Court Opinion

ID: 9587987
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:28:37.050454+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:04.961305
License: Public Domain

*313Deen, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
In MacNerland v. Barnes, 129 Ga. App. 367 (199 SE2d 564) (1973), Judge Quillian made a distinction, in my opinion, between an unaudited and an audited professional report. This case held that no liability obtains where an unaudited informal report is presented and later relied upon by a third party. Howard v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., 136 Ga. App. 221 (220 SE2d 702) (1975) also followed this principle because no audited or certified business report was provided. If the title certificate or policy in Sherrill v. Louisville Title Ins. Co., 134 Ga. App. 322 (214 SE2d 410) (1975) had been addressed “to whom it may concern” a different result may have been obtained. Allred v. Dobbs, 137 Ga. App. 227 (223 SE2d 265) (1975), one judge concurring in the judgment only, and Johnson v. Landing, 157 Ga. App. 313 (277 SE2d 307) (1981) appear to differ from MacNerland, supra, in that the inspection or report is certified and audited and a guarantee or a type of warranty exists which is based on a comprehensive complete inspection. The latter cases (a) indicate that where a third party might reasonably rely on the inspection and (b) where a definite audited, unlimited, certified, guaranteed inspection exists liability to a third party may occur.
In the instant case (a) above obtains, but (b) is absent. The informal “walk-through” inspection and “general evaluation” resembles more of an unaudited non-certified unofficial type report or opinion and is exemplified and controlled by the first two cases cited. Further, the report disclosed and there was notice as to the “cracks” appearing in the building from the “walk-through” inspection which was given and could have been then more comprehensively investigated and the damage ascertained by the third parties by obtaining proven engineering techniques. Thus, we do not reach the argued question of whether engineering is an exact science. Compare Blount v. Moore, 159 Ga. App. 80, 84 (282 SE2d 720) (1981). I would affirm the judgment of the trial court for the reasons outlined and affirm applying the “right for any reason rule,” therefore, I must respectfully dissent.