Court Opinion

ID: 9539457
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:04:42.075159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:58:50.644600
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
With regard to Division 5, I agree and simply want to add the following: The statute puts the burden on the one who has a dispute with another over an alleged tort, to “give” notice to his opponent that he will seek interest on the amount claimed if the matter is not resolved prior to trial. This has at least two effects. It serves as an inducement to a tortfeasor to make prompt payment for the damages suffered by the injured party, thus making the latter whole more swiftly and thereby preventing the exacerbation of his damages which occurs when he is deprived of relief for a long period of time. Speedy resolution is a goal recognized even by our Constitution. 1983 Georgia Constitution, Art. VI, Sec. IX, Par. I.
Second, it compensates the injured party for the loss of economic benefit he suffers from the time of the injury up to the time of judgment. By enacting this provision for prejudgment interest, which is in derogation of the common law, the legislature has recognized the reality that the loss of value for a period of time itself has value, and that in order for an injured party’s compensation to be complete, he should be entitled to receive the value he is deprived of by reason of the recalcitrant party’s delay and so attributable to the factor of time.
The statute requires only that the injured party “give” notice by a specified means. It does not require him to prove that the tortfeasor received it. Of course, the claimant must do so in good faith, in a *62manner reasonably calculated to achieve receipt; it must be properly addressed and adequately paid for. But he does not have to play cat and mouse with a tortfeasor who seeks to avoid notice or neglects or refuses to respond to notices of registered or certified mail, for whatever reason. To require that the claimant prove receipt would frustrate the legislative intent and would allow the tortfeasor to avoid interest, a statutorily-recognized component of full compensation, by the simple expedient of not picking up his registered or certified mail.