Court Opinion

ID: 9626837
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:25:20.644399+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:06:34.344887
License: Public Domain

Nichols, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
Code Ann. § 102-102 (8), a rule of statutory construction, was applied to a contractual dispute in Brooks v. Hicks, 230 Ga. 500 (197 SE2d 711) (1973), in order to effectuate a policy determination by this court that forfeiture of rights is not favored. See McDaniel v. Mallary Bros. Machinery Co., 6 Ga. App. 848 (1) (66 SE 146) (1909). Although in Brooks I joined Justice Undercofler in his dissent, upon reconsideration I feel that an injustice would result if the plaintiff is barred from seeking relief because the last day for bringing his action falls upon Sunday.
Justice Undercofler’s statement in his majority opinion that Brooks left uncertain the application of § 102-102 (8) to limitations stated in terms other than days is an additional reason for affirming the decision. A fair reading of Brooks shows that an attorney in good faith may have assumed that he had until Monday to file his client’s complaint.
I see no rational reason for a rule which denies an individual his day in court merely because a contractual limitation which sets the time within which a suit may be filed is expressed in terms other than days. If the last day of a limitation falls on a day which sees a business operation closed, or a courthouse vacant, then the next day of business should be the last day of the limitation. If there is no clerk with which to file a pleading, or no corporate office open to receive a contracted-for payment, then the only fair construction of the contractual or statutory limitation is one which sets the next business day, following the nonbusiness day on which the term expires, as the last day of the limitation.
I must respectfully dissent from the opinion of the majority.