Court Opinion

ID: 9587186
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:18:57.353133+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:33:57.515016
License: Public Domain

On Motion foe Rei-ieaeing.
The plaintiffs in error contend in their motion for rehearing that the language “as far as I knew” when added to the answer given by the administrator and discussed in the body of this opinion should not be taken as qualifying his answer. In support of their contention they cite the following cases where this language or other similar language was used by a witness and it was not construed as qualifying or discrediting the answer so given. Barrington v. Davis Jenkins & Sons, 44 Ga. App. 682 (4) (162 S. E. 642); Aetna Insurance Co. v. Trimmier, 42 Ga. App. 745 (2) (157 S. E. 340); Carter v. Ray, 70 Ga. App. 419 (5) (28 S. E. 2d 361); Turner v. Hardy, 198 Ga. 626, 642 (32 S. E. 2d 483); Saliba v. Saliba, 202 Ga. 791, 806 (44 S. E. 2d 744).
In Barrington v. Davis Jenkins & Sons, supra, the witness stated that the account being sued on was correct as far as he knew. The witness testifying was the husband of the defendant/ He had ordered all the items making up the account sued on, and had ma.de all the payments made on the account. It must certainly be inferred that this witness had a knowledge of whether the account was correct or not. In Aetna Insurance Co. v. *121Trimmier, supra, the plaintiff testified that to the best of his recollection a tenant of his moved from his house two or three weeks before a fire occurred. This would certainly imply that he had some knowledge of when the tenant moved inasmuch as he was the landlord. In Carter v. Ray, supra, a witness while testifying with respect to a certain described piece of property testified that he thought a certain building located thereon was just an outbuilding on the property, that that was what he considered it. Again in this case it was shown that the witness had a knowledge of what he testified about. In Turner v. Hardy, supra, the Supreme Court said, “Where a witness testifies to a conclusion of fact which could be within his knowledge and such testimony is admitted without objection, it cannot be attacked on review as being incompetent or insufficient.” In Saliba v. Saliba, supra, it was said, “Moreover, a witness can never testify truthfully as to any past transaction with which he was connected, except from his recollection.” Therefore, it must follow that before a witness can testify as to his best recollection or as far as he knows there must be shown that he was connected with the transaction about which he purports to testify. In the present case the witness was the administrator of his deceased brother’s estate, this alone would not show that he had had any opportunity of knowing what his brother did with any particular money paid to him while he was alive. The witness testified that he was not a partner in his brother’s business, that he worked as foreman on the contract in question, laid out the work, attempted to keep an 'accurate record of the material sent to the job, worked as a carpenter, and on one occasion he was with his brother when he met with the property owner and her husband and they discussed the amount that had been paid to the contractor. Although this testimony would show that the witness was connected with the transaction insofar as knowing about the materials received on the job, the amount of money the contractor had received under the contract, and as to the quality or quantity of the work done under the contract, it would not support an inference that he had any knowledge of what disposition his brother made of the money paid to him under the contract. Therefore, where as here, the witness testified as to his connection with the transaction, and his connection was limited to other phases of the transaction, and his *122answer is qualified as it was here, it cannot be said that he was testifying from his recollection, and it must be assumed that he was testfying from his lack of recollection.
It follows from the above that the judgment of affirmance heretofore rendered was correct.