Court Opinion

ID: 9847982
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:10:52.412806+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:52.756395
License: Public Domain

Hunt, Justice,
concurring in part, dissenting in part.
I disagree with that part of the majority’s response to the certified question presented which subjects the plaintiff’s right to recover to a weighing of the equities between the parties by the trier of fact. In an action for money had and received there are no equities to be weighed unless the other party has been prejudiced — a factor specifically excluded in the question before us. The fact that the plaintiff has paid the defendant because of a mistake caused by the plaintiff’s lack of diligence or his negligence simply does not affect the plaintiff’s right to recover. Indeed, I can think of no set of circumstances underlying an action for money had and received based on a payment mistakenly made where the payment was not made as a result of the plaintiff’s lack of diligence or negligence. A weighing of equities comes into play only where the defendant has been prejudiced and in that event the plaintiff’s right to recover is based on whether the defendant “in equity and good conscience” ought to be allowed to retain the money. Dobbs v. Perlman, 59 Ga. App. 770, 774 (2 SE2d 109) (1939); see Intl. Indem. Co. v. Bakco, Inc., 172 Ga. App. 28, 32 (2) (322 SE2d *40778) (1984). However, the question certified to us provides that “the other party would not be prejudiced by refunding the payment,” and thus there is no question of plaintiff’s right to recover. To permit the defendant, under these circumstances, to retain the payment would amount to unjust enrichment.
Decided October 22, 1986
Reconsideration denied November 6, 1986 and November 12, 1986.
Perry, Walters & Lippitt, H. Holcombe Perry, Jr., for appellant.
Rainwater & Christy, David N. Rainwater, for appellees.
John A. Helms, Francis J. Mulcahy, Jr., Sarah M. Hogsette, amici curiae.
I further disagree that OCGA § 13-1-13, relating to voluntary payments, has any bearing on the question presented. That statute applies only to payments made through ignorance of the law or where all the facts are known, and it is uncontroverted here that the plaintiff was not aware of all the facts at the time payment was made to the defendant. The constructive knowledge element that the majority reads into OCGA § 13-1-13 is not authorized by the cases cited as support, each one of which turns on an issue of payment made with knowledge of all the facts or in ignorance of the law. Nor is the doctrine of accord and satisfaction an issue in this case, which involves a payment made by mistake rather than one made in settlement of a bona fide dispute or controversy between the parties. See Nauman v. McCoy, 84 Ga. App. 131 (2a) (65 SE2d 853) (1951).
There is no authority for subjecting the plaintiff’s right to recover to a weighing of equities under the question presented, and in my opinion it must be answered unequivocally in the affirmative.