Court Opinion

ID: 9599356
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:18:15.746446+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:07:05.667677
License: Public Domain

HUFF, Judge:
Leatrice Williams Collins appeals from the trial court’s grant of a directed verdict in favor of unknown motorist John Doe. The trial court held Collins failed to meet the requirement of the uninsured motorist statute, South Carolina Code Annotated Section 38-77-170 (Supp.1999). We reverse and remand.
*122FACTS
Collins was injured in an automobile accident on March 11, 1994. According to Collins, she was traveling north on Highway 301 when a car traveling on Highway 521 failed to yield the right of way where Highway 521 intersects with Highway 301. Collins swerved into the lane of oncoming traffic to avoid the car. Because a truck was heading towards her, she swerved back into her original lane, sideswiping a car driven by Joanne Calvin. The car that failed to yield the right of way did not stop.
Collins filed this action against John Doe, the unknown driver of the unidentified vehicle pursuant to Section 38-77-170. She alleged Doe’s failure to yield the right of way and other acts of negligence, carelessness, arid recklessness caused her collision with Calvin.
At trial, Collins called Roberta Briggs, Calvin’s sister, as a witness. Briggs testified that while she was walking she saw Calvin and waved at her so that she could catch a ride. Calvin stopped to make a left turn to pick her up. Briggs stated she saw a light-colored car fail to stop at the yield sign and keep going. The light-colored car passed Calvin on the right, hitting the sidewalk. Briggs saw Collins swerve out of her lane and try to pass Calvin’s car on the driver’s side. Briggs testified that when Collins was not able to get around because of oncoming traffic, she pulled back and hit Calvin’s car. On cross-examination, she testified Collins was traveling fast.
Collins also called Calvin as a witness. Calvin testified she was coming off of Highway 521 at the Highway 301 intersection when she stopped for her sister. She stated the car traveling behind her on Highway 521 ran Collins’s car into the other lane. Calvin stated Collins had to hit her to avoid a head-on collision with a truck. On cross-examination, she testified she did not see Collins’s car until it hit her.
After Collins rested her case, Doe moved for a directed verdict arguing that Collins’s failure to produce an affidavit of a witness to the accident as required by Section 38-77-170 rendered her unable to recover under the statute. The trial court granted the motion. This appeal followed.
*123DISCUSSION
Collins argues the trial court erred in granting Doe’s motion for directed verdict. She asserts that although she did not present the affidavit of a witness to the accident, the witnesses’ trial testimony satisfied the statutory requirements. We agree.
Section 38-77-170 provides:
If the owner or operator of any motor vehicle which causes bodily injury or property damage to the insured is unknown, there is no right of action or recovery under the uninsured motorist provision, unless:
(1) the insured or someone in his behalf has reported the accident to some appropriate police authority within a reasonable time, under all the circumstances, after its occurrence;
(2) the injury or damage was caused by physical contact with the unknown vehicle, or the accident must have been witnessed by someone other than the owner or operator of the insured vehicle; provided however, the witness must sign an affidavit attesting to the truth of the facts of the accident contained in the affidavit;
(3) the insured was not negligent in failing to determine the identity of the other vehicle and the driver of the other vehicle at the time of the accident.
The following statement must be prominently displayed on the face of the affidavit provided in subitem (2) above: A FALSE STATEMENT CONCERNING THE FACTS CONTAINED IN THIS AFFIDAVIT MAY SUBJECT THE PERSON MAKING THE FALSE STATEMENT TO CRIMINAL PENALTIES AS PROVIDED BY LAW.
