Court Opinion

ID: 9848869
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 04:28:56.122798+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:50.653668
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
I somewhat reluctantly agree that the jury instruction discussed in Division 2 is erroneous and that the appellants are entitled to a new trial on that account. Reticence is based on two factors.
One, the instruction extricated from the whole here and examined microscopically can be construed as not misstating the law. The jury charge must be considered in its entirety, because that is how the jury heard it and because the entire charge comprised the jury’s marching orders. Reviewing the court’s instructions on the subjects of evidence and burden of proof, the court’s charge fairly and fully set out the rules which the jury should apply in construing and weighing the evidence and fitting it into the framework of burdens, in its fact-finding process. The court did instruct the jury to take all of the evidence into account: “In determining these matters, the jury may consider all the facts and circumstances of the case,” is an example. Another is: “you would believe that evidence which is most reasonable and most credible to you and you would settle the issues by the greater weight or preponderance of the evidence as you find it to be.” Thus the jury was told several times to consider the composite picture.
The instruction complained of here is not contained in the first or second editions of the Suggested Pattern Jury Instructions, Civil Cases, nor in the earlier Jury Instructions, Civil book either. Yet, it may not be an uncommon charge. It was given in the midst of that portion of the charge dealing with burdens and evidence, and in the context of the whole charge, it can be argued that the missing caveat is inferred. That is, that it goes without saying that the jury should find against a party if the only evidence favoring that party is his or her own equivocal (or vague or contradictory) testimony. In other words, if such is the party’s best, it is not sufficient to support a verdict; it does not establish the claim. As applies to a plaintiff, it would fall short of constituting a favorable preponderance. As applies to parties defendant, which was peculiarly embraced in the instruction here, it would not rise to show the defense claimed. Of course, if the second part of the instruction applies to parties defendant at all, the jury would have to go further and still find in addition that the plaintiff’s case was proved by a preponderance. A plaintiff could not prevail just because the defendant’s testimony was equivocal, vague, or contradictory; a prima facie case would have to be made out. The court in this case fashioned both the first and second principles to fit the defendant as well as the plaintiff. The first principle, that a party’s equivocal testimony is to be construed against that party (i.e., *24the unfavorable version should be taken), applies to both plaintiffs and defendants. Long Cigar & Grocery Co. v. Harvey, 33 Ga. App. 236, 237 (125 SE 870) (1924). The second principle, that a party is not entitled to a verdict if the unfavorable version of that party’s equivocal testimony is the only evidence that party has, is generally only applied to plaintiffs. That is, a plaintiff cannot recover unless there is evidence other than plaintiff’s equivocal testimony to support the claim. See, e.g., the cases cited for the principle in the majority opinion. This second principle is a rather obvious one and follows as a matter of course from the first, when the burden of proof is kept in mind. Once the factfinder concludes that the plaintiff’s testimony is equivocal, it knows it must take the unfavorable version. And having taken the unfavorable version, it would have to conclude that the burden of establishing the claim by a preponderance was not met unless, “considering all the facts and circumstances of the case” and “believing that evidence which is most reasonable and credible,” it found the claim was made out by the other evidence.
But I cannot assume that the jury drew that inference about the instruction from the charge itself as a whole, or from its collective common sense. This leaves a doubt which I must resolve in favor of the plaintiffs who did not get the correct charge and whose loss of the verdict may have been occasioned thereby. That being the case, I cannot say it was harmless error to omit the “no other evidence” condition.1
The second factor which draws reluctance is that it is hard to believe that the jury understood the instruction as the court here concludes was its meaning. It is a very long and complicated sentence, containing several legal principles which are then linked together into a relationship which posits a certain legal result. One of the principles is conditioned upon the existence of the other, and the final result is stationed mid-way between several interim steps. To follow this single-sentenced instruction, isolated as it is here, the jury would have to go through these steps: first, find that the testimony of one of the parties was self-contradictory, vague, or equivocal; second, apply the rule that such testimony is to be construed against that party, and thus take the unfavorable version; third, find a verdict against that party. Whether the jury understood the instruction at all is doubtful, due to its complexity. The jury received it only once, by listening to it *25being read along with the rest of a long charge. It was not repeated nor was it written for re-examination in the jury room, so no emphasis was put upon it at any time or in any way. It, like so many instructions, was couched in the legal language appearing in opinions written for lawyers and judges and not translated into current, common lay parlance, as is authorized. See Mercer v. Woodard, 166 Ga. App. 119, 120 (1) (303 SE2d 475) (1983), and Shackelford v. Whatley, 172 Ga. App. 127, 130 (5) (322 SE2d 331) (1984), which recognize the trial court’s use of its own language in preference to that contained in a request. Except for the missing condition as to “no other evidence,” it is true that the present change nearly followed the wording of the correct instruction as set out long ago. See Charleston &c. R. Co. v. Thompson, 13 Ga. App. 528, 538 (2) (80 SE 1097) (1913), rev’d on other grounds, 234 U. S. 576 (34 SC 964, 58 LE 1476) (1914). But instructions must be tailored to plainly convey legal principles to today’s jury. More clearly worded instructions are necessary in order to avoid what we have here, a re-trial of a carefully tried two-day case, which was tended to with vigor and full attention by parties, counsel, witnesses, judge, and jurors.

 What is unusual here is that the other evidence was supplied by the defending driver, by way of his statement to the investigating officer and his plea to the charge of improper lane change. Ordinarily, the saving evidence comes from plaintiffs own witnesses, and the issue arises in the context of a motion for directed verdict raised by defendant at the close of plaintiff’s evidence and formerly referred to as a motion for “nonsuit.” See the cases listed in the majority’s quotation from Mattison v. Travelers Indem. Co., 167 Ga. App. 521, 525 (4) (307 SE2d 39) (1983). Mattison itself relates to a jury instruction, however.