Case Name: L.C. WALKER v. CLEVELAND LUMBER COMPANY, INC.
Court: Mississippi Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Decision Date: 1987-09-09
Citations: 512 So. 2d 695
Docket Number: No. 56886
Parties: L.C. WALKER v. CLEVELAND LUMBER COMPANY, INC.
Judges: Before ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J., and SULLIVAN and GRIFFIN, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 512
Pages: 695–698

Head Matter:
L.C. WALKER v. CLEVELAND LUMBER COMPANY, INC.
No. 56886.
Supreme Court of Mississippi.
Sept. 9, 1987.
James W. Burgoon, Jr., Fraiser, Burgoon & Abraham, Greenwood, for appellant.
Boyd P. Atkinson, Cleveland, for appel-lee.
Before ROY NOBLE LEE, P.J., and SULLIVAN and GRIFFIN, JJ.

Opinion:
GRIFFIN, Justice,
for the Court:
L.C. Walker appeals the order of the Tallahatchie County Circuit Court wherein the trial court granted plaintiff, Cleveland Lumber Company, Inc.'s motion for summary judgment pursuant to Rule 56 of the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure, and entered judgment on the pleadings against the defendant, Walker, in the amount of $5,273.64, plus $750.00 attorney's fees, together with all costs and interest.
As error, Walker claims the lower court should not have granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment in an open account action in which he filed a general denial, a counter-affidavit in support thereof, and an affirmative defense that no account existed between the parties.
This Court has held that a general denial in and of itself is sufficient in a cause of action such as the case at bar to put into issue the defendant's liability. McLaurin v. Smith's Poultry & Farm Supply, 499 So.2d 1361 (Miss.1986). Further, as we have said on numerous occasions heretofore, the requirement for an affidavit as to the accuracy of an account is a rule of evidence only. See, e.g., Sanders & Alexander, Inc. v. Jones, 221 Miss. 143, 72 So.2d 240 (1954); Britton v. Magnolia State Casket & Supply Co., 210 Miss. 264, 49 So.2d 404 (1950); Parker v. Thornton, 206 Miss. 662, 40 So.2d 538 (1947); Aaron v. Podesta, 60 Miss. 82 (1882). A counter-affidavit is necessary only if a debt is admitted but is alleged to be inaccurate. The affidavit should point out the inaccuracies therein, and has no relation to the general denial of the debt. Thus, the trial judge should not have granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment where defendant had met the minimum standards under pleadings in an open account action as required by our law.
Accordingly, we reverse the decision of the lower court and remand this cause of action for further proceedings below.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
WALKER, C.J., ROY NOBLE LEE and HAWKINS, P.JJ., and DAN M. LEE, and ANDERSON, JJ., concur.
ROBERTSON, PRATHER and SULLIVAN, JJ., concur by separate opinion.