Leslie v. Doe

756 S.E.2d 238, 326 Ga. App. 154, 2014 Fulton County D. Rep. 602, 2014 WL 943216, 2014 Ga. App. LEXIS 138
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 12, 2014
DocketA13A2312
StatusPublished

This text of 756 S.E.2d 238 (Leslie v. Doe) 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
Leslie v. Doe, 756 S.E.2d 238, 326 Ga. App. 154, 2014 Fulton County D. Rep. 602, 2014 WL 943216, 2014 Ga. App. LEXIS 138 (Ga. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

Ellington, Presiding Judge.

The Superior Court of Fulton County granted summary judgment in favor of John Doe, the “phantom driver” defendant, in this personal injury suit arising from a one-car accident. The court found that Tyrone Leslie, the plaintiff driver, had failed to present evidence corroborating his claim that Doe’s actions forced him from the roadway, causing the accident. Absent such corroboration, a prerequisite for Leslie to recover against his uninsured motorist carrier,1 the court entered judgment in Doe’s favor. Leslie contends that the court erred because the affidavit and deposition testimony of an eyewitness provided the requisite corroboration. Because the court erred in disregarding the eyewitness’s affidavit under the circumstances of this case, and because the eyewitness’s affidavit and deposition testimony provide sufficient corroboration, we reverse the grant of summary judgment.

Absent some evidence of physical contact between the insured’s vehicle and the unknown vehicle, an eyewitness must corroborate the insured’s description of how the accident occurred. OCGA § 33-7-11 (b) (2).2 See Yates v. Doe, 190 Ga. App. 367 (378 SE2d 739) (1989) (Without evidence of contact between the vehicles or eyewitness testimony corroborating the appellant’s claim of how the phantom driver caused the accident, as required by OCGA § 33-7-11 (b) (2), the trial court properly granted summary judgment to the uninsured motorist carrier.). By requiring a corroborating eyewitness to the actual involvement of a John Doe driver and his phantom automobile under such circumstances,

[i]t was not the intent of the legislature to create a rule which would arbitrarily preclude coverage [.] . . . What the legislature intended to be established with reasonable certainty, so [155]*155as to preclude fraudulent claims, is the existence of a phantom automobile which caused the damage or injury. The legislature provided two methods by which this can be accomplished: (a) by proof of actual physical contact, or (b) by the claimant’s description of the occurrence corroborated by eyewitness testimony. The eyewitness does not have to be a disinterested third party.

(Citations omitted; emphasis in original.) Painter v. Continental Ins. Co., 233 Ga. App. 436, 438-439 (2) (504 SE2d 285) (1998).

In his complaint, Leslie averred that he lost control of his vehicle when he swerved to avoid a car that had pulled out in front of him as it entered the roadway from a shopping center parking lot. To corroborate his claim, Leslie submitted the recorded statement and the sworn affidavit and deposition testimony of an eyewitness, Reginald Fretty. On June 1, 2011, Fretty gave Leslie an affidavit, stating:

On January 29, 2011, I was at a convenience store on [Highway] 138 in Fulton County, Georgia [,] when I observed a fairly new, dark colored car, possibly American made, come from out of the shopping center lot across the street and cut off the driver of the green Mitsubishi [,] later identified as Tyrone Leslie. The car caused Mr. Leslie to [lose] control of his vehicle in an attempt to avoid a collision. The dark colored car did not stop as Mr. Leslie lost control, flipped several times and crashed.

In his August 5,2011 recorded statement and in his February 14, 2012 deposition, Fretty was less certain of his observations. In his recorded statement, he told an insurance adjuster that he had seen a car pass in front of Leslie’s car and cause the accident. When asked if that was his assumption or an observation, Fretty insisted: “No, . . . [the other car] caused the accident.” Later, however, Fretty admitted that he was not sure exactly how the other car had caused the accident, stating “I’m not for sure if the car pulled out in front of [Leslie’s car].” When asked specifically if he saw what the other car did immediately prior to the accident, he stated: “No.” Similarly, in his deposition, Fretty stated that he saw “a car coming out [from a store] going that way (indicating) on 138. . .. And that’s when I saw, you know, the car going and the vehicle flipping.” Yet, when pressed on the details, Fretty admitted: “I didn’t watch the whole thing[.]”

In both his deposition testimony and his recorded statement, Fretty is most consistent concerning these details: While he was pumping gas, he heard “brakes squealing,” a “banging” sound, and a [156]*156“loud tumbling noise.” When the sounds prompted him to look up, he saw Leslie’s car flipping over as it left the roadway. By that time, the other car — the only other car on the road — was far enough down the road that Fretty could not tell what color it was. He speculated that the other car may have run a red light, may have been speeding, or may have pulled out in front of Leslie, but that he was not certain exactly how the other car caused the accident. Although Fretty’s testimony varied as to how much he saw or recalled of the specific cause of the accident, he did not specifically repudiate his affidavit or his assertion that he saw another car and that the driver of that car caused the accident.

During his deposition, Fretty also acknowledged that Leslie was dating his wife’s sister, Anna Godbold; and that he was friends with Anna’s ex-husband, Johnnie Godbold.3 The car Leslie wrecked was Anna’s, but it was insured by Johnnie.

The court did not conduct a hearing on Doe’s motion for summary judgment; rather, it ruled based upon the evidence that the parties had filed with the court. In its summary judgment order, the court found that Fretty’s affidavit contained corroborating statements “which would be sufficient to withstand the [m]otion[.]” The court concluded, however, that because the affidavit was a photocopy and not an original, it was “not sufficient in a summary judgment context to constitute evidence.” After discounting the evidentiary value of the affidavit, the court entered judgment in Doe’s favor.

1. For the reasons that follow, the court erred in disregarding the corroborating statements made in Fretty’s affidavit. The affidavit was made a part of the record. Doe did not move to strike Fretty’s affidavit or object to it on best evidence grounds, thereby waiving a best evidence objection;4 rather he urged the court to disregard it because it contradicted portions of Fretty’s deposition testimony, an objection the court overruled.5 Given that no best evidence objection [157]*157was made, the court erred in concluding that the affidavit had no evidentiary value for the following reasons.

A photocopy of a writing is considered secondary evidence. All Risk Ins. Agency v. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co., 182 Ga. App. 190, 193-194 (5) (355 SE2d 465) (1987) (“Photostatic copies are ordinarily secondary evidence, which may not be admitted over objection without properly accounting for the original.”) (emphasis supplied). Under the best evidence rule as it existed at the time of the motion,6

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Related

Patterson v. Bates
671 S.E.2d 195 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2008)
All Risk Insurance Agency, Inc. v. Southern Bell Telephone & Telegraph Co.
355 S.E.2d 465 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1987)
UNIVERSAL SECURITY INSURANCE COMPANY v. Lowery
359 S.E.2d 898 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1987)
Prophecy Corp. v. Charles Rossignol, Inc.
343 S.E.2d 680 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1986)
Painter v. Continental Insurance
504 S.E.2d 285 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1998)
Baptiste v. State
706 S.E.2d 442 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 2011)
Wright v. Apartment Investment & Management Co.
726 S.E.2d 779 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 2012)
Yates v. Doe
378 S.E.2d 739 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1989)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
756 S.E.2d 238, 326 Ga. App. 154, 2014 Fulton County D. Rep. 602, 2014 WL 943216, 2014 Ga. App. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leslie-v-doe-gactapp-2014.