Court Opinion

ID: 9603590
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:08:10.576881+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:13.071853
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
dissenting.
As shown by the complaints, Landrum’s suit against CCCP is a negligence action against it as manufacturer for inaccurately advising the decedent’s employer of the weight of the tank. It is alleged that the manufacturer knew the true weight was 5,000 pounds more. OCGA § 51-1-11 gives a cause of action for injury which follows when the property is “not. . . reasonably suited to the use intended” (subsection b (1)); the manufacturer has a “duty to warn of a danger arising from use of a product once that danger becomes known to the manufacturer” (subsection c).
Pleadings are to be “construed as to do substantial justice.” OCGA § 9-11-8 (f); Walton v. James & Dean, Inc., 177 Ga. App. 77, 78 (1) (338 SE2d 516) (1985). It is sufficient if the complaint gives “fair notice and states the elements of the claim plainly and sue*807cinctly.” Ledford v. Meyer, 249 Ga. 407, 409 (2) (290 SE2d 908) (1982). See also Hardy v. Gordon, 146 Ga. App. 656, 657 (247 SE2d 166) (1978). It need not set forth a cause of action so long as it sets forth a claim for relief. Mathews v. Greiner, 130 Ga. App. 817, 822 (4) (204 SE2d 749) (1974).
Decided May 19, 1989
Rehearing denied June 6, 1989.
The Garland Firm, James M. Campbell, Charles G. Haldi, Jr., for appellant.
Long, Weinberg, Ansley & Wheeler, David A. Sapp, Drew, Eckl & Farnham, Jeffrey D. Bunch, Stevan A. Miller, Barry S. Mittenthal, for appellees.
Just because CCCP happens also to be a statutory employer under the particular facts does not eliminate its separate tort liability as a manufacturer. In this regard it presents no authority for the proposition that the statutory employer immunity applies to acts of negligence committed in its capacity as manufacturer.
The nature of the allegedly negligent act is one undertaken in its role as manufacturer of the tank and only incidentally, if at all, in its role as intermediate contractor.
I respectfully dissent with respect to affirmance of summary judgment for CCCP.