Court Opinion

ID: 9589570
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:46:21.318089+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:28.856242
License: Public Domain

Hall, Presiding Judge,
dissenting as to Division 3. In my opinion the trial court erred in charging that the defendant had the burden of proof in showing the collision was an act of God. Loss of consciousness of a driver is not an affirmative defense for which a defendant has the burden of proof. On the contrary, a plaintiff cannot recover “because there is a failure to show any negligence on the part of the defendant.” Freeman v. Martin, 116 Ga. App. 237, 239 (156 SE2d 511). See also concurring opinion in Norman v. Allen, 118 Ga. App. 394, 398 (163 SE2d 859). An exception to this rule exists where a defendant continues to drive, knowing he is subject to attacks of loss of consciousness. Jackson v. Co-op. Cab Co., 102 Ga. App. 688 (3) (117 SE2d 627).
I am rather amazed at the tergiversation of those judges making up the judgment of this court as to Division 3. In 1967, they said this is not an affirmative defense and the burden is on the plaintiff. In 1969, they say it is an affirmative defense and the burden is on the defendant. With such a record of predictability, would anyone dare guess what they will hold in 1970?
While in the recent past our courts have usually referred to a collision caused by loss of consciousness as an “unavoidable accident,” the majority opinion (perhaps based upon the stanza “Gimme that old time religion”) prefers to use the term “act of God.” This is an 1847 definition found in Code § 102-103 and expressly “excludes all idea of human agency.” However, regardless of which term is used, evidence of incapacitation is to be considered in determining whether a defendant was negligent and is not an affirmative defense in the sense that it must be affirmatively alleged and proved. See Code Ann. § 81A-108(c) *716for the list of affirmative defenses. “It has been held that, as a matter of pleading, the claim that an accident was unavoidable is never legitimately an affirmative defense, but its purpose has been served if the denials in the answer adequately respond to the charges made.” 65A CJS Negligence § 197 (c).
Neither Code § 102-103 nor Sampson v. General Electric Supply Corp., 78 Ga. App. 2, 8 (50 SE2d 169) is authority for the trial court’s charge. The Code section defines an “act of God.” The Sampson case merely held that a partially stopped-up sewer was not an act of God.
It may be that the majority is confused over the difference between “burden of proof” (or if you prefer “burden of persuasion”) and “burden of producing evidence.” One legal scholar has pointed out that this court has on other occasions demonstrated its nescience on this question. See Green, Georgia Law of Evidence, 80-81, § 22; also Agnor, Encyclopedia of Georgia Law 376-377, §§ 133, 134. It is elementary that a court should never charge the jury on the “burden of producing evidence.” By allowing the issue to go to the jury, the court itself has already decided that a party has carried his “burden of producing evidence.” See IX Wigmore on Evidence 279-280, § 2487.
In any event, we are fortunate that only four judges make up Division 3 of the majority opinion. As a result, the decision will not serve as a binding precedent for the future. However, I seriously doubt that this will be appreciated by the defendant in this case.
Judges Eberhardt and Deen both concur in holding that loss of consciousness of a driver is not an affirmative defense for which a defendant has the burden of proof.