Case Name: WAY v. TURNER
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1950-01-13
Citations: 80 Ga. App. 814
Docket Number: 32721
Parties: WAY v. TURNER.
Judges: MacIntyre, P. J., and Gardner and Townsend, JJ., concur. Sutton, C. J., and Worrill, J., dissent.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 80
Pages: 814–823

Head Matter:
32721.
WAY v. TURNER.
Decided January 13, 1950.
Rehearing denied February 2, 1950.
James A. Branch, Thomas B. Branch Jr., Allen E. Lockerman, for plaintiff.
James M. Embry, Dunaway, Riley & Howard, for defendant.

Opinion:
Felton, J.
It was not alleged by the plaintiff in the declaration in the Florida suit that R. D. Turner, the defendant therein, was a non-resident of Florida at the time his truck and trailer collided with the plaintiff's automobile and as a result of which the plaintiff sustained personal injuries and property damage as alleged. Consequently, the purported service of that suit on the defendant by serving the Secretary of State of Florida, under the provisions of § 47.29 and 47.30 of the Florida Statutes of 1941, entitled "Service of Process on Non-resident Motor Vehicle Owners, etc.," was invalid, as it is indispensable in such a proceeding that the record show the non-resident status of the defendant at the time the cause of action accrued. Red Top Cab & Baggage Co. v. Holt, 154 Fla. 77 (supra).
But the plaintiff in error contends that the defendant, by a personal appearance and a plea to the merits of the case, sufimitted himself to the jurisdiction of the Florida court and that the judgment rendered against the defendant in that case, this being the judgment sued on in the present case, is a valid judgment, and also that the defendant ratified the general appearance. The contract of insurance of the Virginia Surety Company with R. D. Turner, covering his White truck and trailer and insuring him against public liability for personal injuries and property damage caused by said truck, provided that "the company shall (a) defend in his name and behalf any suit against the insured alleging such injury or destruction and seeking damages on account thereof, even if such suit is groundless, false or fraudulent; but the company shall have the right to make such investigation, negotiation and settlement of any claim or suit as may be deemed expedient by the company." The affidavit of service made in the Florida case by an attorney for the plaintiff indicated that the two notices of the Florida action were sent by registered mail to the defendant and that they were received by him in person. The record shows, however, that the return receipts were signed by the defendant's wife and not by him. There is in the record a copy of a letter to the defendant from the plaintiff's Florida attorneys advising him that the case was set for trial at Fort Lauderdale on August 30, 1948, which bears a certification by a stenographer that she mailed a copy of the letter to the defendant. There is no competent evidence in the record that it was mailed. There is in the record a copy of a letter dated May 27, 1949, from the insurance company's attorneys to the defendant, advising him of their withdrawal from the case. There is no evidence that the original was mailed. The defendant testified that he did not notify the insurance company of the injury and claim or of the pendency of the action in Florida and that he did not receive either of the registered letters and that he did not receive either of the other two letters. The defendant also testified that he did not authorize anyone to file pleadings for him in the Florida suit and that he did not know anything about the suit in Florida. He stated that his wife gave the notices to the insurance company. The purpose of the stipulation in the insurance policy that the c&mpany would defend actions against the insured is a provision designed to benefit the insurance company primarily, but it can only help itself by bona fide helping the insured. It is not necessary for us to decide whether it was an unqualified appointment of the company as an agent to procure counsel to defend the case, and if so whether it carried with it the authority to waive the jurisdiction of the court over the person of the defendant. But assuming that the provision did provide such authority, it did not authorize the insurance company to file a temporary and provisional defense to the action, in effect solely for its own protection. The record shows that the defense was filed by attorneys for the insurance company "until they could complete investigation of the accident." When investigation revealed to their satisfaction that their policy did not cover the accident, the attorneys got permission from the court to withdraw their names. The attorneys had filed a plea to the merits, thereby waiving the lack of jurisdiction of the court over the defendant, the petition not having alleged that the defendant was a non-resident of Florida. The order of the Florida court allowing the attorneys to withdraw from the case meant one of two things: it operated as a withdrawal of their names and also their provisional pleading or it permitted a withdrawal of the names and left in court what amounted to an unconditional pleading which subjected the defendant to the jurisdiction of the court. If the policy provision authorized the insurance company lawyers to defend, it authorized only a bona fide, full, complete and irrevocable pleading in the defendant's behalf, and not a provisional defense solely in the insurance company's behalf. If the order allowing the attorneys' withdrawal operated to withdraw the pleadings, which it certainly should have done, under the facts revealed to the Florida court, the court was without jurisdiction to render a judgment against the defendant. If it did not have the effect of withdrawing the pleadings as well as the names of the attorneys, the order allowing the attorneys to withdraw from the case was void because it was rendered without giving the defendant an opportunity to be heard and without his consent, even if he received the notice that the attorneys would withdraw their names. Whether this is true or not the facts upon which the Florida court evidently held that the pleadings were ratified were shown in the Georgia trial to be untrue. The evidence shows that there was no ratification of the filing of the pleadings for the defendant with the defendant's full knowledge of the facts. Even if the defendant had known all the facts there was no ratification because the pleading was not filed for him and in his behalf in the first instance but was filed solely for the insurance company until it decided whether in its opinion its policy covered the accident. The pleadings filed in the Florida court were not authorized by the provisions of the policy; they were not authorized by the defendant in any other way; and the defendant did not ratify them after full knowledge of the true facts, especially the fact that the original declaration in the case did not give the Florida court jurisdiction to render a judgment against him. Such a judgment is subject to attack. Anderson v. Crawford, 147 Ga. 460 (94 S. E. 574, L. R. A. 1918B, 894); 5 Am. Jur. 310, § 83; 34 C. J. 537, § 840, p. 1148, § 1625; 88 A. L. R. 36. The trial court was correct in directing a verdict for the defendant as no other verdict was possible under the evidence.
Judgment affirmed.
MacIntyre, P. J., and Gardner and Townsend, JJ., concur. Sutton, C. J., and Worrill, J., dissent.