer was required to issue a 'warrant or process' to the sheriff directing him to 'deliver to the owner' the premises described in the affidavit. (§ 61—302.) The sheriff was to give the tenant four days' notice before executing the dispossessory warrant. (§ 61—306 (Supp. 1969).)

The tenant could prevent immediate eviction only by filing a counter-affidavit, alleging one of several specified defenses and accompanied by a surety bond 'for the payment of such sum, with costs, as may be recovered against him on the trial of the case.' (§ 61—303.) Only if the tenant followed these procedures was he then entitled to a trial on the issues raised by the affidavits. (§ 61—304.) Against this background, § 61—305 provided:

'If the issue specified in the preceding section shall be determined against the tenant, judgment shall go against him for double the rent reserved or stipulated to be paid, or if he shall be a tenant at will or sufferance, for double what the rent of the premises is shown to be worth * * *.'

In the case before us, appellants Sanks and Momman were served with dispossessory warrants on May 21, 1968, and July 17, 1968, respectively (App. 3, 18), and then applied for (App. 5, 20) and eventually obtained (App. 24—39) from the Civil Court of Fulton County a 'rule nisi' permitting appellants to remain in possession of their respective premises pending resolution of the factual issues raised by their applications, so long as they timely paid their rent into court during the pendency of the litigation. Both the bond-posting requirement (§ 61—303) and the double-rent damages measure (§ 61 305) were declared unconstitutional and, hence, inapplicable to these eviction proceedings. App. 27—39. On an interlocutory appeal, the trial court's constitutional declarations were set aside by the Supreme Court of Georgia, 225 Ga. 88, 166 S.E.2d 19 (1969), and the judgment of the lower court was reversed.

II

Since we noted probable jurisdiction the posture of this case has shifted dramatically. Both Mrs. Momman and Mrs. Sanks have removed from the premises originally sought to be recovered by their landlords. In addition, the Georgia General Assembly has repealed virtually the entire statutory scheme that has governed this litigation from its inception and replaced it with a new one, effective July 1, 1970, that contains neither the bond-posting nor double-rent requirement. 1 Ga.Laws 1970, pp. 968—972, Ga.Code Ann. §§ 61—302 to 61—305 (Supp. 1970). Under the new law, dispossessory actions will still be commenced by the landlord's execution of an affidavit. Now, however, this merely compels the local judicial officer to cause the tenant to be summoned to a hearing (§ 61 302), and the tenant can retain possession and force a trial of any defenses he may wish to raise simply by answering the affidavit, orally or in writing, at the hearing. (§ 61—303.) Expedited trials are encouraged. If the litigation has not been concluded within a month of the execution of the landlord's affidavit, the tenant may retain possession by paying into court all rent as it becomes due, in addition to any rent that was due but not paid prior to issuance of the summons. (§§ 61—303, 61 304.) If the landlord ultimately prevails, his monetary damages, if any, are to be based on the actual, not double, rent found due. (§ 61—305.) Similarly, the tenant may, in effect, stay execu- tion of the dispossessory warrant pending appeal of an adverse determination simply by paying rent, as it accrues, into the court. (s 61—306.)

III

The crux of this controversy from its inception has been appellants' insistence that they, not their alleged landlords, had the right to lawful possession of the premises in dispute and their demands that they be permitted to remain in possession pending the outcome of the litigation.¹ With appellants' voluntary removal from the premises this aspect of the case is clearly moot. We have been apprised of no basis in the statutes or case law for assuming that were this Court now to hold Mrs. Sanks and Mrs. Momman were constitutionally entitled to proceed in the trial court without first posting a double-rent bond, they could then seek a decree under the statutes here at issue returning them to possession of the premises. The repealed statute spoke only of enabling a tenant already in possession to contest forcible eviction upon posting a bond. Indeed, neither appellants nor appellees—all of whom resist the suggestion that the case as a whole is moot—contend that this aspect of it is not moot. There is thus no reason to believe that, on remand, either appellant, if successful in this Court, could litigate, in the context of any proceeding that might conceivably be governed by any of the provisions of these repealed Georgia statutes, a claim to be put in possession of the premises she originally occupied.

In support of the continued justiciability of the case, appellants rely upon a subsidiary aspect of this controversy which they claim remains alive. Were this Court to affirm the Georgia Supreme Court on the merits, the case would presumably be remanded to the trial court in accordance with the Georgia Supreme Court's mandate. There, argue appellants, those who initially procured the dispossessory warrants might then move for entry of a judgment for double damages as provided in former § 61—305. Appellants fear that such a judgment might automatically be entered because their removal from the premises might be construed as effectively conceding their lack of substantive defenses or that, even if they are still technically entitled to raise defenses, appellant's ability to do so will be conditioned on first posting the bond. Such a result is possible only if a number of factors coalesce. First, the original moving parties, the alleged lessors, would have to decide to seek such damages from these relatively impecunious appellants. Second, the Georgia courts would have to rule that such request for damages should be adjudicated under the repealed statutes. Third, it would also be necessary for the state courts to hold that those statutes contemplated awarding double rent in the circumstances here and (see infra) on a basis that renders material the bond-posting...