Patterson v. Castellaw
Patterson v. Castellaw
070rehearing
On Motion to Rehear.
“An order denying summary judgment is not subject to review by direct appeal or otherwise, unless within 10 days of the order of denial the trial judge certifies that the order denying summary judgment as to any issue or as to any party should be subject to review, in which case such order shall be subject to review by direct appeal.” Code Ann. § 81A-156 (h). The statute plainly specifies that unless the order denying a motion for summary judgment is appealed within 30 days and accompanied by a proper judicial certificate it is nonreviewable. Like a motion for nonsuit, it becomes moot when the court reviews the evidence upon the trial of the case. Hill v. Willis, 224 Ga. 263 (2) (161 SE2d 281). For this reason the motion of the appellants here that this court send to the trial court to obtain affidavits introduced in support of a motion for summary judgment overruled and not appealed prior to trial, which affidavits were by the clerk of the trial court omitted on appeal, has not been granted for the reason that it would not benefit either party.
Opinion of the Court
“A petition alleging that a defendant in-
surance agent represented that he had issued a binder insuring certain property when he knew that he had not, or that he promised that he would issue a binder when in fact he had no intention of doing so; that he made the misrepresentations in order to make plaintiff believe that she was insured as of a certain date, when, in fact, she was not; that the plaintiff relied upon the misrepresentations and sustained a loss and
Two motions for mistrial were made and overruled—one on the ground that the co-defendant Smith volunteered that the Insurance Commissioner agreed with his own feeling that the fault lay with Patterson and not with him, the other because Smith volunteered while describing a conversation between himself and Patterson in which he reported the loss and found out that he did not have insurance in force, that Patterson “kept saying he had errors and omissions and he was going to have the adjuster to check into it and nothing ever came of it.” In the first instance the court interposed immediately and instructed the jury to 'disregard the remark as hearsay. In the second
“Motions of this character are addressed to the discretion of the trial judge; and, unless it can be shown that such discretion has been abused and some positive injury done by the occurrence complained of, the discretion of the trial judge will not be controlled.” Avery v. State, 209 Ga. 116, 128 (70 SE2d 716). The careful language in which counsel’s indication of his objection was couched suggested that he, too, was doubtful that the jury realized that the words “adjustor” and “errors and omissions” referred to liability insurance of the defendant and not to the insurance which had been sought by the plaintiff. The words were themselves words of art, and liability insurance was not the subject of discussion nor was it a subject of the attorney’s questions. Where a witness volunteers objectionable material the scope of its effect on the jury and the measures necessary to insure that all parties have a fair trial must be left in large measure to the court. No further instructions to the jury were requested by counsel, and it cannot be said to have been shown that injury followed upon the remark. These grounds are not cause for reversal.
There are various exceptions to the instructions relating to the nature and elements of actionable fraud, including the language of Code § 37-705 that fraud may be perpetrated by signs and tricks, and of Code § 37-706 that fraud is subtle in its nature and slight circumstances may be sufficient to establish its existence. The instructions were all abstractly correct, but it is contended that they interjected elements for the jury’s consideration (acts, signs, etc., rather than words) which were not supported by the evidence. There is also complaint on instructions that in the absence of any trust or confidential relation
The court charged: “If you reach the conclusion that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover at this point, that would be the end of your deliberations and you would return a verdict in favor of the defendants.” While the court failed to give the jury the specific verdict form for this situation, counsel failed to call this omission to the court’s attention and the jury did not in fact reach such conclusion. The omission is not by itself cause for reversal under these circumstances.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- PATTERSON v. CASTELLAW Et Al.
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- 15 cases
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- Published