Bush v. City of Albany
Bush v. City of Albany
Opinion of the Court
For decision here is determination of the legal sufficiency of an ante litem notice given the City of Albany which failed to disclose the name of the claimant. The notice verbatim is as follows:
"Georgia, Dougherty County. To the Mayor and Council of the City of Albany: "You are hereby notified that on the 12th day of November, 1970, at the intersection of Broad and Harding Streets in said city, petitioner being a foot passenger along Broad Street, in the nighttime, fell into a hole or excavation in said street. The said hole was dangerous in character, urilighted, and without barrier to warn or protect foot passengers along said street; petitioner did not know of the existence of the said hole, and was without fault in the transaction. The said hole had been there 1 year before petitioner fell into it, and the City of Albany knew of its existence, and was charged with the knowledge thereof, and was negligent in failing to put up lights there, or other warning or barriers to protect plaintiff therefrom. Petitioner sustained serious injuries in falling into said hole, to wit: Her leg was broken, she suffered and still suffers great pain and mental anguish therefrom. She is permanently disfigured and injured in her person, and her capacity to labor and earn money permanently impaired to the extent of at least one-half, that she was 50 years of age when injured, and was capable of earning the sum of $3,000 dollars per annum, that she was confined to her bed for the space of 3 months by reason of such injuries, and incurred expense for medicines and medical attention and
_I si F. M. Davis_
Attorney
828 Oglethorpe Ave., Albany, Ga.”
Suit was filed for Annie Lee Bush followed by defensive pleadings by the City of Albany and interrogatories and depositions. The city moved for summary judgment which was first granted in general terms. Thereafter, at the request of the plaintiff the court vacated the original order and entered a substitute order limited to the specific point of the omission of the name of the claimant. This substitute order states the court granted the city’s motion "insofar as the same is predicated on the inadequacy of the notice given by the plaintiff, Annie Lee Bush, to the defendant, City of Albany, as required by Georgia.Code § 69-308, as said notice failed to. comply with the requirements of the Code Section, as said notice failed to name the party claimant, although same was signed by claimant’s attorney.” In that same order the trial court provided the necessary certificate for review by directappeal.
The requirements contained in § 69-308 which are. prerequisite to a suit .against a municipality for injuries to person or property state explicitly the following condition precedent: "[W]ithout first, and within six months of the happening of the event upon which such claim is predicated, presenting in writing such claim to the governing authority of said municipality for adjustment, stating the time, place and extent of such injury, as nearly as practicable and the negligence which caused the same.” It is significant that these requirements do not include the name and address of the claimant as is done in many other jurisdictions.
In the excellent volume by Professor Sentell entitled "The Law Of Municipal Tort Liability In Georgia,” the author
As is stated in 17 McQuillin on Municipal Corporations, §48.02, p. 60 of the 1967 Revised Volume: "The principal purpose of the requirement that claims be presented or filed is' to provide the city with full information of the rights asserted against it, enable it to make proper investigation concerning the merits of the claim, and to settle those of merit without the expense of litigation.”
Our courts have ruled that this statute requiring this notice is in derogation of the common law, and must be strictly construed against the municipality. City of Rome v. Stone, 46 Ga. App. 259 (167 SE 325); Jones v. Mayor &c. of Savannah, 52 Ga. App. 537 (184 SE 353); City of Atlanta v. J. J. Black & Co., 110 Ga. App. 667 (139 SE2d 515). Therefore, it will not be extended beyond its plain and explicit terms. Sears v. Minchew, 212 Ga. 417 (93 SE2d 746); Duncan v. Entrekin, 211 Ga. 311 (85 SE2d 771); Foster v. Vickery, 202 Ga. 55 (42 SE2d 117). The result is as stated in Taylor v. King, 104 Ga. App. 589, 591 (122 SE2d 265) that "it:has been held many times that a substantial compliance with this section is all that is necessary, the purpose of the notice requirement being to apprize the city of the claim in order that it may determine whether or not to adjust the claim without suit.”
