F. A. F. Motor Cars, Inc. v. Childers

354 S.E.2d 6, 181 Ga. App. 821, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 1565
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 4, 1987
Docket73305
StatusPublished
Cited by53 cases

This text of 354 S.E.2d 6 (F. A. F. Motor Cars, Inc. v. Childers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
F. A. F. Motor Cars, Inc. v. Childers, 354 S.E.2d 6, 181 Ga. App. 821, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 1565 (Ga. Ct. App. 1987).

Opinion

Sognier, Judge.

Velma and Fred Childers brought suit against F. A. F. Motor Cars, Inc. and Michael Azran for personal injuries and loss of consortium resulting from a collision between Velma Childers’ vehicle and the Ferrari driven by Azran and owned by F. A. F. Motor Cars. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the Childers for $148,563.20 and judgment was entered on the verdict after the subtraction of personal injury protection benefits. The trial court denied the motion for new trial made by F. A. F. Motor Cars and Azran and this appeal ensued.

1. Appellants contend the trial court erred by denying their motion for a directed verdict at the close of appellees’ evidence. “A directed verdict is proper only where there is no conflict in the evidence as to any material issue and the evidence introduced together with all reasonable deductions or inferences therefrom demands a particular verdict. [Cits.]” Carver v. Jones, 166 Ga. App. 197, 199 (3) (303 SE2d 529) (1983). The evidence reveals that appellee Velma Childers (hereinafter “appellee”), after making a proper stop, entered an intersection in the process of making a left turn when her car was struck on the driver’s side by the Ferrari. Although the Ferrari had the right-of-way at the intersection, according to one witness the Ferrari was travelling between 65 and 75 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone. Appellee testified she looked before entering the intersection but never saw the Ferrari, which had to travel over a slight crest from a curve in the road before entering the intersection; appellees’ other witness stated the Ferrari was visible perhaps one or two seconds before the collision occurred.

“The standard of appellate review of the trial court’s denial of a motion for a directed verdict is the ‘any evidence’ standard. [Cits.]” United Fed. Sav. &c. Assn. v. Connell, 166 Ga. App. 329, 330 (1) (304 SE2d 131) (1983). Since there was some evidence that it was the excessive speed of the Ferrari rather than any negligence on appellee’s part which caused the collision, the trial court did not err by denying appellants’ motion for a directed verdict.

*822 2. Appellants contend the trial court erred by giving six of appellees’ requests to charge, nos. 7, 8, 11, 6, 9 and 12. The trial court did not entertain specific objections to charges prior to the instruction of the jury, informing counsel they would have the opportunity to voice their objections in order to perfect the record after the charge was given. Appellants’ counsel objected to the charges given as follows: “With respect to the numbered charges presented by the parties, we would except to the Court’s giving [appellees’] two, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, nineteen and twenty-two. We feel those charges were not adjusted to the evidence and were argumentative.” This exception constituted a mere general objection insufficient under Christiansen v. Robertson, 237 Ga. 711 (229 SE2d 472) (1976). See Harper v. Ga. Southern &c. R. Co., 140 Ga. App. 802, 805-806 (7) (232 SE2d 118) (1976). Nor does the record disclose any indication that the trial judge understood the nature of the objections so that he was able to rule intelligently on the specific point raised thereby. Compare George v. D’Angelo, 171 Ga. App. 433, 435 (319 SE2d 874) (1984) (Pope, J., concurring specially). Accordingly, these enumerations of error are without merit. See generally id. at 434 (3).

3. Appellants contend the trial court erred by failing to give two requests to charge. Appellees’ argument that appellants’ objection to the trial court’s refusal to so charge was insufficient to bring these enumerations before this court is not well taken. Roberson v. Hart, 148 Ga. App. 343, 344 (1) (251 SE2d 173) (1978). Therefore, we will address those enumerated errors.

(a) Appellants contend the trial court erred by failing to give their “seat belt” charge. “ ‘ “A request to charge itself must be correct, legal, apt, even perfect, and precisely adjusted to some principle involved in the case. If any portion of the request is inapt or incorrect, denial of the request is proper.” [Cits.]’ [Cits.]” Fowler v. Gorrell, 148 Ga. App. 573, 576 (2) (a) (251 SE2d 819) (1978). Although appellee testified she was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the collision, appellants introduced no evidence to connect the injuries appellee sustained with her failure to wear a seat belt. Thus, appellants’ requested charge, which would have instructed the jury not to award any amount for injuries and damages sustained which were proximately caused by appellee’s failure to wear a seat belt and which could have been avoided by the wearing of a seat belt, was not adjusted to the evidence and the trial court did not err by refusing to so charge. See Wendlandt v. Shepherd Constr. Co., 178 Ga. App. 153, 154 (1) (342 SE2d 352) (1986).

(b) Appellants contend the trial court erred by failing to give their charge on sudden emergency. “An emergency is a ‘sudden peril caused by circumstances in which the defendant did not participate *823 and which offered him a choice of conduct without time for thought so that negligence in his choice might be attributable not to lack of care but to lack of time to assess the situation.’ (Emphasis supplied). [Cit.]” Hall v. Chastain, 246 Ga. 782, 785 (5) (273 SE2d 12) (1980). The evidence at trial showed that when the sudden peril arose, appellant Azran “realized I couldn’t do anything; that we were going to hit.” Although appellant Azran consciously attempted to steer the Ferrari into the rear of appellee’s car in order to minimize the impact of the collision, there was still under the evidence no real choice of conduct open to appellant Azran after he realized the situation would make the doctrine of emergency applicable. The thrust of appellants’ argument is not that Azran made an emergency choice when confronted by a sudden peril, but rather that he was not negligent in any particular and the collision, as to him, was due to the negligence of appellee. Under these circumstances, we are satisfied that the trial court’s refusal to charge on emergency was proper. Hall, supra.

4. Appellants’ enumeration of error regarding the jury’s award of damages for loss of consortium is an issue not raised in the motion for directed verdict, at trial when the jury was instructed on loss of consortium or when the special verdict form providing for such damages was submitted to the jury, or in appellants’ motion for new trial, either in the original or the amended form. Although loss of consortium was mentioned once before the trial court during the hearing on appellants’ motion, there was no effort to amend the motion for new trial to assert this ground. That issue, therefore, may not be raised on appeal. Maner v. Robinson, 166 Ga. App. 514 (1) (304 SE2d 569) (1983).

5. Appellants contend the trial court erred by submitting the issue of future medical expenses to the jury, because there was no evidence to support an award for future medical expenses. Future medical expenses were submitted to the jury in the form of a special verdict itemizing the types of damages sought by appellees.

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Bluebook (online)
354 S.E.2d 6, 181 Ga. App. 821, 1987 Ga. App. LEXIS 1565, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/f-a-f-motor-cars-inc-v-childers-gactapp-1987.