Court Opinion

ID: 9574729
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:07:36.240982+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:53.445279
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
I agree with the majority’s application of Georgia law because this state’s higher driver liability standards outweigh Alabama’s lower driver culpability rule, because the parties in this case are all Georgia residents, the fatal collision occurred while Georgia teenagers were briefly traveling (on an interstate road) across their home state’s line, and no Alabama interest is at stake in the case sub judice. See Alexander v. Gen. Motors Corp., 267 Ga. 339 (478 SE2d 123). But I cannot go along with the majority’s holding that these defendants must prevail on summary judgment because the only eyewitnesses able to verify plaintiffs’ claims, Angela Helms and Shanda Walker, are unavailable because of the serious injuries (respectively a state of coma as to Angela Helms and death as to Shanda Walker) they sustained in the fatal collision.
The majority’s holding not only would reward the sort of wrongful conduct which destroys all direct proof of negligence, but also ignores an evidentiary maxim, res ipsa loquitur, upon which Georgia courts have long relied to avert such injustice. Res ipsa loquitur allows a jury to draw an inference of the negligence alleged and, if the requirements of the maxim are met, bars summary judgment for the defendant. From this perspective, I observe that res ipsa loquitur requires “[a] showing (1) that an injury occurred, (2) that the offending instrument was owned or wholly controlled by the defendant, (3) that the occurrence was such as ordinarily would not happen without negligence, and (4) that neither the plaintiff nor anyone else had tampered with the instrumentality causing the injury is sufficient to support an inference of negligence.” (Footnotes omitted.) Green, Ga. Law of Evidence, § 39, p. 86 (4th ed. 1994). These factors are all present in the case sub judice.
It is undisputed that Angela Helms sustained serious injuries while riding as a passenger in a car which Andrea Tuggle was operating; that Angela Helms sustained these injuries during a devastating, single-car collision; that Andrea Tuggle was charged with control of her parent’s car during this collision; that such devastating, single-car collisions ordinarily do not occur without negligence, and that neither plaintiffs nor anyone else tampered with the Tuggles’ car before the collision. Although this proof would not compel a jury to draw an inference of negligence, I believe these circumstances would *905authorize such an inference. “Whether the inference of negligence is to be drawn is for the jury to decide, provided the manner of the occurrence of the injury or the attendant circumstances are sufficient to warrant the inference.” Green, Ga. Law of Evidence, § 39, p. 86, supra.
I would affirm the trial court’s judgment denying defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
I am authorized to state that Judge Eldridge joins in this dissent.