Court Opinion

ID: 9588233
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:31:39.487797+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:00:56.859300
License: Public Domain

Felton, Chief Judge,
concurring specially. I concur in the judgment of reversal for the reason that the facts as to whether the salesman was acting in the course of employment at the time of the injuries are entirely circumstantial and without conflict. In such a case the question is one of law and the facts demand the conclusion that the salesman was acting in the course of his employment. My position with reference to uncontradicted circumstantial evidence, to wit, that where a conclusion is sought to be proved by such evidence alone the question is one of law for the court, is stated in my special concurrence in McCarty v. National Life &c. Ins. Co., 107 Ga. App. 178 (129 SE2d 408) and cases therein cited. Following any other rule makes a travesty of justice. I think what has confused the courts holding to the contrary is the fact that juries may reach different verdicts under the same evidence. Such cases refer to cases where there is ■ conflict in the testimony of witnesses or conflict between the testimony of witnesses and circumstantial evidence inconsistent with the testimony. In either case the credibility of witnesses is involved, a question beyond the reach of this court ordinarily. Only one conclusion can be reached in law from uncontradicted circumstantial evidence. The ruling-in this case could lead to two conclusions from the same evidence. In this lawsuit a jury might find that the salesman was in employment when the accident occurred and a jury trying the salesman for illegal operation of the automobile could find that he was in employment and not guilty of illegal operation. The fact that the criminal case is not appealable is immaterial since if it were, the verdict would have to be affirmed under the majority ruling. The broad authority of the salesman, plus the broad purposes of the demonstrator automobile, plus the salesman’s authority to sell a car anywhere, plus his operation of the car under the dealer’s license, demand the finding from the weight of probability that he was in the course of employment when the injuries occurred. I maintain that no two fact-finding bodies can from the same uncontradicted evidence find *585different conclusions, one that he was in employment and one that he was not.