Carmichael v. Silvers
Carmichael v. Silvers
Opinion of the Court
(a) We have set out the evidence somewhat in particularity in order to determine better the issue
This court in Arthur v. Georgia Cotton Co., 22 Ga. App. 431 (1) (96 S. E. 232) said: “Where the owner of property engages another to find a purchaser for it and to negotiate terms of sale at a named minimum price or better, and such person, with or without compensation, assumes such duty, and, by virtue of his delegated authority, procures a purchaser for the owner, and the owner consummates a contract of sale with the buyer upon terms which have been arrived at solely by virtue of the previous negotiations thus had, the relation which subsists between the seller and the one acting for him in such previous negotiation of terms, is that of principal and agent.” It will thus be seen that the payment of compensation is not a necessary ingredient of principal and agent. In Baldwin v. Garrett & Sons, 111 Ga. 876 (2) (36 S. E. 966), the Supreme Court said: “An agent to conduct a given business for his principal necessarily has authority
(b) The defendant contends that the plaintiff did not carry the burden of proof as required under Code § 38-103. In this connection counsel call our attention to Kimsey v. Rogers, 166 Ga. 176 (8) (142 S. E. 667); Hill v. Harris, 11 Ga. App. 358 (4) (75 S. E. 518); Little v. Dolvin, 25 Ga. App. 264 (1) (103 S. E. 35); Windham v. Taylor, 42 Ga. App. 521 (1) (156 S. E. 744); Courson v. Pearson, 132 Ga. 698 (64 S. E. 997). These cases hold in effect that the burden of proof is on the plaintiff to establish the case. The defendant contends that proof must be a preponderance of the evidence, and calls our attention to Grimsley v. Morgan, 178 Ga. 40 (172 S. E. 49) wherein the Supreme Court said: “If the plaintiff alleges a right to recover, and the defendant denies his allegation without more the plaintiff, upon the case as a whole, carries the burden of showing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that he is entitled to recover.” The defendant further contends that it is for the jury to decide whether or not the defendant has carried the burden by a preponderance of the evidence; and the jury having found against the plaintiff,
It is the defendant’s contention further that the testimony of the plaintiff was contradicted as to agency by the testimony of Mrs. Fisher and the defendant; and that, taking the plaintiff’s contention to be true and that her testimony was uncontradicted, there were circumstances inconsistent with the truth of her testimony. The first such circumstances would be her age, which placed her in the age group in which women normally go through “change of life”; and further her testimony that she was actually going through this “change of life”; that these are circumstances inconsistent with her testimony that her nervous condition was caused by the acts of Bernard, and that therefore the jury were • not obligated to believe her testimony. In this connection counsel call our attention to Detwiler v. Cox, 120 Ga. 638 (48 S. E. 142), wherein it is stated: “The interest of a witness in the result of the suit may always be considered in passing upon his credibility, and where there are circumstances inconsistent with the truth of his testimony, the jury are not obliged to believe him, even though he is not contradicted by any other witness.” Counsel also call our attention to Armstrong v. Ballew, 118 Ga. 168 (44 S. E. 996); Amis v. Cameron, 55 Ga. 449; Penny v. Vincent, 49 Ga. 473; Laramore v. Minish, 43 Ga. 282; Fincher v. Harlow, 56 Ga. App. 578 (193 S. E. 452); McRae v. Wilby, 59 Ga. App. 401 (1 S. E. 2d 77); and Horton v. Johnson, 192 Ga. 338 (15 S. E. 2d 605). Counsel also call our attention to Eberhardt v. Bennett, 163 Ga. 796 (137 S. E. 64), wherein the Supreme Court said: “While a juror may not be authorized to captiously disregard the testimony of a witness who is not impeached in any of the modes prescribed by law, still a juror is at liberty, dependent upon the circumstances of the ease, to
We will discuss these contentions briefly. The last decision quoted immediately hereinabove states that a juror is not authorized to captiously disregard the testimony of a witness who is not impeached in the modes prescribed by law, but the jury may depend upon the circumstances of the case and disbelieve any testimony of any or all the witnesses in the case. According to our way of thinking, the evidence overwhelmingly establishes the fact that Levie was the general agent in charge of the defendant’s business in Georgia while the defendant was in Pennsylvania. Certainly the evidence for the defendant in no wise contradicted this proposition. It might be interesting in this connection to inquire why no effort was made, insofar as the record reveals, to determine the whereabouts of Bernard and Levie at the time of the trial. In the interest of truth and justice, it occurs to us that the defendant should have made an effort to procure them to rebut the testimony of the plaintiff. Certainly it was not the duty of the plaintiff to make an effort to procure them.
