Capital Bank secured a judgment against Sidney Lewis and then commenced garnishment proceedings in Catoosa County against Tommy Lewis, the proprietor of a paint and body shop at which, Capital Bank believed, Sidney was employed. Capital Bank caused a garnishment summons to be served upon Tommy, but the summons was addressed to another business, not to Tommy. When Tommy did not answer this summons, Capital Bank moved for a default judgment against Tommy, and the court below entered one. A few months later, Tommy moved to set aside the default judgment, asserting that he never was served with proper process and that the court, therefore, never obtained jurisdiction of his person. The court below denied this motion, and Tommy appeals. We agree with Tommy that the court was without jurisdiction of his person and should have set aside the default judgment. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment below. In January 2010, Capital Bank commenced garnishment proceedings against Tommy by filing an affidavit of continuing garnishment, in which Capital Bank averred that it had secured a judgment of approximately $40,000 against Sidney and that Tommy, doing business as “2-A Paint & Body,” was an employer of Sidney subject to garnishment, although the affidavit referred to Tommy by name only in its caption. Capital Bank also prepared a summons of continuing garnishment, and although the summons, like the affidavit, identified “Tommy Lewis d/b/a 2-A Paint & Body” in its caption as the garnishee, the summons actually was addressed to “Lewis Automotive Enterprises, Inc., Garnishee,” a corporation then registered to do business in Georgia.1 On January 26, the sheriff made personal service of both the affidavit and the summons upon Tommy, and a return of service was filed with the court on the following day. When Tommy did not answer the summons, Capital Bank moved for a default judgment, and on May 14, the court below granted the motion and entered a default judgment against Tommy for the full amount of the judgment that Capital Bank had secured earlier against Sidney, plus interest and court costs.
Nearly six months later, Tommy appeared specially and filed a motion to set aside the default judgment under OCGA § 9-11-60 d 1, asserting that the judgment could not stand because, insofar as Capital Bank failed to serve him with proper process, the court never obtained jurisdiction of his person. Capital Bank advanced two arguments in opposition to this motion. First, a motion to set aside a default judgment in continuing garnishment proceedings, Capital Bank said, must be brought under OCGA § 18-4-115 b, and OCGA § 9-11-60 has no application, it argued, in garnishment proceedings. Because OCGA § 18-4-115 b requires a garnishee to pay accrued court costs, which Tommy apparently did not do, Capital Bank urged that Tommy had failed to satisfy the statutory conditions precedent for having the judgment set aside. Second, the summons that was personally served upon Tommy identified him as the garnishee in its caption and substantially complied with the requirements for a garnishment summons, which, Capital Bank said, is enough to give the court jurisdiction of his person. The court below denied the motion to set aside in a two-sentence order that does not identify the precise grounds upon which the court based its decision.2 Tommy filed an application for discretionary review with this Court, see OCGA § 5-6-35 a 4, which we granted, and Tommy now appeals from the order denying his motion to set aside.
