Court Opinion

ID: 9591352
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 00:03:44.758722+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:10.054884
License: Public Domain

Deen, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially.
While concurring fully with the majority opinion, as the author of the decision in Clarkson Indus. v. Price, 135 Ga. App. 787 (218 SE2d 921) (1975) it is especially appropriate for me to share this opportunity to participate in its demise. At least one well known commentator has noted that “[t]he absurdity of [Clarkson] is obvious,” and has recommended that the case be relegated to the “ ‘derelicts on the stream of the law’ and never to be heard of again.” Agnor, Use of Discovery under the Ga. Civil Practice Act (3rd ed.), § 3-4.1, p. 66 (1984). The Clarkson court clearly misread the discovery statute, and correction of the mistake has been long overdue.
In construing the statute correctly one year later in Ga. Intl. Life Ins. Co. v. Boney, 139 Ga. App. 575 (228 SE2d 731) (1976), this court made no reference to Clarkson and missed its first opportunity to rectify the situation. In Warmack v. Mini-Skools, 164 Ga. App. 737 (297 SE2d 365) (1982) (also written by the author of this special concurrence), this court tacitly realized the Clarkson misconstruction, but did nothing to clarify the matter. While the determinative issue in Warmack was whether the requested materials were non-discoverable because they were saturated with mental impressions, conclusions, opinions, or legal theories, and not exactly the issue in Clarkson or *541the instant case, this court, upon reflection, should have addressed the problem then. At last, the instant case presents another proper vehicle for this purpose, and I enthusiastically concur with the majority opinion’s elimination of the long-standing error and placing Clark-son in the river of no return.
Decided April 10, 1985.
William H. Turner, Jr., F. Thomas Young, for appellant.
0. Wayne Ellerbee, E. Cameron Hickman, for appellee.