Court Opinion

ID: 9590457
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:55:10.289841+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:05.277653
License: Public Domain

*727Beasley, Chief Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur because of the context in which the sentence quoted from Article VII of the by-laws appears. That article addresses the subject of assessments. The sentence the meaning of which is at issue is part of Section 2. It states: “Each owner of any unit by acceptance of a Deed therefor, whether or not it shall be so expressed in such Deed, is deemed to covenant and agree to pay to the Association: (1) annual assessments or charges, (2) special assessments, such assessments to be established and collected, as hereinafter provided, and (3) specific assessments against any particular unit which are established pursuant to the terms of these By-Laws. All such assessments, together with charges, interest, costs, and reasonable attorneys’ fees, in the maximum amount permitted by Section 41 of the Georgia Condominium Act, shall be a charge on the unit and shall be a continuing lien upon the unit against which each assessment is made. Such amounts shall also be the personal obligation of the person who was the owner of such unit at the time when the assessment fell due. Each owner shall be liable for his or her portion of each assessment coming due while he or she is the owner of a unit and his or her grantee shall be jointly and severally liable for such portion thereof as may be due and payable at the time of conveyance. Assessments shall be paid in such manner and on such dates as may be fixed by the Board of Directors; unless otherwise provided, the assessments shall be paid in monthly installments.”
This, and the next section regarding acceleration, make plain that it is contemplated that assessments will not always be due all at once, on one date, but that they will be spread out over a period of time so as not to be onerous. So whoever is the owner, or whoever are the owners, at the time the installment is due is (or are) obligated for it, and in this case there were two owners simultaneously, each owning a partial interest. “Portion” refers to installment, not to percentage of ownership. A grantee is liable jointly and severally with the grantor-owner if an installment is due at the time of conveyance.
An applicable rule of construction is that “ ‘[t]he language used by the parties is of primary consideration in ascertaining their intention.’ [Cits.]” F & F Copiers v. Kroger Co., 194 Ga. App. 737, 739 (1) (391 SE2d 711) (1990). There is no wording indicating that the Association must determine the percentage of ownership in each unit which multiple owners have and invoice them accordingly. On the other hand, Section 2 commences: “Each owner” covenants and agrees to pay the assessments. The Georgia Condominium Act addresses assessment and collection on a unit basis, not on an individual basis. OCGA §§ 44-3-80; 44-3-109.
Moreover, defendant Ruben presented no evidence that when he conveyed 99 percent of the title to Sparacino, or at any time during *728the period when the assessments were being made, he advised the Association that he was liable for only one percent. “The cardinal rule of construction is to ascertain the intention of the parties.” OCGA § 13-2-3. See F & F Copiers, supra. Thus he did not demonstrate an intention contrary to that espoused by the Association, either by a consideration of the entire contract or by his own actions.
Decided June 17, 1996.
Weissman, Nowack, Curry & Zaleon, Jamie A. Lyons, Leigh M. Wilco, for appellant.
The Wilson Law Firm, L. Matt Wilson, J. Phillip London, Jr., for appellee.