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All Star, Inc. et al.v.Georgia Atlanta Amusements, LLC

CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
Docket No.A14A2138
DecidedMarch 26, 2015
Reporter332 Ga. App. 1; 770 S.E.2d 22
JudgesCourt of Appeals of Georgia, Third Division; Presiding Judge Barnes and Judges Boggs and Branch; Judge Branch authored the opinion
Tags
CivilBusiness LawContract LawTort LawConstitutional LawStatutory InterpretationSummary Judgment
Case Summary

All Star, Elite Amusement, Midtown Vending, and Ultra Group leased Class B coin-operated amusement machines to businesses under written or oral agreements that used revenue splits other than 50/50. After Georgia enacted House Bill 487 in 2013, regulating the machines, requiring new accounting and revenue-sharing procedures, and stating a public purpose tied to education funding, the machine owners’ customers replaced their machines with equipment supplied by Georgia Atlanta Amusements. The machine owners sued GAA for tortious interference with contractual and business relations. The trial court granted GAA partial summary judgment, reasoning that HB 487 rendered the preexisting agreements illegal, void, and unenforceable because they did not use the new revenue split. The Court of Appeals of Georgia reversed. The court held that the statute did not destroy preexisting written contracts. Because coin-operated amusement machines operated in a heavily regulated industry, the parties reasonably could anticipate later regulation. HB 487 served legitimate public purposes and reasonably adjusted one contract term—the revenue split—without eliminating the parties’ remaining rights or favoring one side. The contracts therefore remained intact, but the parties had to conform their revenue provisions to the statutory requirements while the new accounting system was implemented and thereafter. The court did not decide the unappealed claims involving oral agreements. Because the written contracts were not void, they could support the appellants’ tortious-interference claims, and the summary judgment order was reversed and remanded. Barnes, P. J., and Boggs, J., concurred.

Opinion

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