O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 23-4-20 (2019)

Who may complain in equity

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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Any person who may not bring an action at law may complain in equity and every person who is remediless elsewhere may claim the protection and assistance of equity to enforce any right recognized by the law.

History

Orig. Code 1863, § 4090; Code 1868, § 4119; Code 1873, § 4178; Code 1882, § 4178; Civil Code 1895,

§ 4841; Civil Code 1910, § 5414; Code 1933, § 37-1001.

Annotations

JUDICIAL DECISIONS History of section generally. - See McHenry v. McHenry, 152 Ga. 105, 108 S.E. 522 (1921). Minor children may bring wrongful death action. - After a surviving spouse abandoned the minor children and could not be found, the factual circumstances demand the exercise of the court’s equitable powers to preserve the rights of the minor children. The trial court should have allowed these minors, who have no remedy at law, to maintain an action for the wrongful death of their mother. Brown v. Liberty Oil & Ref. Corp., 261 Ga. 214, 403 S.E.2d 806 (1991). Whoever has an interest in the decree sought should be made a party, if it is practicable. Swift & Co. v. First Nat’l

Bank, 161 Ga. 543, 132 S.E. 99 (1926); Waters v. Waters, 167 Ga. 389, 145 S.E. 460 (1928). Cited in Henderson v. Napier, 107 Ga. 342, 33 S.E. 433 (1899); Railroad Comm’n v. Palmer Hdwe. Co., 124 Ga. 633, 53 S.E. 193 (1906); Globe & Rutgers Fire Ins. Co. v. Salvation Army, 177 Ga. 890, 172 S.E. 33 (1933); Jackson v. Massachusetts Mut. Life Ins. Co., 183 Ga. 659, 189 S.E. 243 (1936); Federal Land Bank v. Forrester, 192 Ga. 446, 15 S.E.2d 517 (1941); Lumbermens Mut. Cas. Co. v. Moody, 116 Ga. App. 2, 156 S.E.2d 117 (1967); Ga. Home Appraisers, Inc. v. Trintec Portfolio Servs., LLC, 349 Ga. App. 356, 825 S.E.2d 833 (2019).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 27 Am. Jur. 2d, Equity, § 120 et seq.

C.J.S. - 31 C.J.S., Equity, § 133 et seq. ALR. - Constitutionality of statute

conferring on chancery courts power to abate public nuisance, 22 A.L.R. 542, 75 A.L.R. 1298. Equity jurisdiction for cancellation of

insurance policy upon ground within incontestable clause prior to termination of period, 73 A.L.R. 1529; 111 A.L.R. 1275.

ARTICLE 3 DECREES

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (3 in the last 5 years), 1991–2023 · leading case: Brown v. Liberty Oil & Refining Corp., 403 S.E.2d 806 (Ga. 1991).
Brown v. Liberty Oil & Refining Corp., 403 S.E.2d 806 (Ga. 1991). · cites it 4× “(ii) OCGA § 23-4-20, which provides: Any person who may not bring an action at law may complain in equity and every *808 person who is remediless elsewhere may claim the protection and assistance of equity to enforce any right recognized by the law.”
Cooksey v. Landry, 761 S.E.2d 61 (Ga. 2014). · cites it 4× “In support of their argument, they correctly cite both statutes and case law recognizing the authority bestowed upon our superior courts to assist through equity “every person who is remediless elsewhere .”
Blackmon v. Tenet Healthsystem Spalding, 653 S.E.2d 333 (Ga. Ct. App. 2007). · cites it 2× “Citing OCGA *342 § 23-1-3 and OCGA § 23-4-20 ("[a]ny person who may not bring an action at law may complain in equity .”
Hamon v. Connell, 883 S.E.2d 785 (Ga. 2023). · cites it 4× “” OCGA § 23-4-20 further provides that “[a]ny person who may not bring an action at law may complain in equity and every person who is remediless elsewhere may claim the protection and assistance of equity to enforce any right recognized by the law.”
T. Davis Humphries v. Newton Cnty. Bd. of Commissioners (Ga. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 4× “7 The appellants also assert that they have standing under OCGA § 23-3-2 and OCGA § 23-4-20. See OCGA § 23-3-2 (“Any person may, in any civil action, claim equitable relief by appropriate and sufficient pleadings and obtain the equitable relief proper in the case.”
Winston Clark Connell v. Diane Dickens Hamon, as Surviving Child of James Isaac Dickens, Jr (Ga. Ct. App. 2021). · cites it 2× “In support of their argument, the minor children cited OCGA § 23-1-3 (as outlined above), and OCGA § 23-4-20, which provides that “[a]ny person who may not bring an action at law may complain in equity and every person who is remediless elsewhere may claim the protection and…”
Cooksey v. Landry (Ga. 2014). · cites it 2× “In support of their argument, they correctly cite both statutes and case law recognizing the authority bestowed upon our superior courts to assist through equity “every person who is remediless elsewhere .”
Georgia Home Appraisers, Inc. v. Trintec Portfolio Servs., LLC (Ga. Ct. App. 2019). “See OCGA § 23-4-20 (“every person who is remediless elsewhere may claim the protection and assistance of equity to enforce any right recognized by the law”).”
Clayton v. Burnett, 522 S.E.2d 785 (N.C. Ct. App. 1999). “” Ga. Code Ann. § 23-4-20 (1982). As we have already concluded, plaintiff here, as Michelle Clayton Hall’s personal representative, may not bring this wrongful death action at law.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.