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  • Case Opinion

Bullard v. Ewing

Bullard v. Ewing

Court of Appeals of Georgia

April 10, 1981, Decided

No. 61544

Opinion

 [*287]   [**737]  The plaintiff brought a complaint in three counts against the defendants Allstate Insurance Company, Edward Darnell, and H. A. Ewing, d/b/a Ewing & Son Construction Company. The first count set out the defendant Allstate insured the plaintiff's home against loss by fire; that the policy contained a provision that the defendant Allstate retained the option to repair, rebuild or replace property destroyed or damaged by fire in lieu of making a payment to the plaintiff to compensate for damage or destruction to the plaintiff's property; that a fire occurred at the plaintiff's residence which caused extensive damage to the structure and contents thereof; that pursuant to the terms of the policy the plaintiff notified the defendant Allstate of the loss and damage to her home; that the defendant Darnell, after inspection of the plaintiff's home, elected to exercise defendant [***2]   [**738]  Allstate's option to repair the property and contracted with the defendant Ewing for the performance of that work; that the defendant Ewing failed to exercise diligence in performing the repairs and performed them in a negligent, unworkmanlike manner and since December 7, 1978, has failed and refused to complete the work in compliance with the terms of the contract.

Count two of the complaint contained many of the same allegations as count one and in addition thereto alleged as follows: that the plaintiff complained about the slowness and unworkmanlike quality of defendant's work to both defendant Ewing and defendant Darnell who refused to take steps to remedy the problems complained of and conspired together for the purpose of preventing plaintiff from obtaining satisfactory and expeditious repairs to her house; that on December 7, 1978 the defendant Ewing in the presence of defendant Darnell addressed plaintiff's husband in a vile and opprobrious manner and assaulted him without cause or provocation; that when defendant Ewing ceased repairs on December 7, 1978, they were left two-thirds completed and the work performed  [*288]  was so defective as to require extensive [***3]  remedial and corrective repair work; that both defendants Darnell and Ewing wilfully misrepresented to plaintiff that defendant Ewing was qualified and capable of performing the repairs to plaintiff's home and that the repairs would be completed in a timely manner; that the defendants Ewing and Darnell knew or should have known that the representations were false and that Ewing was neither qualified nor capable of performing the repairs and that the defendant had no intention of completing the repairs in the time stated.

The third count of the complaint is not germane to the issues of this appeal. The defendants answered and denied the material allegations of the plaintiff's petition. The defendant Ewing also filed a counterclaim seeking to recover damages for breach of contract as against the plaintiff.

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158 Ga. App. 287 *; 279 S.E.2d 737 **; 1981 Ga. App. LEXIS 2165 ***

BULLARD v. EWING et al.

Prior History:  [***1]  Damages, etc. DeKalb Superior Court. Before Judge Broome.

Disposition: Judgment reversed and remanded.

CORE TERMS

interrogatories, repairs, discovery, telephone number, trial judge, answers, grounds

Civil Procedure, Judicial Officers, Judges, Discretionary Powers, Discovery, Methods of Discovery, General Overview, Interrogatories, Discovery & Disclosure, Protective Orders