Court Opinion

ID: 9585363
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:59:41.589022+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:41:36.165882
License: Public Domain

Felton, Chief Judge,
dissenting from the judgment. I concur in all of the ultimate rulings by the majority. I concur in the ruling that the first instance permission rule does not apply in Georgia in a case not involving permission given to an incompetent driver. I think that the cases repudiating the first-instance rule, which do not involve an incompetent driver, should be overruled, but I have been overruled as to this point by a majority of this court.
*527The question is squarely presented in this case that permission to drive the vehicle was given to an incompetent driver.- The consequence of such a permission has not been decided, to my knowledge, in Georgia or elsewhere. In my opinion the first instance permission rule should be applied in such a case. Where permission is given to a competent driver the entrustor is justified in anticipating that the driver will not disobey instructions or drive carelessly. The very opposite is true when the entrustment is to an incompetent driver, especially one addicted to the drinking of alcohol or other intoxicants. In such a situation the first instance rule should apply for the obvious reason that no one can predict the consequences of the driving by such an incompetent driver. My position is that such first instance permission should control and that where such an incompetent driver injures another while he is driving with first instance permission such a driver should be considered an additional insured under the omnibus clause of the instant insurance policy which in effect provides generally and without exception that one driving with the permission of the named insured is an additional insured. I think that the question whether the vehicle was entrusted to such an incompetent driver should not have been determined on motion for a summary judgment. Whether the injured persons in this case have some other recourse is beside the point. If in fact the first instance rule should apply and the driver is an additional insured the injured parties have a perfect right, if they so elect, to seek a judgment against the driver alone, and if they prevail, proceed against the insurance company, provided they show such negligent entrustment as they claim. I therefore dissent from the judgment.