Court Opinion

ID: 9578314
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:43:59.728033+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:30.904990
License: Public Domain

Evans, Judge,
concurring specially. The insurer first filed a motion for declaratory judgment and thereafter, premised upon same and certain depositions and affidavits, filed a motion for summary judgment. The issue is not as to *862whether Randall Brothers, Inc., the employer and owner of the truck, is liable for the conduct of its driver, Charles C. Stevens, as to the described collision. The issue is much more narrow and restricted in that the petition for declaratory judgment is premised on the following allegation from paragraph 6 thereof, to wit: "Your petitioner on the other hand, shows that it contends that the said Charles C. Stevens was not operating said truck at said time and place with the permission of Randall Brothers, Inc. . . .” (Emphasis supplied.)
So the issue is confined to whether or not Stevens had permission from Randall Brothers, Inc. to operate said truck at the time of the collision. The truck had been entrusted to him by his employer, and he was allowed to take it home. Under the authorities cited in the majority opinion, as applicable to the motion for summary judgment, the party opposing a motion for summary judgment is entitled to the benefit of all reasonable doubts and all favorable inferences that may be drawn from the evidence. So, aside from whether or not the truck was being used "in the course of employment” I feel there was ample evidence to show that it was being used "with permission” of the employer. The employer might be held not liable in this case; and yet the employee might be liable, with insurance coverage afforded as to said employee, because he was using the vehicle "with permission of the named insured.”
On motion for rehearing (which a majority has granted), appellant contends that no consideration was given by this court to the affidavit of John B. Wilson, installation manager for Randall Brothers, Inc., which affidavit, it contends, shows that the truck was being operated at the time of the collision without permission of the employer. The material part of said affidavit is as follows: "Affiant shows that the 1968 Chevrolet truck being operated by Charles C. Stevens upon the aforesaid date was assigned to him by affiant for purposes of being used solely in connection with the business of Randall Brothers, Inc., and that the fact that said truck was to be used only upon service calls and emergency *863calls of said corporation was made known to Mr. Stevens by affiant in keeping with company policy which had existed for a period of at least fifteen years prior to this occurrence. Affiant further shows that said Charles C. Stevens did not request permission to use said vehicle on a personal mission on said date; and that the said Charles C. Stevens was not using said vehicle on business of the said Randall Brothers, Inc., at the time of the occurrence giving rise to the two above referred to lawsuits, nor under the direction or control of Randall Brothers, Inc., and had no permission to operate the same in going to DeKalb General Hospital at said time, if that was where he was in fact going.” (Emphasis supplied.) While most of the above language is a conclusion only, and cannot be considered as evidence in a motion for summary judgment (see Code Ann. § 81A-156 (e)) it does seek in a vague and ambiguous fashion to show that the truck was to be used only upon service calls and emergency calls of said corporation and such limitation "was made known to Mr. Stevens by affiant in keeping with company policy.” For reasons best known to the appellant, the manner and method and date of transmitting this information to Stevens is not set forth and same is therefore vague and ambiguous. How did Wilson advise Stevens that he was not to use the truck except on the employer’s business? Was it by word of mouth? Was it by written notice or letter? If so, who handed the letter or written notice to Stevens? Was it by emplacement of a notice on a bulletin board? When was this information transmitted to the employee? This court has no way of knowing how or when such information was transmitted and that is quite important. It would have been easy for the affiant to have stated in his affidavit, if he could have done so truthfully, as to how, when and who transmitted this information to Stevens and the method used.
Having elected to leave his affidavit vague and ambiguous, same is governed by Southern R. Co. v. Hobbs, 121 Ga. 428 (1) (49 SE 294): "The testimony of a party who offers himself as a witness in his own behalf is to be construed *864most strongly against him when it is self-contradictory, vague, or equivocal. W. & A. R. Co. v. Evans, 96 Ga. 481; Freyermuth v. R. Co., 107 Ga. 32; Ray v. Green, 113 Ga. 920; Farmer v. Davenport, 118 Ga. 289. And he 'is not entitled to a finding in his favor if that version of his testimony the most unfavorable to him shows that the verdict should be against him.’ Southern Bank v. Goette, 108 Ga. 796.”
The record shows that Stevens deposed that he was on duty seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day (T-95) and that Randall Brothers, Inc. had other trucks, all of which were left on the yard except the truck that was entrusted to and used by Stevens (T-96); and that Stevens kept the truck under his control and direction; that he used it on company business during the day and took it home during the night; that he used it on emergency service during the night (T-70). This witness did not at any time testify that he was ever ordered, informed or advised by his employer not to use the truck except on company business or that he was forbidden by his employer to use it except on company business. Again, let it be remembered that we are here considering a motion for summary judgment where the opposing party must be given the benefit of all reasonable doubts and all favorable inferences which may arise from the evidence. Caldwell v. Gregory, 120 Ga. App. 536, 538 (171 SE2d 571).
In Smith v. Jones, 185 Ga. 236, 241 (194 SE 556) it is stated: "There are methods of expressing agreement other than by word of mouth. Conduct can be as articulate as language. An old adage declares that actions speak louder than words. The books are full of instances where parties were estopped though they were speechless at the time. Indeed, silence, when the occasion calls for utterance, is a frequent ground of estoppel.” In the case sub judice the very fact that the owner permitted the employee to take the truck home with him day after day, and night after night, while requiring all others to remain on the grounds; that the record fails to show any statement by the em*865ployee that he had ever been forbidden to use the truck for his own personal ends; the failure of the witnesses for the owner to testify as to any definite method by which the employee had ever been told or written or notified that he could not use the truck except on the owner’s business; are all sufficient circumstances from which it may be assumed, in this motion for summary judgment case (where all inferences and doubts must be resolved in favor of the one opposing said motion), that the employee had never been forbidden the use of the truck for his own ends.
I, therefore, concur in the judgment of affirmance by the majority members of this court.