James W. Pilcher, Jr. and F. Barry Hodges, III Pilcher and Hodges, filed suit against Charles B. Altman, Jr.; the Estate of Charles B. Altman, Sr.; Charles B. Altman, Jr., Executor; and Altman Pontiac Buick Co., Inc. the Altman parties to enforce a settlement agreement. Following discovery, Pilcher and Hodges filed a motion seeking specific performance of their claim to convey real estate and damages provided for under the settlement agreement. After conducting a hearing, the trial court ordered the Altman parties to convey real estate and to pay damages, including interest and attorney fees. In its order, the trial court acknowledged that it had not disposed of all pending claims, but certified its order as final under OCGA § 9-11-54 b. The Altman parties appeal, claiming that the trial court erred by requiring them to convey property to Pilcher and Hodges by warranty deed, finding that the settlement agreement required them to pay certain amounts, including interest and attorney fees, and concluding that the Estate of Charles B. Altman, Sr. the Altman Estate had made distributions during the pendency of the underlying action. For reasons that follow, we affirm in part and reverse in part and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
The settlement agreement was designed to settle all disputes between the parties and to resolve prior protracted litigation. The agreement showed that Altman Pontiac Buick was the owner of certain real property against which Pilcher and Hodges held a lien. The agreement provided that the parties would try to sell that property and that Pilcher and Hodges would be paid the first $347,170 from the sale, with the remaining proceeds to be divided equally among the parties. If the property did not sell after four months, Charles B. Altman, Jr. and the Altman Estate the Altmans would be required to pay $2,300 a month, with the payments applied to a bank loan taken out by Pilcher and Hodges. If the property did not sell within 12 months, the Altmans had the first option to purchase the property by paying $500,000 to Pilcher and Hodges. If the Altmans did not exercise that option, they were to convey all of their interests in the property to Pilcher and Hodges and to sign all documents necessary to cause Altman Pontiac Buick to convey its interest in the property to Pilcher and Hodges. The $2,300 monthly payments were to begin on March 5, 2010 and continue until the property was either sold to a third party, purchased by the Altmans, or conveyed to Pilcher and Hodges. The parties also agreed that they would each pay 50 of all ad valorem taxes now due and future ad valorem taxes when they became due.
