Case Name: FRANKLIN et al., Executors, et al. v. SEA ISLAND BANK et al. (two cases)
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1969-10-17
Citations: 120 Ga. App. 654
Docket Number: 44576, 44599
Parties: FRANKLIN et al., Executors, et al. v. SEA ISLAND BANK et al. (two cases).
Judges: Evans, J., concurs. Pannell, J., concurs in the judgment only.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 120
Pages: 654–659

Head Matter:
44576, 44599.
FRANKLIN et al., Executors, et al. v. SEA ISLAND BANK et al. (two cases).
Argued July 7, 1969
Decided October 17, 1969
Rehearing denied November 17, 1969
Lehman Franklin, Jr., Hull, Towill & Norman, Lawton Jordan, Jr., Anderson & Sanders, Cohen Anderson, for appellants.
Allen, Edenfield, Brown & Franklin, Francis W. Allen, Lanier & Lanier, Robert S. Lanier, Neville & Neville, William J. Neville, for appellees.

Opinion:
Quillian, Judge.
Appellee moved to dismiss the appeal in Case 44576 on the grounds that the notice of appeal is improperly styled. However, Code Ann. § 6-809 (d) provides: "Where it is apparent from the notice of appeal, the record, the enumeration of errors, or any combination of the foregoing, what judgment or judgments were appealed from or what errors are sought to be asserted upon appeal, the appeal shall be considered in accordance therewith." Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1072, 1074. Here from the examination of the notice of appeal, the record and the enumeration of errors, we are able to determine the judgment appealed from and hence the motion to dismiss the appeal is without merit. State Hwy. Dept. v. Howell, 119 Ga. App. 606 (1) (168 SE2d 213); Eubank v. Barber-Colman Co., 115 Ga. App. 217, 219 (154 SE2d 638).
When this case was formerly tried, the jury found for the plaintiff Sea Island Bank and judgment was entered against the three defendants Joseph B. Franklin, Lehman Franklin and E. A. Allen. Appeal was taken to this court and the judgment was affirmed. Consequently, the judgment was entered on remittitur and the execution issued against the three defendants.
Movants now contend that the judgment should be amended in compliance with Code § 110-306 which requires: "In all judgments against sureties or indorsers on any bill of exchange, promissory note, or other instrument in writing, the plaintiff or his attorney shall designate and identify the relation of the parties under the contract on which such judgment is rendered." Code § 39-107. In Franklin v. Sea Island Bank, 111 Ga. App. 182, supra, this court pointed out that the suit was on a note in which the name of Joseph B. Franklin appeared as maker and Lehman Franklin and E. A. Allen as indorsers. The court further found: "It is evident from the testimony set out above that the defendants, whether in a corporate or individual capacity, were accommodation endorsers, and that at the instance of the maker rather than the payee of' the note." Franklin v. Sea Island Bank, 111 Ga. App. 182, 186, supra. Despite the fact that the verdict and judgment in this case were formally against the three defendants, Code § 110-306 and 39-107 placed the burden upon the plaintiff or his attorney to specify the status 'of the parties to the note. Where this is not done the judgment and execution should be corrected under Code § 110-311, which provides: "A judgment may be amended by order of the court to conform to the verdict upon which it is predicated, even after an execution issues." Saffold v. Wade, 56 Ga. 174 (1); Ware v. City Bank, 59 Ga. 840, 849; Saffold v. Banks, 69 Ga. 289, 295. See Keaton v. Cox, 26 Ga. 162 (1); Powell v. Perry, 63 Ga. 417, 422.
Appellee contends that the long lapse of time here involved from 1965 to 1969 would serve to raise the bar of laches. The Georgia Supreme Court has held that corrections might be made relative to the judgment after five or more years. See Lenoard v. Collier, 53 Ga. 387; Rucker v. Williams, 129 Ga. 828 (2) (60 SE 155); Segers v. Williams, 147 Ga. 146 (2) (93 SE 81); Brown v. Cole, 196 Ga. 843, 845 (28 SE2d 76).
In Lenoard v. Collier, 53 Ga. 387, 390, supra, the Supreme Court pointed out that a judgment on a verdict is a mere clerical act of the plaintiff's attorney. Code Ann. § 81A-160 (g) (Ga. L. 1966, pp. 609, 662; 1967, pp. 226, 239, 240) states: "Clerical mistakes in judgments, orders or other parts of the record and errors therein arising from oversight or omission may be corrected by the court at any time of its own initiative or on the motion of any party and after such notice, if any, as the court orders." (Emphasis supplied.) This is a further "liberalization" with regard to the correction of judgments by the court.
The trial judge had the power to correct the judgment under the provisions of Code § 110-311 and Code Ann. § 81A-160 (g), supra, and erred in denying the appellant's motion to amend the same.
The argument that the ruling in Franklin v. Sea Island Bank, 111 Ga. App. 182, supra, was the law of the case or res judicata is without merit. For the former ruling is the law of the case only that the defendants were accommodation indorsers and that the motion for new trial was properly overruled.' The question here made with regard to the form of the judgment was not properly the subject of a motion for a new trial (Bridges v. Elrod, 216 Ga. 102, 106 (114 SE2d 874) and cases therein cited) and thus was not a matter put in issue or which might have been put in issue in the cause wherein the judgment was rendered. Code § 110-501.
In Case 44599 the appellants contend that once the notice of appeal was filed the trial court lost jurisdiction of the case and had no authority to take any action whatsoever while the cause was pending in this court. Hence, they reason that the order of April 11 attempting to vacate the order of April 4 was null and void and should be reversed.
The April 11 order vacating the April 4 order substituting parties was not a final judgment since it merely left the issues therein involved open for further determination. Thus, absent a certificate of immediate review the question will not be considered by this court. Code Ann. § 6-701 (Ga. L. 1965, p. 18; 1968, pp. 1072, 1073). We expressly make no determination as to the finality of a judgment which refused to allow the substitution of parties since that proposition is not before us.
Moreover, had the judgment been final or a certificate of immediate review entered, we point out that Code Ann. § 81A-125 (Ga. L. 1966, pp. 609, 634) provides for substitution of parties upon their death or where there is a transfer of interest. This is accomplished upon proper motion and notice to the parties. Here the record reveals no compliance with the provisions of the statute. Thus, pretermitting the question of whether the trial judge had the power to vacate his order after the notice of appeal was filed, it is apparent that since the order of April 4 was void, the order of April 11, if error, was harmless to the appellants.
Judgment reversed in Case 44576; appeal dismissed in Case 44599.
Evans, J., concurs. Pannell, J., concurs in the judgment only.