Fulcher & Co

v. Daniel & Son, 80 Ga. 74, 4 S.E. 259, 1887 Ga. LEXIS 324 (1887). Architects’ certificate is assignable. Timmons v. Citizens Bank, 11 Ga. App. 69, 74 S.E. 798, 1912 Ga. App. LEXIS 261 (1912). Entry in bank book. — An entry in a bank book is equivalent to a receipt for money and is, consequently, evidence of a loan and of a contract for repayment on demand; as such, it is sufficient to establish the relation of debtor and creditor between the parties and it is assignable so as to vest a right of action in the assignee in the assignee’s own name. Flanders & Huguenin v. Maynard, 58 Ga. 56, 1877 Ga. LEXIS 8 (1877). Covenants are assignable. Tucker v. McArthur, 103 Ga. 409, 30 S.E. 283, 1898 Ga. LEXIS 134 (1898). Right of heir to interest in ancestor’s estate is assignable. Greenwood v. Greenwood, 178 Ga. 605, 173 S.E. 858, 1934 Ga. LEXIS 112 (1934). Contingent right in certain real estate is assignable even though it is not at all certain that it would ever be transformed into a present right. Chattahoochee Holdings, Inc. v. Marshall, 146 Ga. App. 658, 247 S.E.2d 167, 1978 Ga. App. LEXIS 2496 (1978). Title to exemption assignable by debtor. — Although a debtor has no vested title or interest in an exemption at the time of its sale or assignment, the debtor has a chose in action and a potential right in the nature of a defeasible title, which is assignable. Eibel v. Mechanics Loan & Sav. Co., 52 Ga. App. 349, 183 S.E. 133, 1935 Ga. App. LEXIS 168 (1935). An interest in the title to an exemption may be assigned in good faith to a creditor, not only before the exemption is set aside by the court, but even before bankruptcy proceedings are instituted. Eibel v. Mechanics Loan & Sav. Co., 52 Ga. App. 349, 183 S.E. 133, 1935 Ga. App. LEXIS 168 (1935). O.C.G.A. § 44-12-22 inapplicable to bill of lading. Postell v. Avery & Co., 12 Ga. App. 507, 77 S.E. 666, 1913 Ga. App. LEXIS 614 (1913). Exclusive use of name. — The exclusive use of a person’s name conveyed to a party for consideration may be assigned by that party in an enforceable contract. Fletcher v. Atlanta Bd. of Realtors, Inc., 250 Ga. 21, 295 S.E.2d 737, 1982 Ga. LEXIS 979 (1982). Legal malpractice claims. — Appellate court properly affirmed the denial of summary judgment to a lawyer on a legal malpractice claim because in light of assignments allowable under O.C.G.A. §§ 44-12-22 and 44-12-24, the Georgia Supreme Court agrees that the assignment of legal malpractice claims is not prohibited as a matter of law. Villanueva v. First Am. Title Ins. Co., 292 Ga. 630, 740 S.E.2d 108, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 268 (2013). Georgia Supreme Court agrees with the Georgia Court of Appeals that legal malpractice claims are not per se unassignable. Villanueva v. First Am. Title Ins. Co., 292 Ga. 630, 740 S.E.2d 108, 2013 Ga. LEXIS 268 (2013). Rights of Parties Assignee can acquire no greater rights than the assignor had. Healey v. Morgan, 135 Ga. App. 915, 219 S.E.2d 628, 1975 Ga. App. LEXIS 1871 (1975). Contracting parties may waive or renounce what law has established in their favor provided such waiver or renunciation does not thereby injure others or affect the public interest. Young v. John Deere Plow Co., 102 Ga. App. 132, 115 S.E.2d 770, 1960 Ga. App. LEXIS 570 (1960). Debtor under a conditional sale contract, by expressly agreeing not to set up as a defense to an action on the contract by the assignee thereof any claim the debtor may have had against the assignor of the contract, waived the right to plead failure of consideration in an action on the contract by the assignee, and such plea and the cross action for the down payment are without merit. Jones v. Universal C.I.T. Credit Corp., 88 Ga. App. 24, 75 S.E.2d 822, 1953 Ga. App. LEXIS 998 (1953); Young v. John Deere Plow Co., 102 Ga. App. 132, 115 S.E.2d 770, 1960 Ga. App. LEXIS 570 (1960). 