Court Opinion

ID: 9847331
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 03:58:00.153691+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:17:07.482760
License: Public Domain

Hall, Presiding Judge,
concurring specially. It is contended that this court has no jurisdiction to review appellant’s enumeration of error No. 1 (that the trial court erred in entering a judgment upon the verdict). The reason advanced is that where a motion for new trial has been properly dismissed for want of prosecution, the judgment establishes the law of the case as to all questions raised by the motion unless the judgment on this ruling is enumerated as error on appeal. The authority cited is Hill v. Willis, 224 Ga. 263 (4) (161 SE2d 281). We disagree.
Code Ann. § 6-702 provides that a motion for a new trial need not be filed as a condition precedent to appeal, need not be transmitted as a part of the record on appeal (if the motion is made), and that it shall not be necessary that the overruling thereof be enumerated as error on appeal. Prior to Hill v. Willis, supra, the Supreme Court decided three appeals from which the overruling of a motion for a new trial was not appealed, yet the court considered enumerations of error on the same questions which were raised in the motion for new trial. Worley v. State, 222 Ga. 319 (149 SE2d 682); Roach v. State, 221 Ga. 783 (147 SE2d 229); Dickerson v. Harvey, 221 Ga. 606 (146 SE2d 310). See in this regard the dissenting opinion of Justice Mobley in Hill v. Willis, supra, p. 269.
The above procedure was modified in Hill v. Willis, supra. The Supreme Court, in a split decision, held that where a motion for new trial is overruled by the trial court, the judgment establishes the law of the case as to questions raised by the motion unless the judgment on this ruling is enumerated as error on appeal.
The doctrine of the law of the case "is nothing more than a special and limited application of the doctrine of res judicata . . .” 21 CJS 331, § 195, citing Williams Realty &c. Co. v. Simmons, 188 Ga. 184 (3 SE2d 580); Simmons v. Williams Realty &c. Co., 185 Ga. 154 (194 SE 356). Both this court and the Supreme Court have consistently held that a dismissal is not "res judicata” or the "law of the case” so as to bar a subsequent ruling on the merits of a ground where the previous dismissal was not based upon the merits. Keith v. Darby, 104 Ga. App. 624 (1) (122 SE2d 463) and cases cited therein; O’Kelley v. Alexander, 225 Ga. 32 (165 SE2d *575648); Barber v. Dunn, 226 Ga. 303 (174 SE2d 898); Bregman v. Rosenthal, 212 Ga. 95 (1) (90 SE2d 561). It is basic that a dismissal for want of prosecution is not an adjudication on the merits. Kinney v. Avery & Co., 14 Ga. App. 180 (80 SE 663); Floyd & Beasley Transfer Co. v. Copeland, 107 Ga. App. 304 (130 SE2d 143).
We therefore hold that the dismissal of the motion for new trial cannot be the law of the case as to the merits of the grounds in the motion for new trial so as to prevent this court from passing on a direct enumeration of these grounds on an appeal from the final judgment.
The Supreme Court has made it abundantly clear that Hill v. Willis, supra, should not be extended beyond its specific holding. Tiller v. State, 224 Ga. 645 (164 SE2d 137); Gainesville Stone Co. v. Parker, 224 Ga. 819 (165 SE2d 296); Staggers v. State, 224 Ga. 839 (165 SE2d 300). Its holding is limited to a situation where the motion for new trial has been overruled and there is no enumeration of error on this ruling. If there is to be any extension of the doctrine of Hill v. Willis, supra, in opposition to the mandate of the General Assembly as found in the provisions of Code Ann. § 6-702, let it be by the court that created the doctrine.
This court has jurisdiction and power to review appellant’s enumeration of error No. 1. Nevertheless, it is our opinion that the evidence is sufficient to support the verdict.
I am authorized to state that Chief Judge Bell, Presiding Judge Jordan, and Judges Eberhardt, Deen and Quillian concur in this special concurrence.