Court Opinion

ID: 9562016
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:20:22.505057+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:10.544764
License: Public Domain

Pannell, Judge,
concurring specially. I concur with the judgment reached and concur in Division 1 of the opinion solely on the grounds that the motion not to qualify the jury as to relationship with the insurance company did not properly raise the question upon which a refusal to qualify would have been proper. The motion here was made on the ground that the insurance company had “denied coverage.” If the motion had been made on the ground there was actually no coverage, then the trial judge, in my opinion, should make a determination of the correctness of such fact (paragraph 43 (b) of the Civil *711Practice Act; Ga. L. 1966, pp. 609, 654; Code Ann. § 81A-143 (b)) prior to the trial of the main case against the defendant tortfeasor, and if he determines there be no coverage, then the trial judge should not purge the jury as to its relationship with the insurance company. To do so, in my opinion, would prejudice the rights of the defendant by leading the jury to believe he was covered by insurance when he was not and would be reversible error. A similar general ruling was made in the case of Doe v. Moss, 120 Ga. App. 762 (172 SE2d 321), where an objection was actually made on the ground there was no coverage, but it appears from the record in that case that the motion not to purge the jury on the grounds of no coverage was based upon certain facts stated in the motion, which facts, as a matter of law, did not support the conclusion there was no coverage. The motion was, therefore, on its face insufficient to properly raise the question attempted to be presented by the motion.