Court Opinion

ID: 9626660
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 08:20:41.27594+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:10:39.542489
License: Public Domain

On motion for rehearing and amendment thereto.
We will discuss only the amendment to the motion for rehearing. The amendment to the motion for rehearing makes *44the contention, for the first time, that the evidence failed to disclose the liability of Robert Roger Hamby and failed to join the defendant Hamby with movant Berger on said judgment and that the defendant Hamby being the only resident defendant, and the trial court having failed to find him liable for judgment, and movant alleged to be a non-resident of the County of Fulton but a resident of DeKalb County, that the judgment against the movant Berger was contrary to the evidence, contrary to the law and was insufficient to support the verdict and judgment against the movant Berger. In support of this contention counsel cites Metcalf v. Hale, 42 Ga. App. 402, and Warren v. Rushing, 144 Ga. 612. The facts of the record of this case do not bear out the contentions of movant. The movant was the defendant in the court below and was sued jointly with one R. Roger Hamby in a trover action involving a 1947 Ford automobile truck. A petition alleged that Hamby was a resident of Fulton County, and that Berger was a resident of DeKalb County. Both parties were represented by attorneys other than the present attorney for movant. Evidence was introduced at the trial in the Civil Court of Fulton County which proved every material allegation of the trover proceeding and separate judgments were entered, without objection, against the movant and against R. Roger Hamby for a money judgment for the Ford automobile truck in question. Each of them filed separate bills of exceptions to this court. The bill of exceptions against the movant was numbered 32707, and that against Hamby was numbered 32708. The attorneys who represented the defendants in the court below withdrew from both cases. The case against Hamby was dismissed for want of prosecution. Movant Berger employed other counsel, the present counsel for movant, to wit, Wesley Asinoff, to prosecute his bill of exceptions. Said attorney argued the case of movant before this court. He did not contend or argue in any way the question which he now presents in his amended motion for a rehearing. This contention comes too late, even if the facts urged by counsel for movant were true, and as stated hereinbefore, they are not true according to the record. See Snow v. Johnston, 197 Ga. 146, 162. See also Consolidated Distributors, Inc., v. City of Atlanta, 193 Ga. 853, 858. The *45bills of exceptions in the instant case and in case number 32708 recite the judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the court below and against both the defendants Allen Berger and Roger Hamby. They also recite an agreement in the court below by both Ham-by and Berger that all issues were to be submitted to the court for determination without a jury. This consent and the judgment rendered is now conclusive on all parties connected or interested in the same.
The fact that a separate bill of exceptions was sued out by each defendant in the court'below does not change the result that a valid judgment was rendered against Hamby and Berger separately. The issues could have been brought up to this court in one bill of exceptions. See Moore v. Adams, 153 Ga. 709. The controlling issue is whether the trial court had jurisdiction over the person of Berger, the non-resident of Fulton County, who was alleged and proven to be a resident of DeKalb County. Under Code § 24-112 the jurisdiction of the person may be waived insofar as the rights of the parties are concerned, but not so as to prejudice third persons. Under all the facts of this case the movant waived jurisdiction as to his person. See catchword “person” under said Code section.
The amended motion for rehearing is without merit and is denied.

Judgment adhered to.

MacIntyre, P.J., and Townsend, J., concur.