Court Opinion

ID: 9560062
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:42:30.058476+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:03.267064
License: Public Domain

Banke, Presiding Judge.
The plaintiff’s attorney, apparently discouraged about the prospects of his client’s personal injury action as the result of a question asked by a member of the jury during its deliberations, prepared a hand-written, voluntary dismissal, which he presented to the court for filing after he had received notice that the jury was prepared to announce its verdict. The court initially declined to accept the document for filing, and shortly thereafter the jury returned to the courtroom and announced a verdict for the defendants. The court then informed counsel that he would allow them to present case law on the voluntary dismissal issue and would withhold his decision on whether to enter judgment on the verdict. This occurred on September 28, 1983. On October 24, 1983, the court accepted the voluntary dismissal and marked it “Filed in Open Court the 28th day of September 1983.” The document was stamped as having been filed with the clerk of court on October 24, 1983. No judgment was entered on the verdict. The defendants appeal the voluntary dismissal, contending that it should not have been accepted because the jury’s verdict had been virtually revealed by the juror’s question. The plaintiff has moved to dismiss the appeal on the ground that it was not filed within 30 days of September 28, 1983. Held:
1. The motion to dismiss is denied. As the dismissal obviously could not have been appealed prior to October 24, 1983, when the trial court announced its decision to accept it for filing, the time for filing an appeal did not begin running until that date.
2. Pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-41 (a), “an action may be dismissed by the plaintiff, without order of court, by filing a written notice of dismissal at any time before verdict.” It has been held that this right terminates when an actual verdict is reached and knowledge of that verdict has been acquired, regardless of whether the verdict has been formally published. See Peoples Bank of Talbotton v. Exchange Bank of Macon, 119 Ga. 366, 368 (46 SE 416) (1904); Groves v. Groves, 250 Ga. 459 (298 SE2d 506) (1983). Pretermitting whether the verdict was known to the plaintiff when he attempted to dismiss, it is clear that the dismissal was not actually accepted by the court for *869filing until after the verdict was formally announced in court on September 28, 1983. Pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-5 (former Code Ann. § 81 A-105), a judge is authorized to permit papers to be filed with him but is not required to do so. Smith v. Forrester, 145 Ga. App. 281, 283 (243 SE2d 575) (1978). The trial court was accordingly authorized to decline to accept the dismissal for filing prior to the entry of the verdict on September 28, 1983, and it is clear from the record that he did so. We are aware of no authority which would authorize the trial court to alter such a decision after the publication of the verdict and to backdate it to reflect an earlier filing. It follows that the dismissal was not timely filed.
Decided July 16, 1984
Rehearing denied July 31, 1984
Rex B. Smith, Jane Reed, for appellants.
Larry Cohran, for appellee.
The appellee argues that the court was required to accept the dismissal document at the time it was originally offered because the clerk of court had been excused from the courtroom although OCGA § 15-6-61 (2) requires the clerk to be present during all court sessions. However, the record before us is silent concerning the presence or absence of the clerk, and consequently we need not address this argument. See generally Palmer v. Stevens, 115 Ga. App. 398 (8) (154 SE2d 803) (1967). Assuming arguendo the clerk’s absence, we also note that there is no indication in the record that the appellee sought and was denied the opportunity for a recess in order to file his dismissal in the clerk’s office.
The judgment of the trial court is reversed with direction that judgment be entered on the jury’s verdict.

Judgment reversed.

McMurray, C. J., Quillian, P. J., Birdsong, Sognier, and Pope, JJ., concur. Been, P. J., Carley and Benham, JJ., dissent.