Court Opinion

ID: 9570720
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:25:36.418395+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:15:14.845839
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
dissenting.
R. L. Doyal, Jr., and others, as owners of an apartment complex, entered into a written contract with Ben O’Callaghan Company for the installation of heating air conditioning equipment in the various-apartments of the complex. A dispute arose as to delayed performance and final payment. A conference was held and a purported accord and satisfaction of the differences between the parties was proposed. The accord and satisfaction agreement provided that the owners would execute a note for $12,000 payable to O’Callaghan; an additional amount of money would be paid to O’Callaghan in cash; and O’Callaghan would waive its right to a lien on the property, which waiver would enable the owners to obtain a loan on said property. The accord and satisfaction proposal also provided that all warranties as to the work, material and equipment would be effective until October 1, 1969. The proposal as to accord and satisfaction was written by O’Callaghan and accepted by the owners.
Doyal and the other joint owners thereafter filed suit against Ben O’Callaghan Company for breach of the installation contract and certain warranties; and for negligence in design and in the installation; and for a failure to comply with the terms of the accord and satisfaction agreement.
Defendant answered and denied being indebted to plaintiff, and pleaded accord and satisfaction of all of plaintiff’s claims by reason of the accord and satisfaction agreement. Defendant counterclaimed, and therein *345contended that plaintiff had not paid the note for $12,000 executed as a part of the accord and satisfaction agreement, and prayed judgment for same.
Defendant moved for summary judgment, the basis of which was the accord and satisfaction agreement. After hearing, the trial court granted a partial summary judgment, and established defendant’s claim on the note for $12,000, plus interest of $3,439.20, and attorney fees of $2,315.88. The judgment on summary judgment also provided that the trial would proceed on the remaining damages claimed by plaintiff for the alleged breach of warranty which occurred on or before October 1, 1969.
The note for $12,000 given as a part of the consideration of the accord and satisfaction, had not been paid at the time suit was filed, nor when the motion for summary judgment was made. Further, plaintiff’s complaint alleged that the warranties, which were a part of the consideration of the accord and satisfaction, had not been complied with. Before an agreement can become an "accord and satisfaction” it must be fully executed. If anything remains to be done, the contract of accord and satisfaction is thereby made "executory” and does not fit within the definition of "accord and satisfaction.” Brunswick & Western R. Co. v. Clem, 80 Ga. 534 (5), 539 (7 SE 84); Long v. Scanlan, 105 Ga. 424 (2), 427 (31 SE 436); Petty v. Brunswick & Western R. Co., 109 Ga. 666, 680 (35 SE 82); Redman v. Woods, 42 Ga. App. 713 (157 SE 252). As stated in Russell v. Smith, 77 Ga. App. 70 (47 SE2d 772), at page 73, in regard to contracts in the nature of accord and satisfaction, one "can enforce either the original duty or the subsequent contract.”
In the case sub judice there was a conflict between the parties as to performance of the warranties under the purported accord and satisfaction, and this was sufficient to require denial of summary judgment. The trial court should have denied summary judgment in toto, despite the establishment of the note and that plaintiff may have owed same, as a jury may decide that nothing was owing by plaintiff on the note at the time of the trial. Preston & Fogarty v. Morgan, 120 Ga. App. 878 (172 SE2d 319); Hall v. Westmoreland, 123 Ga. App. 809, 811 (182 SE2d 539).
*346I therefore dissent, as I would reverse the judgment of the lower court.