Court Opinion

ID: 9561669
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:13:48.30693+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:14:08.514177
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur fully but note that there should be some mechanism to call this impediment to the attention of the court before the time of the court is wasted in giving attention to the case. The same mid-trial halt occurred in Gorrell v. Fowler, 248 Ga. 801 (286 SE2d 13) (1982). In American Hosp. Supply Corp. v. Starline Mfg. Corp., 171 Ga. App. 790, 793 (2) (320 SE2d 857) (1984), the statutory bar was brought to the attention of the court by defendant’s motion to dismiss or for summary judgment.
The object of the statute is to deny access to Georgia courts to those foreign contractors who fail to register and pay taxes and who seek judicial relief in recovering payment for performance on their contracts, as stated in the opinion. The object is not fulfilled at all, from the standpoint of the courts, when access is given, a long trial proceeds to near completion, and a judgment is foreclosed by an intervening motion based on the absence of a prerequisite to bringing the suit in the first place.
This waste of judicial resources is further exacerbated by the conclusion we have reached, that dismissal without prejudice is proper, thus allowing plaintiff to posture itself so as to be entitled to access to Georgia courts and another trial.
Not only that, but when the law relies solely on defendants for raising the question, access will in fact be given, even to the point of judgment and execution thereon in favor of the non-complying contractor, until and unless defendants are keen enough to present it.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Banke joins in this special concurrence.