Court Opinion

ID: 9575260
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:12:37.051376+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:48:06.477548
License: Public Domain

McMurray, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
The question presented for decision in this case is whether the two-year statute of limitation was tolled on account of plaintiff’s alleged mental illness. See OCGA §§ 9-3-90; 9-3-91. The answer to this question, the majority concludes, lies in plaintiff’s own deposition testimony. This testimony is found in a deposition taken by the defendants, two of which are not named appellees in the case sub judice.
Plaintiff deposed that, at the time of the incident in question, she was in a mental hospital; that, following the incident, she was involuntarily placed in a mental hospital 12 times and voluntarily placed herself in a mental hospital one more time because she was hearing *536voices; and that she received and continues to receive disability benefits from the Social Security Administration because she “get upset, screaming and hollering.” Plaintiff also deposed that at some point in her adult life, her mother was appointed as her guardian. Asked, however, upon cross-examination by the defendant, if she was mentally competent and able to manage her affairs following the incident in question, plaintiff responded affirmatively.
Decided July 6, 1990
Rehearing denied July 26, 1990.
E. Ronald Garnett, for appellant.
Richard R. Mehrhof, Jr., Paul H. Dunbar III, Michael J. Bowers, Attorney General, Jennifer L. Hackemeyer, Assistant Attorney Gen*537eral, for appellee.
*536Although plaintiff’s testimony fails to demonstrate the length of time during which she was mentally incapacitated, I am of the opinion that the trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment. Why? Because defendant failed to present any evidence piercing plaintiff’s allegation of incapacity.
In my view, plaintiff’s admission on deposition that she was competent and capable of managing her affairs is of no import because “[a] witness cannot be permitted to testify to his [or her] own mental soundness or unsoundness.” 32 CJS, Evidence, § 546 (28). Various evidentiary reasons have been given for a rule such as this. See, e.g., Frisone v. United States, 270 F2d 401, 403 (9th Cir. 1959); O’Connell v. Beecher, 47 NYS 334, 335 (1897). Such a rule is inherently logical and necessary, where, as here, a party seeks the tolling of a statute of limitation on the ground that he or she was incapacitated as a result of mental illness.
I recognize that this Court has previously considered the testimony of a party about his or her own incapacity in order to assess whether a statute of limitation should have been tolled. See, e.g., Chapman v. Burks, 183 Ga. App. 103 (357 SE2d 832); Whisnant v. Coots, 176 Ga. App. 724 (337 SE2d 766). In those cases, however, the parties’ incapacity was alleged to have stemmed from physical injury. The case sub judice is different. Plaintiff’s incapacity is alleged to have resulted from long-standing mental illness. In a case such as this, a witness should be prohibited from testifying as to his or her own mental soundness or unsoundness.
Application of a rule prohibiting a witness, the plaintiff in the case sub judice, from testifying to her own mental capacity would leave defendant without any evidence to support his motion for summary judgment. It would follow that the trial court erred in granting defendant’s motion. Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.