Opinion
58429.
DECIDED JUNE 24, 1980.
Action on account. Rabun Superior Court. Before Judge Gunter.
John P. Cross, for appellants.
C. Lloyd Clay, for appellee.
The first appearance of this case before this court resulted in the affirmance of the judgment with the exception of the award of attorney fees. 152 Ga. App. 568 ( 263 S.E.2d 463). On certiorari, the Supreme Court reversed this court's judgment ( Ken-Mar Const. Co. v. Bowen, 245 Ga. 676 ( 266 S.E.2d 796) (1980)), and remanded the case for reconsideration of the fourth division of this court's opinion, the division dealing with the award of attorney fees.
1. In compliance with the direction of the Supreme Court, we have reconsidered the attorney fees issue of this case in light of the rule stated in Colonial Life Acc. Ins. Co. v. McClain, 243 Ga. 263, 265 ( 253 S.E.2d 745): "The proper rule is that the judgment should be affirmed if there is any evidence to support it unless it can be said as a matter of law that there was a reasonable defense."
In view of evidence that appellant's financing was of doubtful adequacy from the outset of the project and of the inference to be drawn from that evidence, it cannot be said that the award of attorney fees is wholly without evidentiary support. Similarly, it may be inferred from the evidence adduced at trial that appellant's chief defense was that the house appellee was building cost too much. Under those circumstances, we are not prepared to say as a matter of law that there was a reasonable defense. Therefore, applying the rule stated in Colonial Life, supra, the award of attorney fees must be affirmed.
2. The Supreme Court's reversal of our first decision in this case did not concern the first three divisions thereof. Accordingly, we reaffirm the holdings of the first three divisions of the opinion appearing at 152 Ga. App. 568 ( 263 S.E.2d 463) and adopt them as the holdings of this opinion.
Judgment affirmed. Deen, C. J., and Carley, J., concur.