Court Opinion

ID: 9849283
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:37:50.888253+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:19:14.812341
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
I agree with what is said but the use of the word “may” in the letter here is of greater concern to me than expressed in the majority opinion. The statute requires that the debtor be notified that the obligation regarding attorney fees “shall be enforced” unless payment is made within ten days. The letter in General Elec. &c. Corp. v. Brooks, 242 Ga. 109, 110 (249 SE2d 596) (1978), which was found to be in substantial compliance, stated that the provisions as to attorney fees “shall be enforced.” One of the five factors which must be present, as clearly spelled out by the court in that leading case, is item 4, the notice that attorney fees “will be enforced.”
Applying the test there, the court concluded that “It is clear from a reading of the notice . . . that Brooks was notified that the attorney fee provisions in the note would be enforced.” (Emphasis supplied.) Id. at 119.
Thus there is no excuse for using the word “may,” which indicates that a decision has yet to be made as to whether attorney fees will be an added obligation. Inasmuch, however, as it conveys the idea that the option is the creditor’s and not the debtor’s, I would not find it fatal, when in addition it is considered in the context of the whole letter. But it is troublesome at best and might in other circumstances be insufficient.