Court Opinion

ID: 9602429
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:54:49.547587+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:03.496133
License: Public Domain

Frankum, Judge,
dissenting. The sale contract in this case *851was executed on November 9, 1961. The deed which was executed on March 1, 1962, contained no reference whatever to the sale contract or to any of its terms. By amendment to her petition, the plaintiff added the following allegations: “It was always the intention and purpose of the plaintiff and defendant that the special provisions of the sales contract as to the guaranty of a dry basement and as to the guaranty of the fireplace to work, would not merge in the warranty deed but that they would survive its execution, the deed being intended by both parties to be only a partial performance of the antecedent sales contract.” This allegation unless supported by allegations of specific facts or unless authorized by facts appearing from the exhibits attached to the petition is a mere conclusion and is insufficient to support the plaintiff’s action as against a general demurrer. Sims v. Sims, 131 Ga. 262 (5) (62 SE 192); Watters v. Hertz, 135 Ga. 817, 820 (70 SE 344); Gwin v. Thunderbird Motor Hotels, Inc., 216 Ga. 652, 657 (119 SE2d 14); Finleyson Bros. v. Liverpool &c. Ins. Co., 16 Ga. App. 51 (84 SE 311); American Bank & Trust Co. v. McIntire, 30 Ga. App. 593 (2a) (118 SE 582).
Though it seems to have been overlooked by the majority opinion, the general rule applicable to executory cóntracts of sale such as is involved in this case is that when they are subsequently carried out by a conveyance which is accepted by the purchaser, they are, in the absence of fraud, accident or mistake, discharged, insofar as they regulate the rights and liabilities of the parties thereto, and where a' deed is tendered by the vendor as full performance of the contract and accepted by the vendee without protest, such prior stipulations and agreements as are contained in the preliminary sale contract shall be held to have been waived and abandoned by the parties in the absence of some language contained either in the sale contract or in the deed itself affirmatively indicating an intention on the part of both parties thereto to preserve the terms of the sale contract beyond the execution of the deed conveying title. Augusta Land Co. v. Augusta R. &c. Co., 140 Ga. 519, 522 (1) (79 SE 138); Chamlee v. Alverson, 145 Ga. 637, 639 (89 SE 719); Loftis v. Clay, 164 Ga. 845, 848 (139 SE 668); Rigdon *852v. Barfield, 194 Ga. 77 (3) (20 SE2d 587); Ingram v. Smith, 62 Ga. App. 335 (3) (7 SE2d 922); Kytle v. Collins, 67 Ga. App. 98, 108 (1) (19 SE2d 754); Smith v. White, 75 Ga. App. 303 (43 SE2d 275); Willingham v. Anderson, 90 Ga. App. 799 (84 SE2d 471). The petition in this case contains no allegations of fact supporting the conclusion respecting the intention of the parties to the sale contract, and I do not think that the language of the contract itself authorizes this conclusion.
The addition by the amendment of the allegations respecting the intention of the parties was, of course, a patent attempt on the part of the plaintiff to conform her petition to the Kollen case followed by the majority opinion. That case is, however, to my mind, clearly distinguishable from this case. The preliminary sale contract attached as an exhibit to the petition in that case provided that the seller guaranteed a dry basement for a period of one year, and it appeared that it was contemplated by the parties at the time the preliminary sale contract was entered into that the purchase of the property would be consummated, the conveyance made and the deed delivered within a few days after the parties entered into' the preliminary sale contract. Thus, in that case it was manifest that the parties intended that the warranties contained in the preliminary sale contract would remain operative beyond the time the sale was to be consummated, and these facts were, therefore, sufficient to substantiate the conclusion alleged in the petition that it was the intention of the parties that the preliminary sale contract would survive the execution and delivery of the deed. The case of McKee v. Cartledge, 79 Ga. App. 629 (54 SE2d 665), cited as authority for the ruling in the Kollen case and also relied on by the plaintiff in error in this case, is also clearly distinguishable on its facts from this case because there the contract involved was for the construction of a house upon the described premises “to be completed in full within 30 days or less from date of sale.” By the very terms of the contract sued on in that case, performance of at least some of the contract terms could not have been required by the buyer until after the sale was consummated, and, therefore, the buyer Would not have had a cause of action for a breach of the contract *853until after the expiration of 30 days from the date of the sale. Neither of these cases authorizes a judgment overruling the demurrers in this case. I would, therefore, hold that the trial court did not err in sustaining the general demurrers and in dismissing the petition.
I am authorized to state that Felton, C. J., and Eberhardt, J., concur in this dissent.