Court Opinion

ID: 9624624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 07:12:00.881651+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:05:51.683182
License: Public Domain

Deen, Judge,
dissenting. The judgment of the court trying this case without the intervention of the jury must be affirmed if there is any evidence under which the inference may be drawn that the failure to pay the sales tax assessment was not wilful on the part of the defendants, secretary and treasurer respectively of the club. The taxes were primarily levied on items brought into the State, apparently by the Hotel Corporation of Georgia, which managed the financial affairs of the club under an agreement between the two entities. The agreement gave the corporation "absolute control of and discretion in .the management and operation of the hotel and of all properties and funds related to such operation and . . . except as provided by this agreement, Savannah shall not be deemed to have any control or discretion therein.” The corporation also had exclusive control of all gross income and bank accounts and was responsible for the disbursement of moneys and allocation of funds. A further provision of the agreement was that no person would be authorized to withdraw funds for any purpose unless such person was approved by the managing corporation. Neither the defendants nor any other officers, directors or stockholders of the club were so ap*198proved. Such acts as were done by these defendants after foreclosure proceedings were initiated or at least imminent seem to have been inconsequential and for the purpose of raising funds to meet outstanding employee payrolls, and the trial court was not, under the circumstances, constrained to find they were wilful within the meaning of the penal statute. I would affirm, under the "any evidence” rule.
I am authorized to state that Presiding Judge Hall concurs in this dissent.