The defendant contends that the jury were authorized to find that the testimony of the plaintiff should be wholly disregarded, although she was not impeached, because of her period in life where women normally go through what is generally known as “change of life.” There was no evidence to this effect except by cross-examination of the plaintiff by counsel for the defendant. We have.read that evidence carefully several times, and by reference to her testimony on cross-examination it appears from the record that counsel for the defendant rely on questions propounded as evidence of such fact. It will be noted that to practically all of the questions propounded on cross-examination, seeking to discredit the plaintiff, she answered in the negative. We know of no rule of law which would permit such questions to be considered as evidence by the jury. The plaintiff positively testified that she had no nervous trouble until after the manhandling and assault and battery committed upon her by Bernard, who was sent there by the general agent of the defendant, Levie. We fail to find, in all the evidence, any circumstances that would authorize the jury to captiously disregard the unimpeached testimony of the plaintiff. In this connection
“ (b) A fact cannot be established by circumstantial evidence which is perfectly consistent with direct, uncontradicted, reasonable and unimpeached testimony that the fact does not exist. Frazier v. Ga. Ry. &c. Co., 108 Ga. 807 (1); Hendon v. State, 10 Ga. App. 78 ( 72 S. E. 522); Georgia Ry. & Elec. Co. v. Harris, 1 Ga. App. 714, 717 (57 S. E. 1076).
“(c) Whether the evidence, introduced by the defendant, that the intestate or alleged maker was able to write her own name and was in the habit of doing so, might be relevant and furnish a 'collateral prop’ to other evidence, it could not have been within itself sufficient to support a verdict in favor of the plea, as against the character of evidence introduced by the plaintiff in opposition thereto. This case is distinguishable from Dillard v. Holtzendorf, 140 Ga. 17 (1) (78 S. E. 414), and Stewart v. White, 143 Ga. 22 (1) (84 S. E. 63). In each of those cases there was other evidence in support of the plea.”
See also Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta v. Haynie, 46 Ga. App. 522 (168 S. E. 112), wherein this court said: “A fact cannot be established by circumstantial evidence which is perfectly consistent with direct, uncontradicted, reasonable and unimpeached testimony that the fact does not exist.”
To the principle of law that a jury may not arbitrarily disregard the testimony of a witness by reason of interest in the re-
We might again revert to the principle of agency. The declarations of a mere agent, standing alone, are not sufficient to prove agency. The declarations of a general agent made while in the employ of the defendant are admissible to prove agency. See, in this connection, Citizens’ Bank of Tifton v. Timmons, 15 Ga. App. 815 (2) (84 S. E. 232); Mason v. Rice, 47 Ga. App. 502, 504 (170 S. E. 829); Camilla Cotton Oil &c. Co. v. Walker, 21 Ga. App. 603 (6) (94 S. E. 855); Krogg v. Atlanta & W. P. R. Co., 77 Ga. 202 (1, 1a) (4 Am. St. R. 77); Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Tift, 100 Ga. 86 (3) (27 S. E. 765); Farmers’ Ginnery & Mfg. Co. v. Thrasher, 144 Ga. 598 (4) (87 S. E. 804); and Baker v. H. E. Lowe Electric Co., 47 Ga. App. 259 (6) (170 S. E. 337). The evidence in this case demanded a verdict for the plaintiff in some amount.
Special ground 1 contends that the court erred in charging the jury to the effect that the jury should determine whether Bernard was an agent of the defendant or was an independent contractor. The evidence shows that Bernard was the agent of the defendant when he was sent to the home of the plaintiff with instructions to try to enter into a contract with her. It is contended by the plaintiff that the charge of the court confused the jury, since the jury had heard the testimony of the witnesses and knew or should have known that Bernard was the agent of the defendant; and further contended that, so far as the undisputed evidence was concerned, the charge that the jury should determine whether Bernard was an agent was such as to cast doubt upon the evidence in the minds of the jurors and require them to think that as a matter of law Bernard was not the agent of the defendant, notwithstanding undisputed evidence to the contrary, the court having charged that the jury would settle this question, which had already been settled by undisputed evidence. It is true that the defendant in his plea set up that Bernard was not the agent and that Bernard was an independent contractor, if. he was anything; still the evidence for both the plaintiff and the defendant shows beyond dispute that Bernard was an agent of the defendant when he assaulted the plaintiff.
See Americus Gas &c. Co. v. Coleman, 16 Ga. App. 17 (2) (84 S. E. 493) to the effect that it is error to read to the jury contentions in the pleadings which are not supported by the evidence.
The court erred in denying the amended motion for a new trial.
Judgment reversed.
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