Court Opinion

ID: 9564743
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 19:06:16.614413+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:18:38.804916
License: Public Domain

Grice, Justice,
dissenting. As I appraise it, what transpired here was simply the grant of a motion for summary judgment in the face of genuine issues of material fact, contrary to Georgia Laws 1966, pages 609, 660 (Code Ann. § 81A-156(c)).
From its judgment it is apparent that the trial court treated the proceeding as one of summary judgment. The judgment begins with “The defendant’s motion for summary judgment in the above matter coming on for hearing . . and ends with “It is therefore ordered and adjudged that the defendant is not in contempt of this court, and there being shown no genuine issue as to the material facts as to the defendant’s being in contempt of this court, the defendant’s motion for summary judgment is hereby granted.”
As pointed out by the majority, it does not appear that the former wife was denied the right to submit further evidence. However, it does appear that the motion before the court was one for summary judgment and that she had submitted enough evidence to resist it. She was under no duty to present her full evidence in response to that motion, and we can not now speculate that upon a final hearing on the contempt citation she would have submitted no further evidence.
Since there were genuine issues of material fact, summary judgment should not have been granted.
For the foregoing reasons, I would reverse the judgment.
I am authorized to state that Justice Mobley joins in this dissent.