Court Opinion

ID: 9589083
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:41:23.073612+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:01:00.947431
License: Public Domain

Beasley, Judge,
dissenting.
Where the defendant, which was in the diamond business, knew from prior experiences that the police would come in a hurry in response to the alarm of a hold-up at its establishment, it is at least arguable that it was reasonably foreseeable that someone would be harmed in the course of the summoned police speeding to the scene at the close of the business day in the heart of Atlanta. Such a consequence was natural and probable, considering the circumstances and the number of times the police had been falsely alarmed, and not, as a matter of law, only possible. See Rustin Stamp &c. v. Ray Bros., 175 Ga. App. 30, 31 (1) (332 SE2d 341) (1985).
*82Decided July 14, 1986
Rehearing denied July 31, 1986
James A. Eichelberger, Gwendolyn R. Tyre, Andrew J. Hamilton, Nina M. Radakouich, for appellant.
Nick Long, John Vincenzi, for appellee.
It is true that the peculiar harm here, where plaintiff sustained injury when she stepped back to avoid the speeding police cars, may not have been foreseeable. But it is not the particular harm resulting which must be foreseeable, so long as some harm may be anticipated. “ ‘In order that a party may be liable in negligence, it is not necessary that he should have contemplated or even been able to anticipate the particular consequences which ensued, or the precise injuries sustained by the plaintiff. It is sufficient, if, by exercise of reasonable care, the defendant might have foreseen that some injury would result from his act or omission; or that consequences of a generally injurious nature might have been expected.’ [Cit.]” Atlanta Gas Light Co. v. Mills, 78 Ga. App. 690, 696 (1) (51 SE2d 705) (1949). OCGA § 51-12-9.
I believe the evidence was sufficient to make it a jury question, and the jury verdict, approved by the trial court, should not be disturbed. Green v. Dillard, 176 Ga. App. 574, 575 (1) (337 SE2d 55) (1985). Only where “the evidence does not plainly, palpably and indisputably show a lack of proximate cause” is the case not one for the jury’s decision. DeKalb County Hosp. Auth. v. Theofanidis, 157 Ga. App. 811, 812-813 (278 SE2d 712) (1981).