The record shows that on September 13, 1993, appellant-plaintiff Southcom Group, Inc. and Prolific Plastics, a manufacturer of injection molded plastics then representing itself as an Alabama corporation, entered into an exclusive marketing agreement. Under the agreement, Southcom was to be compensated by commission for marketing services provided to Prolific Plastics. Pertinently, claims and disputes arising under the contract were made subject to arbitration upon the demand of either party.
Exercising this authority, Southcom filed a demand for arbitration on April 1, 1997, averring a breach of contract against Prolific Plastics for non-payment of commissions due and owing for sales in the period 1993-1997. Based upon its discovery, on July 31, 1997, Southcom amended its demand for arbitration to identify Prolific Plastics as a partnership and to add appellees-defendants Jerry V. Plath, George Breland, and John Martin as the partners of the partnership. After a hearing, an arbitration award was entered on January 8, 1999 in favor of Southcom and against Prolific Plastics as a partnership. Southcom sought judgment confirming the arbitration award, filing on July 28, 1999, its application for confirmation of arbitration award in the Superior Court of Fayette County, naming the appellees as party-defendants in the caption thereof. The appellees thereafter filed their verified objection to the award, contending that Southcom’s application “must be dismissed for failure to join a party under OCGA § 9-11-19, explaining that the award at issue was . . . against a business entity and not the individual named defendants.” In light of the appellees’ objection, on September 18, 2001, Southcom amended its application, adding a complaint for damages against them individually for breach of contract, quantum meruit, and conversion. Contemporaneously, Southcom moved for summary judgment thereon, in the event its application for confirmation of arbitration award were denied. The appellees timely filed their response and a cross motion for summary judgment, arguing the arbitration award as res judicata, foreclosing the confirmation of an award upon parties against whom no award was entered as well as summary judgment upon Southcom’s complaint for damages in the alternative.
