Court Opinion

ID: 9570555
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:24:11.937899+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:05:53.396247
License: Public Domain

Carley, Judge,
concurring specially.
I wholeheartedly agree with the result reached in this case. With regard to Division 2, however, the majority quotes from Smiths’ Properties, Inc. v. RTM Enterprises, 160 Ga. App. 102, 103 (286 SE2d 334) (1981) as follows: “Where the contract is unambiguous, it is the duty of the court to construe it, and in so doing, the court must put a fair and reasonable construction thereon. [Cits.]” The majority then proceeds to hold that the interpretation placed by the trial court upon the disputed phrase was clearly “a fair and reasonable construction.” With this conclusion of the majority I agree. However, it appears that the majority’s approval of the trial court’s construction is premised upon the contract being unambiguous. Frankly, I think that the phrase in question is ambiguous. However, this was a bench trial and, therefore, the construction of the contract was solely up to the trial judge whether the relevant language thereof was ambiguous or not.