O.C.G.A. § 45-8-9 (2019)
Bonds - Limitation of actions on bonds
No action on the bond of any collecting officer, officer to hold public funds, bank, or depository shall be maintained unless the action or proceeding is begun within six years from the date the alleged cause of action accrued; nor shall any action be maintained against any surety because of an alleged breach of the bond, unless, within three years from the date the alleged cause of action accrues, an action is begun against the surety or a citation is issued against the surety by the official, municipality, or county authority having jurisdiction to cite or an execution is issued against the surety as provided for in Code Section 45-8-25.
History
(Ga. L. 1933, p. 78, § 11; Code 1933, § 89-832.)
Annotations
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Statute of limitations begins to run from time of breach of duty. - The cause of action had its inception and the statute of limitations began to run from the time there was a breach of duty on the part of the Tax Commissioner (now State Revenue Commissioner). Employers Liab. Assurance Corp. v. Lewis, 101 Ga. App. 802, 115 S.E.2d 387 (1960).
Surety has the right to plead the statute as a bar to recovery. - Under this section, a surety on an officer's bond had the right to plead, as a reason why an execution should not proceed against it, that the cause of action accrued more than three years before the date of such execution. Bibb County v. Winslett, 191 Ga. 860, 14 S.E.2d 108 (1941).
Surety is not liable on untimely claims. - Since the Tax Commissioner (now State Revenue Commissioner) had not filed a report or made an accounting for 1953 taxes on or before April 20, 1954, and it is apparent that the commissioner's failures constituted a breach of the official duty for which the commissioner and the surety on the commissioner's official bond would both be liable, a cause of action in this matter accrued on April 20, 1954, and the execution issued on May 21, 1957, was barred by the statute of limitations to the extent that it sought to enforce liability against the surety for amounts withheld for 1953. Employers Liab. Assurance Corp. v. Lewis, 101 Ga. App. 802, 115 S.E.2d 387 (1960).
Cited in Laurens County v. Keen, 214 Ga. 32, 102 S.E.2d 697 (1958); Holcombe v. Gunby, 241 Ga. 105, 243 S.E.2d 65 (1978).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d. - 63C Am. Jur. 2d, Public Officers and Employees, § 455 et seq.
C.J.S. - 67 C.J.S., Officers and Public Employees, § 494.