Smith v. O'Neal Steel, Inc., 25438
| Decision Date | 06 November 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 25438,25438 |
| Citation | 171 S.E.2d 519,225 Ga. 778 |
| Parties | John T. SMITH v. O'NEAL STEEL, INC. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Adams, O'Neal, Steele, Thornton, Hemingway & McKenney, Robert S. Slocumb, Hardy Gregory, Jr., Macon, for appellant.
Smith, Cohen, Ringel, Kohler, Martin & Lowe, Sam F. Lowe, Jr., Robert W. Beynart, Atlanta, Jones, Cork, Miller & Benton, Edward L. Benton, Macon, for appellee.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
We granted the application for certiorari in this case to consider the determine whether that portion of Georgia Laws 1966, page 343 (Code Ann. § 24-113.1), commonly known as the 'Georgia long arm statute,' which provides that the courts of this state may exercise personal jurisdiction over a nonresident who 'commits a tortious act within this State * * *' confers jurisdiction over a nonresident corporation whose negligent act outside this State causes injury within this State. The Court of Appeals held that it did not.
We deemed the question to be of gravity and importance, and particularly so because it has been decided diversely in other jurisdictions but had not been ruled upon by this court.
However, this court has this day decided in Bauer International Corporation v. Cagle's, Inc., 225 Ga. 684, 171 S.E.2d 314 that the word 'nonresident' as used in the original statute (Ga.L. 1966, p. 343, supra) did not include corporations, and that the amendment of 1968 (Ga.L. 1968, pp. 1419, 1420; Code Ann. § 24-117), which defines 'nonresident' to include certain foreign corporations, does not apply to a cause of action arising prior to the effective date of the amendment, which was April 12, 1968. The cause of action in the instant case, according to the record, arose prior thereto, on November 3, 1966.
In view of the above, the question upon which the application for certiorari was granted is now moot. Therefore, we must remand the case to the Court of Appeals for its further disposition in the light of the Bauer case, supra.
Remanded to the Court of Appeals.
All the Justices concur, except UNDERCOFLER, J., who dissents.
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...urge that we reject the rationale of O'Neal Steel, Inc. v. Smith, 120 Ga.App. 106, 169 S.E.2d 827 (remanded Smith v. O'Neal Steel, Inc., 225 Ga. 778, 171 S.E.2d 519, decision on a different ground) and adopt the holdings of the Federal District Courts which have passed on our statute. See e......
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