Fisher v. Toombs County Nursing Home

479 S.E.2d 180, 223 Ga. App. 842, 96 Fulton County D. Rep. 4403, 1996 Ga. App. LEXIS 1313
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 5, 1996
DocketA96A1289
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 479 S.E.2d 180 (Fisher v. Toombs County Nursing Home) 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
Fisher v. Toombs County Nursing Home, 479 S.E.2d 180, 223 Ga. App. 842, 96 Fulton County D. Rep. 4403, 1996 Ga. App. LEXIS 1313 (Ga. Ct. App. 1996).

Opinions

Per curiam.

Mildred Fisher (hereinafter referred to by her maiden name of Stewart) appeals the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the Toombs County Nursing Home (Nursing Home) on various claims concerning its care and its discharge of T. C. Fisher, allegedly her husband, who was a patient.

On October 31, 1980, Fisher married Stewart in West Palm Beach, Florida. Several years after their marriage, Fisher’s health deteriorated, and he was ultimately placed in the Nursing Home in order to be closer to his extended family. Undisputed evidence indicates that Fisher was competent at the time he entered the facility, and he subsequently signed an admissions agreement with the Nursing Home. Stewart agreed to be financially responsible for all expenses Fisher incurred at the Nursing Home that were not covered by Medicaid or other sources. She continued to live in Florida but visited Fisher at the Nursing Home every two weeks until his discharge.

In 1989, Jonathan Fisher, Fisher’s son from a former marriage, received court appointment from the Toombs County Probate Court to oversee his father’s affairs. The wrong probate court form was used, and the form order named Fisher as the temporary administrator of his father’s estate rather than as his guardian. Immediately [843]*843after permanent letters of administration were issued, Stewart notified the Nursing Home that she disputed the son’s assertion that he was properly appointed as his father’s guardian. She filed a petition contesting the appointment, and the áppointment was declared a nullity in May 1993.

In February 1992, Fisher broke his elbow when he was dropped by one of the Nursing Home’s orderlies, who was transferring Fisher from his wheelchair to his bed. Thereafter, Fisher was discharged and released to his son’s care. The Nursing Home did so without informing Stewart. Fisher was moved to a facility in Michigan near his son’s home.

Stewart filed the underlying action in four counts: negligence and loss of consortium based upon the injuries Fisher sustained in his fall, breach of contract, and intentional infliction of emotional distress resulting from Fisher’s release from the facility without Stewart’s knowledge or consent.

The Nursing Home moved to dismiss all counts based, in part, on the assertion that Fisher and Stewart had never been validly married due to an unresolved prior marriage so that she lacked standing to assert the claims of negligence and loss of consortium. The trial court transformed the motion to dismiss into a motion for summary judgment and granted it, based largely on the court’s determination that, as a matter of law, the marriage of Fisher and Stewart was invalid.

1. First, Stewart asserts that the trial court erred in determining that her marriage was invalid, thus precluding her standing to pursue the negligence and loss of consortium claims. In addition to other evidence, the Nursing Home filed the affidavit of Louvern Allen Fisher averring that she had married Fisher in June 1950 in Dade County, Florida, and that she “had never undertaken to obtain a divorce” from him. In response, Stewart produced a certified copy of her marriage certificate. Other evidence reflects that Stewart and Fisher considered themselves to be married, e.g., they cohabitated as husband and wife subsequent to their marriage ceremony, and Fisher was insured under Stewart’s policy as her spouse.

Marriage being considered a civil contract,1 its validity will be judged by the law of the forum in which it was made, in this case Florida. Gen. Elec. Credit Corp. v. Home Indem. Co., 168 Ga. App. 344, 349 (309 SE2d 152) (1983) (under the rule of lex loci contractus, the validity, nature, construction, and interpretation of a contract are governed by the substantive law of the state where the contract [844]*844was made).

Under Florida law, when one spouse is alleged to have married a second individual while still married to someone else, the subsequent marriage is presumed to be valid. “The presumption in favor of the validity of the subsequent marriage formally entered into is so great that in the absence of competent proof to the contrary it is to be assumed that the previous marriage has been dissolved either by death or legal action.” Grace v. Grace, 162 S2d 314, 317 (Fla. 1964). This presumption in favor of the second spouse is “one of the strongest presumptions known to the law” and “[w]hile the [party attacking the marriage] is not required to eliminate every remote possibility that a divorce might have been secured by [the spouse in question], it is necessary that [the party attacking the second marriage] tender evidence which when weighed collectively establishes the absence of a reasonable probability that [the spouse in question] actually secured the divorce.” Teel v. Nolen Brown Motors, 93 S2d 874, 876 (Fla. 1957).

The trial court erroneously determined that Fisher’s marriage to Stewart was not valid based on an unresolved prior marriage. A question of fact requiring jury resolution exists as to the sufficiency of the evidence to rebut the strong presumption of validity accorded Stewart’s marriage under Florida law. See Miller v. Miller, 258 Ga. 168, 170, n. 6 (366 SE2d 682) (1988) (under Georgia law, a jury determines whether a presumption has been rebutted); see also OCGA § 24-4-20 (“[p]resumptions of fact are exclusively questions for the jury”). Accordingly, summary judgment was not warranted on Stewart’s claim of negligence and loss of consortium.

2. Second, Stewart enumerates as error the summary judgment on her claim that the Nursing Home breached its contract by discharging Fisher without first contacting her.

An agreement may consist of multiple documents. Baker v. Jellibeans, Inc., 252 Ga. 458, 460 (314 SE2d 874) (1984). The entire agreement at issue in this case consists of (1) the agreement executed by the Nursing Home and Fisher in which he designates Stewart as the “Responsible Party,” and (2) the statement of services executed by the Nursing Home administrator and Stewart as the “Responsible Party,” whereby she acknowledges understanding the rules and regulations of the Nursing Home. Stewart’s health benefits from her job covered Fisher’s care in the Nursing Home.

Fisher had wanted to go to the Nursing Home in Toombs County to be close to his other relatives, but Stewart’s employment was still in Fort Lauderdale and she maintained her residence there.

By signing this document, Stewart agreed to serve as the Responsible Party, and the Nursing Home’s signature indicates its acceptance of her in this role. Stewart also impliedly agreed to abide [845]*845by those rules, including the rule that she be financially responsible for Fisher’s debts to the Nursing Home. Her agreement to be financially responsible provides her with the “legal interest” in the contract required by OCGA § 9-2-20 (a).

She is not a third-party beneficiary under OCGA § 9-2-20 (b). She is instead a promisor, i.e., the “Responsible Party,” and Fisher the beneficiary of her obligations under the contract. She thus has privity and standing to sue the Nursing Home.

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Bluebook (online)
479 S.E.2d 180, 223 Ga. App. 842, 96 Fulton County D. Rep. 4403, 1996 Ga. App. LEXIS 1313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fisher-v-toombs-county-nursing-home-gactapp-1996.