Court Opinion

ID: 9586765
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:14:44.654821+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:32:50.397789
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
concurring specially.
I concur fully in Division 2.
The jury charge ruled on in Division 1 was not entirely correct. It is true that the principle applies to a defendant as well as a plaintiff. From early on, it has been stated and reiterated that the principle applies to “a party” rather than being limited to “a plaintiff.” See, e.g., Western & A. R. Co. v. Evans, 96 Ga. 481, 486 (23 SE 494) (1895), which states succinctly the reason for the rule which, when so considered, fits a defendant as well as a plaintiff. Prophecy Corp. v. Charles Rossignol, Inc., 256 Ga. 27, 28 (1) (343 SE2d 680) (1986), expressly refers to its applicability to the “defense.” Its use against a defendant has been approved. Goldstein v. GTE Prods. Corp., 160 *449Ga. App. 767, 768 (2) (287 SE2d 105) (1981).
Decided June 25, 1987.
Charles M. Kidd, Gwenn Dorb Holland, for appellant.
Donald A. Weissman, for appellee.
The problem with the charge as given is that it did not add the qualifier, “provided that plaintiff has proved its case.” Just because a defendant’s testimony does not measure up does not automatically mean that plaintiff is entitled to a verdict. The plaintiff is still required at least to prove the elements of its claim, making a prima facie case, in order to prevail. Also, if there are other defenses, plaintiff’s evidence must preponderate. The result of defendant’s deficient testimony is that he loses the defense it seeks to establish.
Where the defective testimony is plaintiff’s, no qualifier is needed, because the defective testimony, which is the sole evidence, ipso facto fails to establish a prima facie case, which is plaintiff’s burden. This premise as to plaintiff is stated in Clark v. Bandy, 196 Ga. 546, 561 (27 SE2d 17) (1943): “[W]hen the testimony of the plaintiff himself is being considered, there will be borne in mind the rule that if a plaintiff fails to establish the material allegations of his petition, or if his testimony is contradictory and uncertain as to such allegations, the court, on motion to nonsuit, should construe the evidence most strongly against him, and may, if no other testimony appears, be authorized to grant a nonsuit.” Notice the “ifs”.
Castile v. Burton, 200 Ga. 877, 882 (2) (38 SE2d 919) (1946) also illustrates the point. Goldstein, supra, the case applying the principle to a defendant’s testimony, also alludes to it: “As the appellant’s [vague, inconclusive, and uncertain] evidence was insufficient to support a verdict allowing him the credit [on the open account which was sued on], it was not error to direct a verdict .in favor of the [plaintiff] on the amount proved owed” (Emphasis supplied.) The emphasized portion imports the qualifier.
Considering the charge as a whole, and it containing a clear emphasis on the plaintiff’s burden of proof, I do not conclude the foreshortened charge on the effect of defendant’s testimony to be reversible error.