Court Opinion

ID: 9589244
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:42:53.779486+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:34:07.441652
License: Public Domain

On Motions For Rehearing.
Charlie Powell, one of the defendants in error, made a motion for rehearing, in which as amended it is contended that this court did not take into consideration, in its ruling upon the court’s charge as to ordinary care as applied to Mrs. Healan, the cases hereinafter referred to. In Deen v. Wheeler, 7 Ga. App. 507, 517 (67 S. E. 212), while there was an intimation that, if the allegations in the pleadings or the evidence required a charge on diminution of damages, it would have been error not to so *793charge, the decision in that case was based on the fact that there was nothing in the pleadings or the evidence to require such a charge. The case is not authority for holding that a charge on the subject would be required where based on the pleadings alone.
In Davies v. West Lumber Co., 32 Ga. App. 460 (2b) (123 S. E. 757), while the headnote states that a charge on ordinary care is required where the pleadings alleged that the plaintiff was in the exercise of ordinary care and the averment was denied in the plea and answer, the opinion in that case shows that there was evidence to authorize such a charge as applied to the plaintiff. In the present case, there was no testimony that the deceased was negligent in any manner, and the remaining cases cited by the movant are distinguishable. Nor can any inference be drawn that she was driving the automobile, since the testimony of the defendant Powell was positive that Mr. Healan, not Mrs. Healan, was driving the car. Under the facts in the present ease, this court is bound by the rulings in Bain v. Athens Foundry & Machine Works, 75 Ga. 718 (3); and Hare v. Southern Ry. Co., 61 Ga. App. 159 (6 S. E. 2d 65), where it was held: “There being no evidence to show that the deceased contributed in the slightest degree to the injury which caused his death, the charge of the court on the subject of contributory negligence was not founded on the evidence and was erroneous.” Hare v. Southern Ry. Co., is directly in point, as an examination of the original record in that case shows that the petition alleged that the deceased “Could not, by the exercise of ordinary care on his part, have avoided the consequences of the defendant’s negligence.” This averment was denied in the defendant’s answer, and this court ruled that in the absence of any evidence a charge on the subject of contributory negligence was error.
The movant in his amended motion for new trial also cites Hatcher v. Bray, 88 Ga. App. 344, 347 (5) (77 S. E. 2d 64), where it was held that “The jury could infer that she [the driver] was not keeping a proper lookout; and from the fact that the plaintiff was seated beside her on the front seat, the jury could infer that the plaintiff [guest passenger] was aware of Miss Bray’s failure to keep a proper lookout, and to find that in the exercise of ordinary care the plaintiff should have cau*794tioned her to do so.” On motion for rehearing in that case, the court in support of its ruling that the charge on ordinary care was applicable stated: “It is also inferable that the plaintiff could have, in the exercise of ordinary care, discovered Miss Bray’s inattention and warned her to keep a proper lookout, and this is true under the particular circumstances of this case, for the reason that she was seated beside Miss Bray on the front seat of the car, and she at no point in her testimony said that she was not looking or did not look at Miss Bray.” The present case is distinguishable from that case, in that the “guest passenger” was present and testified on the trial of the case, whereas in the present case the “guest passenger” was killed as the result of the collision, and therefore was not present and could not and did not testify on the trial. It follows that no inferences could be drawn, as the movant contends, from the lack of her testimony.
The plaintiff in error also filed a motion for rehearing as to the defendant in error, Carlus Gay, but it is without merit and is denied.

Motions for rehearing denied.

Felton, C. J., and Quillian, J., concur.