Haber v. Georgia Power Company
Haber v. Georgia Power Company
Opinion of the Court
This is an action for damages for personal injuries sustained by the plaintiff while a guest passenger in a 1970 Ford automobile, driven by the defendant driver, which struck a utility pole, which was located within a portion of a public road which had recently been widened and paved by defendant Fulton County and which pole was allegedly owned and negligently maintained by defendant Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company "and/or” defendant Georgia Power Company. In their answers to the complaint, defendant Georgia Power Co. denied and defendant Southern Bell admitted, owning the pole in question. The defendant’s sworn answers to the plaintiff’s interrogatories affirmatively showed that the pole was owned and maintained by defendant Southern Bell and that defendant Georgia Power Co. was, as to the pole, a licensee of Southern Bell, under a contract whereby Georgia Power Co. is permitted to affix power lines and equipment to the upper portion thereof. The trial judge granted the motion for summary judgment of defendant Georgia Power Co., from which judgment the plaintiff appeals. Held:
Summary judgment "shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. . .” (Emphasis supplied.) Code Ann. § 81A-156 (c) (Ga. L. 1966, pp. 609, 660, as amended). Even without regard to the authenticated copy of the agreement between defendants Georgia Power Co. and Southern Bell and the affidavit of the employee of Georgia Power Co. attached in support of its motion (which the plaintiff attacks on the ground of the failure to show the affiant’s personal knowledge of the matters sworn to), the trial judge properly granted the motion based on the defendants’ answers and their sworn answers to the
Judgment affirmed.
Concurring Opinion
concurring specially. The complaint in this case alleges in paragraphs 8 and 9 that Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Company and/or Georgia Power Company owned and maintained the pole in question. The term "and/or” is dealt with fully in Shadden v. Cowan, 213 Ga.
I, therefore, reach the same result as is set forth in the majority opinion, to wit, that Georgia Power Company’s motion for summary judgment was properly sustained by the lower court, and I feel that said result is reinforced by plaintiff’s use of "and/or” in his complaint wherein he sought to allege Georgia Power Company’s ownership and maintenance of the pole in question.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HABER v. GEORGIA POWER COMPANY Et Al.
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published