Court Opinion

ID: 9613766
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 04:19:51.45116+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:03:31.651242
License: Public Domain

*645Townsend, J.,
dissenting. The petition here alleges merely that the defendant “released plaintiff from his duties and . . . represented to plaintiff that he was placed on a furlough status and would be returned to work.” No explanation of the term “furlough status” is attempted, and it does not appear that there was any contractual relationship between the parties after plaintiff was released from Ms duties. Accordingly, the meaning of this allegation, when construed against the pleader, is simply that the contract of hiring ended at the will of the employer, and that, when the plaintiff was laid off, he was also promised future employment at some indefinite time. This cannot amount to more than a false promise of the employer to rehire the employee. “A false promise to perform an act in the future is not a false pretense or false representation, although the other party acts thereon, and the same can not be made the basis of an action for damages for fraud.” Crozier v. Provident Life &c. Insurance Co., 53 Ga. App. 572 (186 S. E. 719). See also Shafer v. Carson, 33 Ga. App. 418 (126 S. E. 735); Meacham v. State, 7 Ga. App. 713 (1) (68 S. E. 52); Stephens v. Milikin, 35 Ga. App. 287 (133 S. E. 67).
Accordingly, I am of the opinion that the trial court properly sustained the general demurrer to the petition.