Setlock v. Setlock

Decision Date25 January 2010
Docket NumberNo. S09A1588.,S09A1588.
Citation688 S.E.2d 346,286 Ga. 384
PartiesSETLOCK v. SETLOCK et al.
CourtGeorgia Supreme Court
688 S.E.2d 346
286 Ga. 384
SETLOCK
v.
SETLOCK et al.
No. S09A1588.
Supreme Court of Georgia.
January 25, 2010.

Ann M. Vaughan, Blairsville, for appellant.

Bryman & Clerke, David N. Bryman, Marietta, for appellee.

MELTON, Justice.


Steven Setlock and his father, Eugene Setlock, entered an alleged oral agreement to purchase a lake house property located in Blairsville, Georgia ("Lake House"). The agreement provided for Eugene to pay $150,000 of the $203,250 purchase price. Steven was to finance the remainder and pay the monthly mortgage payments, taxes, and insurance on the property. Despite the alleged oral agreement for the parties to purchase

688 S.E.2d 347

the property together, title to the property was acquired solely in Steven and his wife's names, and Steven contends that Eugene and his wife were only allowed to live at the Lake House as Steven and his wife's tenants. See, e.g., Browning v. Fed. Home Loan Mtg. Corp., 210 Ga.App. 115(3), 435 S.E.2d 450 (1993).

While Eugene and his wife were living on the property, a dispute arose between the parties, which eventually led to Steven filing a dispossessory action against Eugene and his wife in the Union County Magistrate Court in July 2007. Eugene filed counterclaims seeking to quiet title, a declaratory judgment, and an injunction, and pursuing money damages that exceeded the $15,000 jurisdictional limit1 of the magistrate court (the "Lake House claims").2 Based on his assertion of equitable claims and a request for money damages in excess of the magistrate court's jurisdictional limit, Eugene petitioned to have the case removed to the Superior Court of Union County. However, the magistrate court denied transfer and entered a judgment, granting possession of the Lake House to Steven and granting a writ of possession in favor of Steven, requiring Eugene and his wife to vacate the premises. Eugene then attempted to appeal the magistrate court judgment to the Superior Court of Union County, but the superior court dismissed the appeal as untimely.

On May 22, 2008, Eugene then filed in the Superior Court of Union County a petition to quiet title, which contained the same Lake House claims that he had previously filed as counterclaims in the magistrate court dispossessory action. Steven moved to dismiss the complaint, and the superior court granted the motion with regard to the Lake House claims, determining that the doctrine of res judicata barred Eugene from reviving in superior court the same claims that he had previously asserted as counterclaims in magistrate court. We granted Eugene's application for discretionary appeal to determine whether the superior court erred in determining that Eugene's Lake House claims were barred by res judicata. For the reasons that follow, we reverse.

"The doctrine of res judicata prevents the re-litigation of all claims which have already been adjudicated, or which could have been adjudicated, between identical parties or their privies in identical causes of action." (Citation and punctuation...

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13 cases
  • Spurlock v. Department of Human Resources
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • February 15, 2010
    ...and may be so held in any court when it becomes material to the interest of the parties to consider it."). See also Setlock v. Setlock, 286 Ga. 384, 688 S.E.2d 346 (2010) (decisions by a court without jurisdiction are not res judicata). Vacating such rulings before transferring the case wil......
  • Antoine v. Navicent Health, Inc.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Middle District of Georgia
    • December 12, 2018
    ...or their privies in identical causes of action." Smith v. Bell, 816 S.E.2d 698, 701 (Ga. Ct. App. 2018) (quoting Setlock v. Setlock, 688 S.E.2d 346, 347 (Ga. 2010)). While res judicata began as a common law rule in Georgia, the Georgia Supreme Court has held that Ga. Code Ann. § 9-12-40 is ......
  • Rogers v. State
    • United States
    • Georgia Supreme Court
    • January 25, 2010
  • West v. DJ Mortg., LLC
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Northern District of Georgia
    • February 19, 2016
    ...the same subject matter so long as those claims seek relief that a magistrate court could not grant. E.g., Setlock v. Setlock, 286 Ga. 384, 688 S.E.2d 346, 348–49 (2010) (dispossessory judgment did not bar plaintiff from bringing claims in superior court for quiet title and injunctive relie......
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1 firm's commentaries
  • Guidelines For Seeking Damages In Dispossessory Actions In Georgia Magistrate Court
    • United States
    • Mondaq United States
    • August 12, 2022
    ...to raise them in magistrate court" even though raising them would not confer jurisdiction on the magistrate to adjudicate the claims. 286 Ga. 384, 385-86, 688 S.E.2d 346, 347-48 (2010). Indeed, the proper procedure is for the counterclaims to be raised in magistrate court during the disposs......
12 books & journal articles
  • 1 Small Claim Cases
    • United States
    • State Bar of Georgia Georgia Benchbook 2023 edition
    • Invalid date
    ...transfer of case was denied [Compare 256 Ga.App. 260, 568 SE2d 130 (2002) and 279 Ga.App. 567, 631 SE2d 769 (2006) with Setlock v. Setlock 286 Ga. 384, 688 SE2d 346 (2010)]. Res judicata - when analyzing effect of prior dismissal, cannot assumr magistrate court applied, or didn't apply, the......
  • 1 Small Claim Cases
    • United States
    • State Bar of Georgia Georgia Benchbook 2022 edition
    • Invalid date
    ...transfer of case was denied [Compare 256 Ga.App. 260, 568 SE2d 130 (2002) and 279 Ga.App. 567, 631 SE2d 769 (2006) with Setlock v. Setlock 286 Ga. 384, 688 SE2d 346 (2010)]. Res judicata - when analyzing effect of prior dismissal, cannot assumr magistrate court applied, or didn't apply, the......
  • 1 Small Claim Cases
    • United States
    • State Bar of Georgia Georgia Benchbook 2016 edition
    • Invalid date
    ...transfer of case was denied [Compare 256 Ga.App. 260, 568 SE2d 130 (2002) and 279 Ga.App. 567, 631 SE2d 769 (2006) with Setlock v. Setlock 286 Ga. 384, 688 SE2d 346 (2010)]. Res judicata - when analyzing effect of prior dismissal, cannot assumr magistrate court applied, or didn't apply, the......
  • 2 Landlord|Tenant
    • United States
    • State Bar of Georgia Georgia Benchbook 2018 edition
    • Invalid date
    ...Where magistrate fails to transfer counterclaim in excess of jurisdiction, claim may be re-asserted in later action [Setlock v. Setlock, 286 Ga. 384, 688 SE2d 346 (2010),WPD Center, LLC v. Watershed, Inc.,330 Ga. App. 289; 765 S.E.2d 531; (2014)]. E. Magistrate Court has jurisdiction to sig......
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