Court Opinion

ID: 9764918
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 03:43:56.711658+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:30:02.320686
License: Public Domain

BARNES, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
Although I concur fully in Division 2 and the judgment of the majority opinion, I cannot concur in Division l.15 The statement that “once Smith submitted to questioning on the issue [of whether he was “out of service”] without seeking to enforce the limine ruling, he opened the door to being impeached with evidence that tended to disprove his testimony” places an obligation upon Smith which does not exist in our law.
In Harley-Davidson Motor Co. v. Daniel, 244 Ga. 284, 285 (1), n. 1 (260 SE2d 20) (1979), our Supreme Court held that no objection is necessary at trial to preserve the denial of the motion in limine for appeal:
The purpose in filing a motion in limine to suppress evidence or to instruct opposing counsel not to offer it is to prevent the asking of prejudicial questions and the making of prejudicial statements in the presence of the jury with respect to matters which have no proper bearing on the *904issues in the case or on the rights of the parties to the suit. It is the prejudicial effect of the questions asked or statements made in connection with the offer of the evidence, not the prejudicial effect of the evidence itself, which the motion in limine is intended to reach.
(Citation and punctuation omitted.)
Our Supreme Court later made clear that this reasoning also applies when a motion in limine is granted.
To hold otherwise, and require the successful movant to object when evidence encompassed by the motion in limine is nevertheless offered at trial, would defeat the purpose of the motion in limine, as the movant would be forced, in the presence of the jury, to call special attention to prejudicial evidence which the trial court had previously ordered to be excluded from the jury’s consideration.
Reno v. Reno, 249 Ga. 855, 856 (1) (295 SE2d 94) (1982). Therefore, Smith was not required to seek to “enforce the limine ruling” and his failing to object or otherwise seek to enforce the grant of his motion could not open the door to the questioning by CSX.
Accordingly, I concur fully in Division 2 and the judgment of the majority opinion, but not in Division 1.

 There being no majority concurring in Division 1, it may not be cited as binding precedent. Court of Appeals Rule 33 (a).