Court Opinion

ID: 9587513
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:23:08.578791+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:56:05.648396
License: Public Domain

Duckworth, Chief Justice,
dissenting. It seems to me that the majority opinion is self-contradictory in that it recognizes the rule that requires a construction of testimony of a party in his own behalf, when contradictory, evasive, or equivocal, to give it a meaning most unfavorable to him, and they cite nu*506merous decisions applying that well-settled rule; then they proceed forthwith to violate the rule by giving to contradictory, equivocal, and evasive testimony of the defendant, given as a witness for himself, the construction most favorable to him. If the rule is not a farce, a legal trick, and an empty phrase, this court should follow and apply it without any exceptions whatsoever.
When the defendant, while testifying in his own behalf, admitted that he was present and heard the plaintiff testify in the court of ordinary, he thereby became inescapably bound by any notice the plaintiff’s testimony gave. No one can reasonably deny this. The positive unequivocal testimony of the plaintiff is that in that court he testified that he purchased the land here involved for $1,300 and the seller agreed to execute a deed thereto later. There is not a semblance of evidence in this record to contradict the plaintiff’s testimony. The defendant does not deny it. He does not even say he did not hear it, but simply rests his case upon his testimony that he did not at the time of this trial remember it. If he did not hear it, he could have so testified and thus sustained his case. If he did hear it, he could have so testified and thereby destroyed his case. He deliberately chose to> refuse to take either of these straightforward positions and chose instead to evade both by testifying simply that at that time, when he was testifying, he did not remember. If he did not remember, and the plaintiff positively so testified, then there was no conflict in their testimony, which, taken together, means, and can only mean, that the defendant heard the plaintiff’s testimony about his purchase of the land, and hence had notice thereof, and even though he remembered it on the very day he purchased, he did not remember it at this trial. He is thus shown to have bought with notice and subject to the previous sale to the plaintiff.
But the majority say his other testimony that he did not know of the plaintiff’s purchase makes an issue on the question of notice. Again, I say that only by disregarding the law which requires that his testimony be given the strongest construction against him and reversing that rule of law to give it the most favorable construction can their conclusion be sustained. I *507firmly believe the majority erroneously held that, even though the verdict can be sustained by construing the defendant’s testimony most favorably to him, such verdict must be upheld. To so hold is to allow a jury to ignore this rule of law, and hence reduce it to nothing. One of the cases relied upon by the majority to- sustain their ruling is Southern Bank v. Goette, 108 Ga. 796 (2) (33 S. E. 974). I would cite that case to sustain my position. It is there said: “A person testifying in his own behalf is not entitled to a finding in his favor [italics ours] if that version of his testimony the most unfavorable to- him shows that -the verdict should be against him. Western & Atlantic R. Co. v. Evans, 96 Ga. 481.” The next sentence is: “Yet, if by his evidence he establishes a cause of action, or a defense, as the case may be, and from no view of his testimony would a finding against him be warranted,” then and only then the jury may determine his credibility and find in his favor. This case is not one where in no view of his testimony would a verdict have been authorized against him. Instead, it is one where, when his testimony is measured by the rule, a verdict against him was demanded.
For the foregoing reasons I would grant this motion for a rehearing and on rehearing reverse the lower court.