These consolidated appeals arise out of the rescission of two written contracts for the purchase and sale of real property. The sellers and property owners were Executive Excellence, LLC, its principal owner Richard R. Fritts, and Sterling Trust Company collectively “sellers”. The buyers under assignments were Southern Tradition Investments, LLC and Martin Brothers Investments, LLC collectively “buyers”. In Case No. A10A1745, the sellers appeal the trial court’s order granting summary judgment against them as to their claims for slander of title. In Case Nos. A10A2143 and A10A2144, the buyers and sellers, respectively, appeal the trial court’s orders awarding attorney fees against each party. We affirm the trial court’s summary judgment order because the sellers failed to assert actionable slander of title claims. As to the attorney fees, we affirm in part and reverse in part. We review de novo a trial court’s grant of summary judgment, construing the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. To prevail at summary judgment, the moving party must demonstrate that there is no genuine issue of material fact and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the nonmovant’s favor, warrant judgment as a matter of law. A defendant who will not bear the burden of proof at trial need only show an absence of evidence to support an essential element of the nonmoving party’s case. If the moving party discharges this burden, the nonmoving party cannot rest on its pleadings, but rather must point to specific evidence giving rise to a triable issue. Citations and punctuation omitted. Latson v. Boaz , 278 Ga. 113, 113-114 598 SE2d 485 2004. See also OCGA § 9-11-56 c, e. So construed, the record evidence shows that Executive, operated by Fritts, was the owner of a 15-acre tract of undeveloped land in Hall County. A separate 4-acre tract was owned by Sterling Trust as Custodian for the Benefit of Richard R. Fritts. On or about December 26, 2006, Fritts executed two contracts to sell the respective tracts to a third party, Sund Enterprises. Although Sterling Trust was listed as the seller on the contract for the 4-acre tract, the contract was not executed by any authorized representative of Sterling Trust.
Sund Enterprises later assigned its rights under the contract to purchase the 15-acre tract to Southern Tradition and assigned its rights under the contract to purchase the 4-acre tract to Martin Brothers. Both contracts contained a zoning contingency that provided as follows: This contract is conditioned on the ability of the Buyer to obtain the rezoning of said property to zoning classification pursuant to the City of Oakwood Zoned C-2 or Hall County Zoned HB Zoning Resolutions so as to permit the construction of Commercial/Highway Business on the property. . . . Buyer agrees to apply for said rezoning within Sixty 60 days of the date of this agreement and Seller agrees to cooperate with the Buyer in obtaining such rezoning. . . . It is expressly understood that in the event a final determination is not made on said application by the City of Oakwood or Hall County, on or before April 1, 2007, either party may rescind this contract by notifying the other party as provided for herein. Emphasis supplied. The contract provided that Southern Tradition and Martin Brothers would have until February 26, 2007 to file applications for rezoning in Hall County; they filed the applications on February 23. Fritts executed an owner authorization in support of Southern Tradition’s application. Fritts, however, refused to execute an owner authorization in support of Martin Brothers’s rezoning application, contending that Sterling Trust had not agreed to the contract and that he lacked authority to sign the documents on behalf of Sterling Trust. Martin Brothers did not send the contract or zoning documents to Sterling Trust for approval and execution.