166 Because third party failed to present sufficient evidence supporting its position that it had a right, as successor in interest, to sue on a creditor’s account with the creditor’s debtor in order to support that right, summary judgment in its favor in suit against the debtor was erroneously entered. Ponder v. CACV of Colo., LLC, 289 Ga. App. 858, 658 S.E.2d 469, 2008 Ga. App. LEXIS 218 (2008). Agreement for debt setoff. — If the agreement is for a consideration, it is binding on the same terms as any other agreement; and if it is executed, it needs no consideration. National Sur. Corp. v. Algernon Blair, Inc., 114 Ga. App. 30, 150 S.E.2d 256, 1966 Ga. App. LEXIS 648, rev’d, 222 Ga. 672, 151 S.E.2d 724, 1966 Ga. LEXIS 595 (1966). Claim of assignee of judgment is subject to such equities and defenses as may have existed in favor of the judgment debtor against the judgment creditor at the time of the assignment, but is not subject to rights which did not then exist in favor of such judgment debtor and of which the judgment debtor did not become possessed until some time later, as by the subsequent purchase of judgments against the judgment creditor. Sheffield v. Preacher, 175 Ga. 719, 165 S.E. 742, 1932 Ga. LEXIS 318 (1932). Equities existing between assignor and debtor include the terms and conditions of the contract under which the indebtedness arose. National Sur. Corp. v. Algernon Blair, Inc., 114 Ga. App. 30, 150 S.E.2d 256, 1966 Ga. App. LEXIS 648, rev’d, 222 Ga. 672, 151 S.E.2d 724, 1966 Ga. LEXIS 595 (1966). Holder’s rights unaffected by equities between maker and payee. — The equities between the maker and the payee, originating after a transfer to a third person, will not affect the rights of the holder, though the transfer is made after the note becomes due. Central Trust Co. v. Fargason, 21 Ga. App. 696, 94 S.E. 902, 1918 Ga. App. LEXIS 484 (1918). Effect of mere equitable assignment. — An assignee may sue in own name, but a mere equitable assignment or interest arising from paying for a chose in action, without written transfer, gives no right to sue upon it in the name of the 44-12-22 equitable assignee. Florida Coca Cola Bottling Co. v. Ricker, 136 Ga. 411, 71 S.E. 734, 1911 Ga. LEXIS 562 (1911). See also Lamon v. Perry, 33 Ga. App. 248, 125 S.E. 907, 1924 Ga. App. LEXIS 829 (1924). Right to sue where subject matter of assignment not mere naked right of action. — Where the subject matter of a sale, purchase, and assignment is not a mere naked right of action, but assignable property, such as an execution, mortgage and note, the ownership carried with it a right to sue as an incident of such ownership. Reed v. Janes, 84 Ga. 380, 11 S.E. 401, 1889 Ga. LEXIS 273 (1889). Upon the transfer to the plaintiffs of a bill of lading calling for a full quantity of corn, there is assigned to plaintiffs the right of action for the defendant’s loss or conversion of a part of the corn. Askew & Co. v. Southern Ry., 1 Ga. App. 79, 58 S.E. 242, 1907 Ga. App. LEXIS 153 (1907). Mere equitable title insufficient when plaintiff relies on title to recover possession of personal property wrongfully withheld from the plaintiff who must show a legal title; a mere equitable title will not suffice. Eibel v. Mechanics Loan & Sav. Co., 52 Ga. App. 349, 183 S.E. 133, 1935 Ga. App. LEXIS 168 (1935). Absent description of property equitable interest conveyed by instrument other than draft. — An instrument, other than a draft, purporting to assign a sum of money to be paid out of a fund claimed to be in the hands of another, without describing the identical money intended to be conveyed, will not of itself convey legal title to any part of the fund which in fact may be in the hands of such other person; if anything is conveyed it is an equitable interest in the entire fund. Western & A.R.R. v. Union Inv. Co., 128 Ga. 74, 57 S.E. 100, 1907 Ga. LEXIS 31 (1907). Choses in action are not subject to seizure and sale under executions based upon ordinary judgment, and can only be reached by the judgment creditor through a garnishment or some other collateral proceeding; and, inasmuch as such garnishment or collateral proceeding is necessary to fix the lien of the judgment so as to make it effective, an 167 Rights of Parties (Cont’d) assignment of the chose in action by the debtor before the institution of such collateral proceeding passes to the assignee the property of the debtor in the chose in action assigned, freed from the lien of a general judgment previously rendered against the assignor. Greenwood v. Greenwood, 178 Ga. 605, 173 S.E. 858, 1934 Ga. LEXIS 112 (1934). Assignment of entire chose in action entitled to priority over prior 44-12-23 partial assignment. — Where a second assignment is of the entire chose in action, it vests in the assignee the legal title to the whole chose in action, and it is entitled to priority over the holder of a prior partial assignment of a chose in action to which the debtor of the assignor has not assented. King Bros. & Co. v. Central of Ga. Ry., 135 Ga. 225, 69 S.E. 113, 1912A Am. Ann. Cas. 672 (1910).