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2018 Georgia Code 45-8-7 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 45-8-7 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 45-8-7

TITLE 45 PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES

Section 8. Accounting for Public Funds, 45-8-1 through 45-8-33.

ARTICLE 6 TEMPORARY FURLOUGHS

45-8-7. Bonds - Interest against principal and surety upon breach of bond; additional penalty for bad faith; attorneys' fees.

Upon breaches of the bond of any officer, bank, or depository, interest shall run against the principal on the bond at the rate of 7 percent per annum from the date of the breach and against the surety at the same rate from the date of the demand on the surety. If the breach shall involve dishonesty on the part of the officer or bank, the official or county authority having jurisdiction to cite the officer, or any court acquiring jurisdiction over the subject matter, may, as against the offending principal in the bond, impose an additional penalty of not more than 10 percent of the amount of the loss and a reasonable sum for attorneys' fees. This penalty and award of attorneys' fees may also be imposed upon the surety by any court acquiring jurisdiction of the subject matter, in the event it is shown that the surety has acted in bad faith and has been vexatiously litigious or that it has filed defensive proceedings for delay only. Existing laws imposing higher rates of interest or penalties upon principals or sureties upon any of such bonds are superseded by this Code section.

(Ga. L. 1933, p. 78, § 12; Code 1933, § 89-833.)

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

This section requires a demand on the surety to initiate the running of interest against it but does not prescribe a specific form of demand. In the absence of specific statutory or contractual requirement it is only necessary to constitute a demand that the surety be notified that immediate payment of the debt is requested. There is no requirement here of demand on the principal to initiate the running of interest against the principal, and the evident purpose of the statutory requirement of demand on the surety is to give such surety an opportunity to immediately reimburse the county for any loss within the terms of the bond occasioned by the breach of principal, without subjecting it to the payment of interest prior to the time the county notifies it that immediate payment of such obligation is requested. Employers Liab. Assurance Corp. v. Lewis, 101 Ga. App. 802, 115 S.E.2d 387 (1960).

No interest may be charged for period preceding demand.

- When there was no evidence in the record of any demand upon the surety of the tax commissioner prior to the date of the execution, an execution against the surety could not properly be issued for interest alleged to have accrued prior to the date thereof. Keen v. Lewis, 215 Ga. 166, 109 S.E.2d 764 (1959).

Recordation of execution insufficient as demand.

- Simply issuing the execution and recording it on the execution docket was not sufficient to constitute the demand on the surety which this section requires. Employers Liab. Assurance Corp. v. Lewis, 101 Ga. App. 802, 115 S.E.2d 387 (1960).

Cited in Rice v. Board of Comm'rs of Rds. & Revenue, 107 Ga. App. 207, 129 S.E.2d 401 (1963).

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d.

- 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Public Officers and Employees, § 354 et seq., §§ 493, 494.

C.J.S.

- 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, §§ 482, 486, 487.

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