Generali — U. S. Branch v. Southeastern Security Insurance

493 S.E.2d 731, 229 Ga. App. 277, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 4267, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 1391
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 7, 1997
DocketA97A2461
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 493 S.E.2d 731 (Generali — U. S. Branch v. Southeastern Security Insurance) 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
Generali — U. S. Branch v. Southeastern Security Insurance, 493 S.E.2d 731, 229 Ga. App. 277, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 4267, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 1391 (Ga. Ct. App. 1997).

Opinion

Eldridge, Judge.

Appellant Generali — U. S. Branch (“Generali”) is an insurer which paid an uninsured motorist claim to its insured based upon a written notice by appellee Southeastern Security Insurance Company (“Southeastern”) to its insured denying coverage for misrepresentations in the application for insurance. Upon learning that Southeastern did have coverage, Generali sued to recover the sum paid on the uninsured motorist claim.

On March 13, 1995, Southeastern’s insured rear-ended Gener-ali’s insured. In a letter dated March 23, 1995, Southeastern gave written notice to its insured, Aloma M. Bryan; Henry M. Kellum, the insured’s attorney; and Melissa Wirdner, Graward General Insurance, the insured’s agent, that coverage for the time of the collision was denied and the policy canceled because of misrepresentations in the insurance policy application.

Generali made no request of Southeastern regarding verification of coverage and relied upon the letter to Southeastern’s insured and Southeastern’s duty to amend the information under OCGA § 33-3- *278 28 (d). Generali paid the uninsured motorist benefits to its insured.

Generali sued Aloma M. Bryan under its subrogation claim and Southeastern on a direct action in negligence and fraud for failure to amend its original statement denying coverage after Southeastern’s discovery that the facts stated in its denial of coverage were inconsistent with coverage; Generali asserted that it had relied to its detriment on the notice by paying the uninsured motorist benefits when Southeastern had coverage. Southeastern timely answered. On March 21, 1997, Southeastern filed a motion for partial summary judgment, based upon the lack of a right of subrogation for an uninsured motorist personal injury claim by Generali. On April 15, 1997, Generali filed a voluntary dismissal without prejudice as to defendant Bryan in order to make such motion moot. In Generali’s response to the partial motion for summary judgment, filed the same day, it argued that the motion had been rendered moot by its dismissal of Bryan and that its direct action against Southeastern was based, not on subrogation but on negligence and fraud; it argued this position in the brief. On June 12, 1997, after hearing oral argument on June 9, the trial court granted summary judgment. Generali filed a timely notice of appeal.

1. The first, second, and fifth enumerations of error are that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on theories of liability outside the scope of the motion for partial summary judgment, because such motion was made moot by the dismissal of Bryan. We do not agree.

The trial court can grant sua sponte summary judgment under Georgia law. Solon Automated Svcs. v. Corp. of Mercer Univ., 221 Ga. App. 856, 859 (3) (a) (473 SE2d 544) (1996). In fact, the trial court can grant summary judgment to the “non-moving party provided that the grant is proper in all other respects. [Cit.]” Golston v. Gari-gan, 245 Ga. 450, 451 (1) (265 SE2d 590) (1980); see also Eiberger v. West, 247 Ga. 767, 770 (281 SE2d 148) (1981); Rasmussen v. Nodvin, 174 Ga. App. 203, 204 (1) (329 SE2d 541) (1985); Wiggins v. C & S Nat. Bank, 173 Ga. App. 761 (328 SE2d 222) (1985); Massey v. Consolidated Equities Corp., 120 Ga. App. 165, 167 (1) (169 SE2d 672) (1969). “Accordingly, we conclude that, while in most cases it is better practice to await a motion for summary judgment before entering it for a party, it was not erroneous under the circumstances of this case, where the issues were the same as those involved in the movant’s motion, hence the opposing parties had notice thereof, and where the nonmovant consented to the entry of summary judgment in his favor.” Cruce v. Randall, 245 Ga. 669, 671 (266 SE2d 486) (1980). “If the record demands such a judgment, it would be proper.” DeMudd v. Atlanta Metro Taxi-Cab Group, 172 Ga. App. 626, 627 (323 SE2d 910) (1984); see also Howell Mill/Collier Assoc. v. Pennypacker’s, Inc., 194 *279 Ga. App. 169, 170 (1) (390 SE2d 257) (1990).

Thus, the trial court can grant summary judgment on any or all theories of liability, if justified by the record, although the movant asked only for a partial motion for summary judgment on less than all the theories of liability. The trial court had the inherent power to administer cases before the court and to deny at the hearing the oral motion for dismissal of the motion for partial summary judgment. Counsel intentionally rendered moot the pending motion by the voluntary dismissal without prejudice of the claim against Bryan in order to avoid the grant of partial summary judgment. At the scheduled hearing, the trial court then proceeded to decide, sua sponte, the remaining issues of liability as a matter of judicial economy on summary judgment.

The record fails to show that plaintiff made a motion in writing or gave prior notice, either oral or written, for the trial court to rule the partial motion for summary judgment moot prior to the hearing date and to remove the case from the motions calendar as moot. Plaintiff’s counsel should have done this and had 51 days within which to do so prior to the hearing. See USCR 6.

“However, care should, of course, be taken by the trial court to determine that the party against whom summary judgment is rendered has had a full and fair opportunity to meet the proposition that there is no genuine issue of material fact to be tried, and that the party for whom summary judgment is rendered is entitled thereto as a matter of law. The crucial point is to insure that the party against whom summary judgment is sought has had a full and final opportunity to meet and attempt to controvert the assertions against him.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Howell Mill/Collier Assoc. v. Pennypacker’s, Inc., supra at 170. In this case, the plaintiff had such notice and opportunity, because the plaintiff raised in its brief in opposition to the summary judgment the theories of direct action that the trial court ruled upon.

Generali sought to avoid the motion for partial summary judgment as to the subrogation claim by dismissing its claim against the insured tortfeasor Bryan in order to make its claim against Southeastern moot; at the same time, Generali continued to assert its theories of direct action in the responsive brief in opposition to the motion. The hearing on the motion for partial summary judgment came on June 9, 1997, some 51 days following Generali’s response asserting its right to a direct action against Southeastern. The grant of the motion was not entered until June 12, 1997. Had plaintiff been without notice and truly surprised at the hearing by the issues raised, plaintiff could have requested to submit evidence after the hearing and prior to the ruling to perfect the record. Rasmussen v. Nodvin, supra at 204.

*280 The record clearly shows that Generali had notice and ample opportunity to present its response to the motion prior to the hearing, as well as prior to the ruling.

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Bluebook (online)
493 S.E.2d 731, 229 Ga. App. 277, 97 Fulton County D. Rep. 4267, 1997 Ga. App. LEXIS 1391, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/generali-u-s-branch-v-southeastern-security-insurance-gactapp-1997.