Case Name: SLATER v. BRIGADIER HOMES, INC. et al.
Court: Court of Appeals of Georgia
Jurisdiction: Georgia
Decision Date: 1990-11-21
Citations: 198 Ga. App. 67
Docket Number: A90A1023
Parties: SLATER v. BRIGADIER HOMES, INC. et al.
Judges: Banke, P. J., Birdsong, Sognier and Cooper, JJ., concur. Deen, P. J., McMurray, P. J., Pope and Beasley, JJ., dissent.
Reporter: Georgia Appeals Reports
Volume: 198
Pages: 67–70

Head Matter:
A90A1023.
SLATER v. BRIGADIER HOMES, INC. et al.
(400 SE2d 338)

Opinion:
Carley, Chief Judge.
The facts, insofar as they are relevant to this appeal, are as follows: Appellant-plaintiff originally filed an action against appellee-defendant Brigadier Homes, Inc. (Brigadier) and Country Squire Mobile Homes, Inc. (Country Squire). Although Brigadier and Country Squire both answered, only Brigadier raised the defense of insufficiency of service of process and moved to dismiss on that ground. The trial court entered an extensive order which concluded that service of process on Brigadier was legally insufficient and which explicitly dismissed Brigadier as a party to the case. Thereafter, appellant filed an amended complaint and had Brigadier served with a copy. Brigadier answered the amended complaint and asserted, among its other defenses, that it had not been "properly added as a defendant to this action." Brigadier subsequently moved that the amended complaint be dismissed as against it, on the ground that appellant had "improperly attempted to add [it] as a defendant. . . without obtaining prior approval from the court to do so." The trial court granted Brigadier's motion but certified its order for immediate review. We granted appellant's application for an interlocutory appeal from the trial court's order granting Brigadier's motion to dismiss.
When the trial court granted Brigadier's original motion to dismiss for insufficiency of service of process, the action remained pending as between appellant and Country Squire. Although this grant of Brigadier's original motion to dismiss may not have been final, it was nevertheless controlling unless and until it was subsequently revised by the trial court. No such subsequent revision of that order of dismissal was ever made. Thus, at the time of the filing of appellant's amended complaint, Brigadier was not a party to this lawsuit. Accordingly, a binding precedent of the Supreme Court of Georgia is controlling in the instant case: "[Appellant] contends correctly that [OCGA § 9-11-15 (a)] allows amendment as a matter-of right before entry of a pre-trial order. Where, however, a party seeks to add a new party by amendment, as does [appellant] here, [OCGA § 9-11-15 (a)] must be read in pari materia with [OCGA § 9-11-21], which allows the dropping and adding of parties only 'by order of the court on motion of any party.' Since no such motion or leave of court was granted in this case, the trial court properly granted [Brigadier's] motion to dismiss." (Emphasis in original.) Clover Realty Co. v. Todd, 237 Ga. 821, 822 (229 SE2d 649) (1976).
Although any decision rendered by this court which is inconsistent with the controlling authority of Clover Realty Co. v. Todd, supra, must be overruled, Daniel & Daniel v. Cosmopolitan Co., 137 Ga. App. 383 (224 SE2d 44) (1976) is clearly not such a decision. The plaintiff in Daniel & Daniel, entirely unlike the plaintiff in either the instant case or Clover Realty Co., did secure leave of court to add an additional defendant and the only "amendable defect" that was noted in Daniel & Daniel was the failure of the plaintiff therein to have served the motion on the original defendant. Thus, Daniel & Daniel does not stand for the proposition that the failure to obtain leave of court to add a new party is an "amendable defect" and is not, therefore, inconsistent with the controlling authority of Clover Realty that the failure to obtain leave of court to add a new party mandates dismissal.
Ed Miniat, Inc. v. Globe Life Ins. Group, 805 F2d 732, 736-737 (2) (7th Cir. 1986) does hold that, under the analogous Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, a plaintiff's failure to obtain leave of court to file an amended complaint adding new parties will not, in itself, justify dismissal. However, that case involved the adding of plaintiffs as parties to a civil action and, for that reason, it is arguably' distinguishable from the instant case and Clover Realty Co. In any event, "[a] decision by a federal circuit court is not binding but may be persuasive; however, it has no efficacy if it contravenes our appellate decisions." (Emphasis supplied.) Thayer v. State, 189 Ga. App. 321, 327 (On Motion For Rehearing) (376 SE2d 199) (1988). Our Supreme Court has unquestionably held in Clover Realty Co. that a plaintiff's failure to obtain leave of court to file an amended complaint adding a new defendant does, in itself, justify dismissal because " '[t]he adding or dropping of parties requires the exercise of a discretion by the court, and, without the requirement that leave of court be obtained in doing so, there could be no exercise of discretion. It is important that the status of parties not be altered or changed save under the supervision of the court.' [Cit.]" Clover Realty Co. v. Todd, supra at 822.
Judgment affirmed.
Banke, P. J., Birdsong, Sognier and Cooper, JJ., concur. Deen, P. J., McMurray, P. J., Pope and Beasley, JJ., dissent.