Court Opinion

ID: 9847332
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:58:00.161038+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:07.483896
License: Public Domain

Pannell, Judge,
concurring specially. If it were not for the decisions of Hill v. Willis, 224 Ga. 263 (4) (161 SE2d 281); Tiller v. State, 224 Ga. 645 (164 SE2d 137); Staggers v. State, 224 Ga. 839 (165 SE2d 300), and other cases following or holding with the above cases, I would agree with Judge Hall that Section 2 of the Appellate Practice Act as amended (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 20; Ga. L. 1966, pp. 493, 494; Code Ann. § 6-702) and Section 5 of the Appellate Practice Act as amended (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 21; Ga. L. 1966, pp. 493, 496; Ga. L. 1968, pp. 1072, 1077; Code Ann. § 6-803) set out a procedure as follows:
Appeal from the judgment on the verdict is the proper proce*576dure in all cases, for, where a motion for new trial is filed, except an extraordinary motion for new trial, the pendency and disposal of the motion for new trial is purely interlocutory, as in the federal courts and it only tolls the time of appeal from the judgment on the verdict and can never result in the law of the case, and the appeal from the judgment on the verdict would not be affected by any disposition of the motion for new trial, but errors could be enumerated on any alleged error that occurred before the judgment on the verdict whether or not they were grounds of the motion for new trial.
However, the case of Munday v. Brissette, 113 Ga. App. 147 (2b) (148 SE2d 55) (in which the writer did not participate) holding that a direct appeal could be had from the overruling of the motion for new trial, and the case of Allen v. Rome Craft Co., 114 Ga. App. 717 (152 SE2d 618) (in which the writer dissented), holding that in an appeal from the judgment on the verdict, error could be enumerated upon the action of the court subsequent thereto in overruling the motion for new trial, and Hill v. Willis, supra, holding that the overruling of the motion for new trial constituted the law of the case, unless attacked by appeal and enumeration of error, conclusively established that a motion for new trial was not merely an interlocutory matter, as in the federal courts, but was in all respects identical with the old motion for new trial, exepting only that its filing tolled the time of appeal from the judgment on the verdict.
Decisions relating to a dismissal of an action, on grounds not going to the merits, to the effect that such dismissal is not a bar to the rebringing of the action within the time required are not applicable here. The question here is not whether the appellant could have rebrought his motion for new trial, if brought within time, but whether, when a motion for new trial is dismissed for lack of prosecution, and this court affirms such dismissal, the movant can still get the questions raised on the motion decided by merely enumerating error on the actions of the trial judge complained of in the motion. I would hold that under these circumstances, we would be precluded from passing upon any alleged errors contained in the properly dismissed motion for new trial. That this is the proper result is indicated by some decisions under *577the old practice where a direct appeal from certain matters could be had without the motion for new trial under former Code § 6-804 taken from the Act of 1898 (Ga. L. 1898, p. 92). In these cases, it was held that even though a motion for new trial be dismissed or overruled, the appellant, if within time, could bring a direct exception under Code §6-804, supra. But only those questions not contained in the motion for new trial were decided. See in this connection Copeland v. Gilbert, 24 Ga. App. 387 (2, 3) (100 SE 775), in which the court refused to dismiss, but determined that the trial court erred in directing a verdict. An examination of the record in that case discloses that this question was not raised in the motion for new trial. See also McGee v. Knox, 60 Ga. App. 72 (3) (2 SE2d 808); Prudential Ins. Co. of America v. Hattaway, 49 Ga. App. 211 (1) (174 SE 736); Henderson v. American Tel. & Tel. Co., 71 Ga. App. 607 (2) (31 SE2d 662).