S & A Industries, Inc. v. Bank Atlanta

I join fully in the per curiam opinion and concur specially with respect to Division 1 because, as stated in Barton v. Marubeni America Corp., 204 Ga. App. 346, 347 (419 SE2d 342) (1992), loans where the principal amount is $250,000 or more are “outside the provisions of Georgia’s usury statute. See OCGA § 7-4-2 (a) (1) (B).”

Presiding Judge Pope’s special concurrence argues that we should overrule Barton. This argument is unpersuasive for four reasons. First, Barton was correct. The drafters of OCGA § 7-4-2 (a) (1) (B) in 1988 very carefully did not reference the existing usury statute (OCGA…