Shivers v. Sweda Int'l

Citation: Shivers v. Sweda Int'l, Inc., 146 Ga. App. 758, 247 S.E.2d 576 (1978).

Shivers, a certified public accountant, brought suit against Sweda International, Inc. ("Sweda"), claiming that he was fraudulently induced into purchasing a computer by an agent of Sweda. Shivers claimed that the agent promised (1) he would procure an oil company as a client of Shivers' accounting service, (2) the requested software would be available for the computer by a particular time following purchase, and (3) installation and operation of the computer would be "simple and easy." Sweda filed a motion for summary judgment, which was granted. Shivers appealed.

The Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the lower court, stating that the facts showed conclusively that Shivers' claim of fraud was without merit. The court reasoned that, even if the agent's promises to Shivers had been made with knowledge that they would not be fulfilled, Shivers could not recover for fraud where he relied on the statements without exercising ordinary diligence to discovery the truth.

The court further reasoned that the allegedly false representations of the agent that the software would be available by a particular time and that installation and operation of the computer would be "simple and easy" were merely unfulfllled predictions or erroneous conjectures, not actionable in the presence of an indication that they were made with the intent not to perform them or with present knowledge that they would not be fulfllled.