Court Opinion

ID: 9602275
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 01:52:44.112527+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:01.930748
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
On motion for rehearing, movant Prickett urges that our holding is in conflict with Douglas v. Jefferson Pilot Fire &c. Co., 175 Ga. App. 457 (333 SE2d 634). As we construe our instant holding, there is no conflict with Douglas. In that case, the issue was whether an application form was in substantial compliance with the requirements of former OCGA § 33-34-5 (b). The issue in the instant case relates to only the applicability vel non of the secondary evidence rule in the Jones and Flewellen cases. We hold only that it was error to grant Prickett summary judgment on the ground that the decision in Tolison renders the secondary evidence rule inapplicable in such cases. That ground was the apparent basis for the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in the instant case and it appears that, unlike Douglas, the issue of whether Jefferson Pilot’s secondary evidence does or does not evince substantial compliance with applicable statu*815tory provisions has never been addressed in the trial court. The instant appeal is an inappropriate vehicle for initial consideration of the substantive issue of substantial compliance. Upon the return to the trial court of the remittitur in the instant case, the parties are free to renew their motions for summary judgment on whatever legal ground they deem appropriate. The instant holding stands only for the proposition that the inapplicability of the secondary evidence rule is not a valid ground for the grant of summary judgment in the instant case.
Decided October 23, 1985
Rehearing denied November 13, 1985.
Ward D. Hull, for appellant.
Jeffrey M. Starnes, for appellee.

Motion for rehearing denied.