Syfert Injury Law Firm

Your Trusted Partner in Personal Injury & Workers' Compensation

Call Now: 904-383-7448

2018 Georgia Code 9-15-9 | Car Wreck Lawyer

Link to State of Georgia Official Statute 2018 Georgia Code Annotated (sourced from legal.resource.org)
O.C.G.A. 9-15-9 Case Law from Google Scholar Amendments to OCGA 9-15-9

TITLE 9 CIVIL PRACTICE

Section 15. Court and Litigation Costs, 9-15-1 through 9-15-15.

ARTICLE 2 PROCEDURE FOR PERSONS UNDER SENTENCE OF STATE COURT OF RECORD

9-15-9. Costs when recovery on contract is less than $50.00

When any action ex contractu is brought in the superior or state court and the verdict of the jury, unreduced by setoff or payment pending the action, is for a sum under $50.00, the defendant shall not be charged with more costs than would have necessarily accrued if the case had been heard before a magistrate. The remainder of the court costs shall be paid by the plaintiff and may be retained out of the sum recovered by the plaintiff and, if that is insufficient, judgment shall be entered by the court against the plaintiff for the balance.

(Laws 1809, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 505; Code 1863, § 3604; Code 1868, § 3628; Code 1873, § 3678; Code 1882, § 3678; Civil Code 1895, § 5388; Civil Code 1910, § 5983; Code 1933, § 24-3404; Ga. L. 1983, p. 884, § 4-1.)

Cross references.

- For further provisions regarding recovery of expenses of litigation in contract actions, see § 13-6-11.

JUDICIAL DECISIONS

This section does not apply to torts. Lea v. Harris, 88 Ga. 236, 14 S.E. 566 (1891).

Cited in Robinson v. Towns, 30 Ga. 818 (1860); Officers of Court v. Hines & Hobbs, 33 Ga. 516 (1863); Smith v. Shaffer & Ham, 65 Ga. 459 (1880); Graham v. City of Baxley, 117 Ga. 42, 43 S.E. 405 (1903); Parker v. Rexall Drug Co., 132 Ga. App. 32, 207 S.E.2d 617 (1974).

Cases Citing O.C.G.A. § 9-15-9

Total Results: 1  |  Sort by: Relevance  |  Newest First

Copy

Walmart Stores East, Lp v. Leverette, 321 Ga. 854 (Ga. 2025).

Cited 5 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Jun 24, 2025

...We turn to those arguments now. 23 1. Leverette points first to two statutes that limit the shifting of court costs to the defendant when a jury awards less than speci- fied small amounts of damages to the plaintiff. One of those statutes, OCGA § 9-15-9, limits costs charged to the defendant to the costs that “would have necessarily accrued if the case had been heard be- fore a magistrate” if the jury awards “a sum under $50.00” in an “action ex contractu.” The other, OCGA ...
...ages,5 we do not see how they could be reasonably understood to sub- stantially modify or displace the common law rule that nominal damages are only a trivial sum, important for the fact of the award but not meaningful as an amount. At most, OCGA § 9-15-9’s $50 threshold for obtaining costs may stretch that limit slightly to the extent that it suggests that nominal damages for that amount are permissible....