Herring v. R. L. Mathis Certified Dairy Co.

162 S.E.2d 863, 118 Ga. App. 132, 1968 Ga. App. LEXIS 1330
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJune 14, 1968
Docket43530, 43540
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 162 S.E.2d 863 (Herring v. R. L. Mathis Certified Dairy Co.) 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
Herring v. R. L. Mathis Certified Dairy Co., 162 S.E.2d 863, 118 Ga. App. 132, 1968 Ga. App. LEXIS 1330 (Ga. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinions

Quillian, Judge.

The appellant Mrs. Herring appealed from the judgments rendered in favor of three defendants (the Church, Mathis and Mrs. Bourn). The appeal contained some 26 paragraphs specifically listing items to be omitted. In summary of these specified omissions, the notice of appeal recited: “Omit the entire record except the petition, the amendment to the complaint, the renewed motions to dismiss by R. Lloyd [136]*136Mathis, II, Grant Park Baptist Church, and Mrs. Willeen Bourn, respectively, and plaintiff’s affidavit of her inability to pay costs.” Thus, although the three judgments which were the subject of this appeal were not specifically listed for omission, as a result of this last paragraph, they were not sent up with the record on appeal. In order to remedy this situation, the plaintiff requested the Clerk of DeKalb Superior Court to transmit these three judgments, which was duly accomplished on February 12, 1968.

On February 27, 1968, the individual defendant Mathis then filed a motion to dismiss the appeal and what he denominated an objection to the record. At a later time on March 1, 1968, the other two defendants filed similar motions. It was contended that the appeal was subj ect to being dismissed because the record did not contain a judgment or order from which the appeal was brought. In support of this argument movants cite Walker v. Walker, 222 Ga. 521 (150 SE2d 635); Bowers v. Gill, 222 Ga. 529 (150 SE2d 653); Hardnett v. U. S. Fidel. &c. Co., 116 Ga. App. 732 (158 SE2d 303).

On February 29, 1968, the appellant filed a motion with the trial judge requesting that he order 'the clerk to send up the three previously omitted judgments. The trial judge on that same day issued an order that such judgments be sent to this court.

Code Ann. § 6-805 (f) (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 24) provides: “If anything material to either party is omitted from the record on appeal or is misstated therein, the parties by stipulation, or the trial court, either before or after the record is transmitted to the appellate court, on a proper suggestion or of its own initiative, may direct that the omission or misstatement shall be corrected, and, if necessary, that a supplemental record shall be certified and transmitted by the clerk of the trial court.” Movants, in their briefs, concede that if Code Ann. § 6-805 (f) (Ga. L. 1965, pp. 18, 24) were complied with their motions to dismiss would not be meritorious. The appellant in this case did comply with the Code section in question by obtaining the order of the trial judge directing that the three judgments [137]*137which were omitted be sent to this court. Thus, the motions to dismiss in Case 43530 are denied.

In applying the new rules of civil procedure (Civil Practice Act, Ga. L. 1966, p. 609, as amended, Ga. L. 1967, p. 226) to the consideration of pleadings, the following principles are applicable: (1) that pleadings shall be construed to do substantial justice, that is, that they be liberally construed in favor of the pleader: (2) the plaintiff need not allege a cause of action but only sufficient facts to place the defendant on notice of the claim against him; (3) a complaint should not be dismissed for insufficiency unless it appears to a certainty that the plaintiff is entitled to no relief under any state of facts which could be proved in support of the claim. See Harper v. DeFreitas, 117 Ga. App. 236, 238 (160 SE2d 260); Poole v. City of Atlanta, 117 Ga. App. 432, 434 (160 SE2d 874) and authorities cited.

The defendants Church and Mrs. Bourn, while recognizing the above stated rules, contend that the complaint as drawn affirmatively reveals that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover. They predicate this contention on the theory that the complaint shows the plaintiff’s decedent was a boy over 14 years old. As such, under the rule of Hale v. Davies, 86 Ga. App. 126 (70 SE2d 923), he was required to exercise ordinary care for his own safety. The defendants point out that the deceased’s entering deep water in apparent disregard of the risk involved did not meet the standard of ordinary care required of him. They further contend that as to a child of this age there was no duty upon Mrs. Bourn, acting for the Church, to supervise his activities or maintain control over him.

The plaintiff on the other hand argues that, even though the boy was over fourteen, Mrs. Bourn had a duty as his voluntary custodian to exercise ordinary care in his behalf, including necessary supervision of his activities, especially where he was engaged in swimming.

In passing upon the Church’s liability we point out that it is alleged that the Church has certain non-charitable assets and no issue is raised in regard to charitable immunity.

The general rule is that one exercising the custody of a child [138]*138of tender years must use ordinary care. Restatement 2d, Torts 2d, 132, § 320; Anno., 27 ALR 1018; 65 CJS 491, Negligence, §4 (3); 67 CJS 749, Parent & Child, § 46; 38 AmJur 685, Negligence, § 40. “Ordinary care involves the exercise of a degree of caution and diligence commensurate with the circumstances and the danger involved therein.” Y. M. C. A. of Atlanta v. Bailey, 107 Ga. App. 417, 419 (130 SE2d 242). While the defendant Church and its agent Mrs. Bourn may not have owed him the same degree of care that would be due a much younger child, still it cannot be said as a matter of law that they owed him no duty whatsoever.

The cases which place an additional standard of care upon a 14-year-old, insofar as contributory negligence is concerned, point out that such boy “should not be treated as a child of ‘tender years,’ but as a young person who has passed that period and become chargeable with such diligence as might fairly be expected of the class and condition to which he belongs. . . While the conduct of a boy of his age, under such circumstances, is not to be judged by the same standard as that of a man, he is nevertheless held to a higher degree of responsibility than one whom the law regards as an infant of ‘tender years.’ A young person of the age of this plaintiff is presumed to be capable of realizing danger and of exercising the necessary forethought and caution to avoid it, and is presumptively chargeable with diligence for his own safety, where the peril is palpable and manifest.” Laseter v. Clark, 54 Ga. App. 669, 672 (189 SE 265); Beck v. Wade, 100 Ga. App. 79, 83 (110 SE2d 43); Redding v. Morris, 105 Ga. App. 152, 154 (123 SE2d 714). These cases are not authority for the proposition that one assuming the parental custody of the child is under no legal responsibility. See, in this connection, Marques v. Riverside Military Academy, 87 Ga. App. 370 (73 SE2d 574).

Under the facts of this case Mrs. Bourn was, by consent of the deceased’s father, given custody of the boy. In those situations where the same parent who brought suit gave consent to another to exercise custody over the child then the negligence of the custodian is attributed to the parent so as to bar recovery. Woodham v. Powell, 61 Ga. App. 760, 761 (2) (7 [139]*139SE2d 573). However, the mother’s right of action for the child’s homicide under Code § 105-1307, as amended (Ga. L. 1952, p. 54), is not barred by the negligence of a custodian chosen by the father. Atlanta & C. A. L. R. Co. v. Gravitt, 93 Ga. 369 (20 SE 550, 26 LRA 553, 44 ASR 145); Crook v. Foster, 142 Ga. 715, 719 (83 SE 670). In legal contemplation Mrs.

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Herring v. R. L. Mathis Certified Dairy Co.
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162 S.E.2d 863, 118 Ga. App. 132, 1968 Ga. App. LEXIS 1330, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/herring-v-r-l-mathis-certified-dairy-co-gactapp-1968.