Court Opinion

ID: 9585630
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:02:20.794748+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:21:44.667135
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
A summary judgment in favor of a governmental authority (Tift County) was granted on the ground that the claim of the plaintiff was not presented within twelve months after the same accrued as required by law (Code § 23-1602). The evidence presented in behalf of the governmental authority (affidavits of the individual commissioners) was that no written claim had been made to each as a member of the Board of Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Tift County, Georgia, and that at no time within the period of twelve months were any of these defendants as official members of the Board of Commissioners of Roads and Revenues of Tift County, Georgia "presented with written notice ... of a claim ...” This evidence is simply insufficient for the determination of summary judgment, i.e., it fails to "show that there is no genuine issue of any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” It fails to pierce the formal verbiage of the pleadings as the *474burden is upon the moving party to establish the lack of a genuine issue as to any material fact. See Holland v. Sanfax Corp., 106 Ga. App. 1, 4-5 (126 SE2d 442).
It is true that the plaintiff has not attached a copy of a written claim to his affidavit in opposition to defendants’ motion for summary judgment but none was necessary until the movant had offered sufficient proof for the grant of same. However, numerous written letters of negotiation of settlement by and between plaintiff’s counsel and the Travelers Insurance Company were attached to an affidavit submitted by counsel.
I agree fully that Code § 23-1602 is a statute of limitation and that the case law interpreting same requires that written notice of the claim must be made; but inasmuch as the contract of insurance has not been produced to show what agreement the county may have made as to the requirement of notice with the insurer, if any, I cannot agree that the evidence establishes that no notice of the claim whatsoever has been made simply because each commissioner testifies he was not presented with written notice of the claim. This does not show that no written notice reached the board by and through its authorized representatives or that it is not on file with the board. The board may have authorized in its contract with the insurer that the insurer was to receive all such claims for the board, that is, in the event no such claim was duly forwarded to the clerk or other authorized representative of the board. See in this connection Chiles v. City of Smyrna, 146 Ga. App. 260, 263 (246 SE2d 117) (1978).
I, therefore, respectfully dissent.
I am authorized to state that Judge Smith joins in this dissent.