Court Opinion

ID: 9854548
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 06:09:04.461955+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:23:08.819717
License: Public Domain

Banke, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
I agree with all that is stated in the majority decision but wish to add a few additional observations.
Like the federal rule on which it is modeled, “the aim of the relation back rule . . . contained in [Section 15 (c) of the Georgia Civil Practice Act] is to ameliorate the impact of the statute of limitation. See Wright & Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil § 1496.” Rich’s, Inc. v. Snyder, 134 Ga. App. 889, 892-893 (216 SE2d 648) (1975). “A narrow technical reading of this Code section would defeat the purposes for which it was designed.” Id.
To read the statute as qualifiedly permitting the relation back of an amendment seeking to substitute an entirely new defendant for an existing one but as categorically prohibiting the relation back of an amendment seeking to add the same new defendant alongside an existing one would be to construe it so narrowly as to create an irrational distinction. The statute by its terms refers to amendments “changing the party against whom a claim is asserted. . . .’’It places no undue strain upon this language to read it as encompassing amendments changing “the parties” as well as “the party” against whom a claim is asserted, for it is an axiom of statutory interpretation that “[t]he singular or plural number each indicates the other, unless the other is expressly excluded.” OCGA § 1-3-1 (d) (6). Indeed, this court has previously interpreted the language in question as encom*652passing amendments seeking to add new plaintiffs as well as amendments seeking to add new defendants. See Gordon v. Gillespie, 135 Ga. App. 369, 374-375 (217 SE2d 628) (1975).
The interpretation of the statute which we today reaffirm has been consistently followed by the federal judiciary in its interpretation of Rule 15 (c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. See generally 1 Moore’s Fed. Prac., Par. 15.15 [4], and cases cited therein. While such cases as A. H. Robins Co. v. Sullivan, 136 Ga. App. 533 (221 SE2d 697) (1975), and Beaver v. Steinichen, 182 Ga. App. 303 (355 SE2d 698) (1987), do appear to favor a more restrictive interpretation, it is apparent for the reasons so aptly expressed in the majority opinion that the relation back requirements set forth in the statute were simply not met in those cases. Thus, the result reached in those cases would have obtained even under the more expansive interpretation of the statute which we have previously followed in such cases as Sam Finley, Inc. v. Interstate Fire Ins. Co., 135 Ga. App. 14 (2) (217 SE2d 358) (1975); Gordon v. Gillespie, 135 Ga. App. 369, supra; Maelstrom Properties v. Holden, 158 Ga. App. 345 (280 SE2d 383) (1981); Horne v. Carswell, 167 Ga. App. 229 (306 SE2d 94) (1983); Dover Place Apts. v. A & M Plumbing &c. Co., 167 Ga. App. 732 (307 SE2d 530) (1983); Bil-Jax, Inc. v. Scott, 183 Ga. App. 516 (359 SE2d 362) (1987); and Rose v. Rosilla, 185 Ga. App. 217 (363 SE2d 623) (1987).
The decision in A. H. Robins Co. v. Sullivan, supra, is additionally distinguishable for another important reason — that case did not involve the relation back of an amendment for statute-of-limitation purposes. The defendant sought to be added there was already a defendant in an existing action brought by the same plaintiff on the same claim in another county, and the plaintiff was attempting to utilize the relation-back feature of Section 15 (c) to obviate a “prior pending action” defense which the defendant had asserted in the second action pursuant to former Code Ann. § 3-601 (current OCGA § 9-2-5 (a)). Quite obviously, the legislature never contemplated that Section 15 (c) would be used for such a purpose.
Having been offered neither reason nor authority to do otherwise, I concur fully in our adherence to the extensive body of state and federal authority holding that an amendment seeking to add a new defendant to an existing action may relate back for statute-of-limitation purposes to the date of the filing of the complaint, provided the requirements set forth in the statute are shown to have been met.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Birdsong, Judge Pope, Judge Benham and Judge Beasley join in this special concurrence.