Court Opinion

ID: 9580175
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:02:50.457756+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:36:06.838140
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Eberhardt, Judge.
It is true that plaintiff did amend her petition by striking therefrom paragraph numbered 22, in which it was alleged that “defendant, its store manager, agents, servants and employees knew of the presence of such foreign substance to wit, rice, on said floor, or they and it would have known of its presence had they and it exercised reasonable care in the premises” and substituted, as paragraph 22, an allegation that “defendant . . . knew of the presence of such loose rice on said floor, and he, they and it would have known of its presence by the use of ordinary care and diligence. Petitioner does not know how long the loose rice had been on said floor but it was there when she turned into said aisle and said Sherrod and others of defendant’s agents, servants and employees knew of its presence there before she turned into the aisle and slipped upon the rice as aforesaid.”
Defendant had demurred to paragraph 22 as it stood originally upon the grounds that it was not alleged how long the defendant, its manager, agents, servants or employees had possessed knowledge of the presence of the rice, or how long they would have had such knowledge if they or it had exercised reasonable care. When the petition was amended defendant renewed its demurrers and further demurred on the ground *122that names of the defendant’s servants, agents or employees who may have possessed such knowledge were not alleged.
The changing of the word “or” to “and” in the substituted paragraph did not take the allegation out of the category of being alternative, ambiguous or equivocal. Defendant still could not determine whether plaintiff expected to proceed upon the assertion of actual or of constructive knowledge. Richards & Associates, Inc. v. Studstill, 212 Ga. 375 (3) (93 SE2d 3). And so it is in such a situation that the allegation is to be construed as charging no more than constructive knowledge, and unless the pleader comes forward, when challenged by demurrer, with the pleading of facts from which knowledge might be imputed to the defendant her pleading is bad. Of course she might have met the demurrer by deleting the allegations of constructive knowledge and thus informed the defendant that she would proceed upon the allegation of actual knowledge, but she did not. She may yet do so before judgment is taken upon the remittitur from this court, and if such is done the petition will not then be subject to general demurrer. Richards & Associates, Inc. v. Studstill, 96 Ga. App. 270 (99 SE2d 558); Jackson v. Security Ins. Co., 177 Ga. 631 (170 SE 787); Ware v. Martin, 208 Ga. 3301 (2) (66 SE2d 737); Sammons v. Tingle, 216 Ga. 814 (120 SE2d 124).
The case of Citizens & Southern Bank v. Union Warehouse &c. Co., 157 Ga. 434 (122 SE 327) does not require a different result. In that case specific allegation of actual knowledge was added to the petition by amendment, which the court held to be applicable to all of the petition, including the paragraphs wherein actual and constructive knowledge had been alleged. In the case here the alternative or equivocal allegations were deleted and then placed back into the petition by substituting a paragraph which likewise contained such allegations. Thus there was really no change effected. Moreover, it was recognized in the Citizens & Southern Bank case that while the amendment would render the petition not subject to a general demurrer, the allegations would still be subject to special demurrer.