The primary concern in' interpreting a statute is to determine the intent of the legislature if it reasonably can be discovered in the language when construed in the light of its intended purpose. Whitner v. State, 328 S.C. 1, 492 S.E.2d 777 (1997); Singletary v. South Carolina Dep’t of Educ., 316 S.C. 153, 447 S.E.2d 231 (Ct.App.1994). “However plain the ordinary meaning of the words used in a statute may be, the courts will reject that meaning when to accept it would lead to a result so plainly absurd that it could not possibly have been *124intended by the Legislature or would defeat the plain legislative intention.” Kiriakides v. United Artists Communications, Inc., 312 S.C. 271, 275, 440 S.E.2d 364, 366 (1994). The uninsured motorist statutes are remedial in nature and enacted for the benefit of the injured persons. They are to be liberally construed so that the purpose may be accomplished. Gunnels v. American Liberty Ins. Co., 251 S.C. 242, 161 S.E.2d 822 (1968); Franklin v. Devore, 327 S.C. 418, 489 S.E.2d 651 (Ct.App.1997).
In a case such as this where there was no contact with the unknown vehicle, the plain language of Section 38-77-170 requires the filing of an affidavit by a corroborating witness. An affidavit is a “voluntary declaration of facts written down and sworn to by the declarant before an officer authorized to administer oaths.” Black’s Law Dictionary 58 (7th ed. 1999). In requiring the witness to sign an affidavit attesting to the truth of the facts of the accident, the legislature intended to preclude false statements by making such a false statement subject to criminal laws. Testimony at trial is obviously taken under oath. Giving false testimony at trial constitutes the felony of perjury and subjects the perjurer to a fine and/or up to five years imprisonment. S.C.Code Ann. § 16-9-10 (Supp.1999). Although Section 38-77-170 does not specifically provide for sworn testimony as a substitute for an affidavit, we find such testimony fulfills the legislature’s intent. To hold otherwise would elevate form over substance. See South Carolina Second Injury Fund v. American Yard Products, 330 S.C. 20, 496 S.E.2d 862 (1998), citing Liberty Mut. Ins. Co. v. South Carolina Second Injury Fund, 318 S.C. 516, 518, 458 S.E.2d 550, 551 (1995) (“[t]he real purpose of the legislature will prevail over the literal import of the words.”).
Accordingly, we find the trial court erred in holding Collins’ claim must fail as a matter of law because she failed to provide affidavits by her corroborating witnesses.
John Doe asserts that even if this court holds Collins satisfied Section 38-77-170, he is still entitled to a directed verdict because Collins did not produce witnesses to establish John Doe caused the accident. We disagree.1
*125When reviewing the denial of a motion for directed verdict, this court, like the trial court, must consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party. Brady Dev. Co. v. Town of Hilton Head Island, 312 S.C. 73, 439 S.E.2d 266 (1993). A directed verdict should not be granted unless only one reasonable inference can be drawn from the evidence. Horry County v. Laychur, 315 S.C. 364, 434 S.E.2d 259 (1993). When considering the motion, neither this court nor the trial court has authority to decide credibility issues or to resolve conflicts in the testimony and evidence. Garrett v. Locke, 309 S.C. 94, 419 S.E.2d 842 (Ct.App.1992).
Briggs testified that she saw a light colored car fail to yield to Collins and she saw Collins swerve out of her lane and then sideswipe Calvin’s car. On cross-examination, she stated Collins was traveling too fast to stop. Calvin also testified an unknown car failed to yield and ran Collins out of her lane. On cross-examination, however, Calvin admitted she did not see Collins until the impact. The testimony by these witnesses verifies the existence of an unknown vehicle driven by an unknown driver that failed to yield the right-of-way. It is a question for the jury as to the weight to assign the testimony and whether John Doe’s negligence or Collins’s own negligence caused the accident.
The decision of the lower court is REVERSED and the case REMANDED.
ANDERSON, J., concurs.
GOOLSBY, J., dissents in a separate opinion.

. See I'On, L.L.C. v. Town of Mt. Pleasant, 338 S.C. 406, 526 S.E.2d 716 (2000) (holding appellate court may address issue the lower court did *125not rule on where the issue is raised as an additional sustaining ground).