The extent to which our appellate courts have gone in upholding this policy of "substantial compliance” is illustrated in Aldred v. City of Summerville, 215 Ga. 651 (113 SE2d 108) .when the Supreme Court pointed out on certiorari the error of this Court of Appeals. Our Supreme Court overruled a holding that the specific written notice was not
In the light of these authorities (see particularly citation of 21 Georgia cases on p. 540 of Jones v. Mayor &c. of Savannah, 52 Ga. App. 537 (184 SE 353)), substantial compliance with the requirements of Code Ann. §69-308 is all that is required. The specified elements are "the time, place and extent of such injury as nearly as practicable, and the negligence which caused the same.” The notice given in this case contains these specified elements. Even if it fails to give the name of the petitioner, it is signed by the attorney for the petitioner. It would have been a simple matter for the city’s representatives to telephone the attorney and obtain the name and address of his client. "Where the claim requirement demands the address of the claimant, it is deemed satisfied if an address is given at which or through which the claimant may be found, in order that the local government officials may make such investigation of the merits of the claim as may be desired.” 2 Antineau, Municipal Corporation Law, § 16.06, p. 474.
In our great country the citizen looks upon the government as his friend and not as his adversary. This philosophy undoubtedly underlies our giving the aggrieved citizen
In a brilliant brief the city’s attorneys have relied upon cases which we deem are not controlling on the facts here. It is true that Headnote 1 in Taylor v. King, 104 Ga. App. 589, supra, uses the phrase "to whom occasioned,” but the statute does not contain this phrase and this court therein reiterated its adherence to the "substantial compliance rule” when the notice was given by one other than the plaintiff.
Able counsel for the City of Albany has devoted two-thirds of his extensive brief in a persuasive argument on the questions of contributory negligence, proximate cause, and intervening negligence and criminal acts of a third party. In doing so he has acted in the best traditions of advocacy, urging that the judgment should nevertheless be sustained on these grounds if we disagree with the single point acted on by the trial court tribunal, and hold the notice given to the municipality is legally adequate. Although we know this has been done frequently in rulings on general demurrers under our former practice, we decline in this specific instance to undertake to consider contributory negligence and intervening negligence when the trial judge
Judgment reversed.
070rehearing
On Motion for Rehearing.
In a motion for rehearing counsel for the municipality urges this court to pass upon the correctness of the trial court’s ruling on other grounds than the specific issue that was submitted by the trial court for review, namely, sufficiency of the ante litem. Citing those cases which hold this court has the right to affirm a judgment which may be correct for any reason, it is requested we now pass upon-the plaintiff’s own negligence and the intervening negligence of a third person. In the posture of this case and the applicable law this court declines.
The record shows that on September 29, 1971, the trial judge entered an order granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment in general terms and included therein a certificate for immediate review. Two days later the trial court withdrew the previous judgment and substituted another order limiting his ruling to the sufficiency of the ante litem notice. The trial judge goes on to say, "this order is intended to clarify the order vacated and limit the ruling of the court to the foregoing ground” and thereupon certifies that "the court deems the question of sufficient importance to warrant immediate decision by the appellate court.”
It should be noted that § 56 of the Civil Practice Act, codified as Code Ann. § 81A-156, dealing with summary judg
At the time of the passage of the Appellate Practice Act (Ga. L. 1965, p. 18 et seq.) there was no reference therein specifically to the procedure dealing with appeals on summary judgments. This was clarified by the 1968 amendatory Act (Ga. L. 1968, p. 1073) through a specific statement that "review of orders and judgments with respect to motions for summary judgment shall -be . governed by § 56 (h) as amended of the Georgia Civil Practice Act [approved March 18, 1966 (Ga. L. 1966, p. 609), as amended.]” The summary judgment statute permits submission to this court of a specific "issue” as was done here by the trial judge. Code Ann. § 81A-156 (h).
It will be observed that an order granting summary judgment is by the terms of the statute expressly subject to review by appeal as contrasted with an order denying summary judgment which is not-subject to review by direct appeal or otherwise unless the trial judge grants the necessary certificate for review. In the light of this language contained in subparagraph (h) of Code Ann. § 81A-156 we can only interpret the substituted order of the trial judge as intended to have this court pass on the single "issue.” This is particularly true when it is recognized that no certificate for immediate review was needed for this appeal. Obviously, the trial judge wanted this court to pass upon the correctness of his ruling on the single "issue.”
Defendant municipality now -has the right reserved under these circumstances to move for a summary judgment on the additional grounds that were not considered by the trial judge in certifying to this court 'the single "issue” of the legality of the ante litem notice. See Suggs v. Brotherhood &c., 106 Ga. App. 563 (127 SE2d 827); 6 Moore, Fed. Prac
We have reviewed the cases cited in the motion for rehearing dealing with the sufficiency of the ante litem notice and adhere to our original ruling on this point.
Rehearing denied.
The editorial note in the-Annotated Code points out that subparagraph (h) is peculiar to Georgia and does not appear in the Federal Rules.
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