Holiday Hospitality Franchising, Inc. “Holiday Inn” brought the underlying lawsuit against Thomas S. Noons “Noons” and his wife, Jacquelyn S. Noons, on a personal guaranty the “Guaranty”. The suit sought to recover past due fees, liquidated damages, interest, and attorney fees under a licensing agreement the “Agreement” which Holiday Inn entered into with British American Properties “BAP”, an entity of which Noons was the primary owner, for the operation of a Holiday Inn hotel the “Hotel”. The trial court granted Holiday Inn’s renewed motion for summary judgment, awarding it past due fees of $132,625.91, interest on the past due fees of $186,619.65, liquidated damages of $741,713.08, prejudgment interest on the liquidated damages of $255,272.92, and attorney fees of $131,623.16. On appeal, Noons challenges summary judgment for Holiday Inn and against him, contending that the trial court erred: i in estopping him from arguing discharge of his obligations under the Guaranty under OCGA § 10-7-20; ii in concluding that the liquidated damages provision in the Agreement was enforceable; and iii in awarding Holiday Inn interest on interest as to the past due fees element of the award. Discerning error only with respect to the trial court’s award of interest on interest, we affirm in part and reverse in part. “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 light most favorable to the nonmoving party, warrant judgment as a matter of law.” Our review is de novo. Footnotes, citations, and punctuation omitted. The Governor’s Towne Club, Inc. v. Caffrey Constr. Co. , 273 Ga. App. 284 614 SE2d 892 2005.
So viewed, the evidence shows that after Holiday Inn filed its lawsuit against Noons and his wife as guarantors, Noons executed an affidavit in which he averred that his wife had neither signed the Guaranty nor been aware of it. Given the foregoing, Holiday Inn amended its complaint to add a claim of fraud, dismissed Jacquelyn Noons from its suit with prejudice, and filed its initial motion for summary judgment, which motion the trial court denied finding that jury questions remained as to the amount of damages claimed by Holiday Inn.
