Neely v. General Electric Co.

90 F.R.D. 627, 32 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1004, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13339
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJune 29, 1981
DocketCiv. A. No. C80-44N
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 90 F.R.D. 627 (Neely v. General Electric Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Neely v. General Electric Co., 90 F.R.D. 627, 32 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1004, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13339 (N.D. Ga. 1981).

Opinion

ORDER

TIDWELL, District Judge.

The above-styled matter is presently before the court on the defendant’s motion to reduce the verdict and the defendant’s motion to retax cost. The facts of the case are as follows. On September 27, 1979, the plaintiff Mr. Frank Neely, Jr. delivered a regulator to General Electric Company for repair. In the course of delivery, Mr. Neely entered the General Electric Company Building to unload the regulator from the truck. After parking the vehicle in a position for unloading, the plaintiff climbed into the rear of the truck and proceeded to attach a hoist to the regulator. As the plaintiff hooked the hoist cable to the regulator, the steel lifting block attached to the hoist fell and injured him. The plaintiff Frank Neely, Jr. and Barbara Neely subsequently filed this suit in part against the defendant General Electric Company for failure to exercise due care and caution for the safety of the plaintiff and for failure to properly operate, repair and maintain the crane which caused injury to the plaintiff. Upon the trial of the matter, the jury entered a verdict of Three Hundred Twenty Thousand Dollars ($320,000.00) for the plaintiff Frank Neely and Twelve Thousand Five Hundred Dollars ($12,500.00) for the plaintiff Barbara Neely. The defendant now files a motion to reduce the verdict for Frank Neely and a motion to retax cost.

With respect to the motion to reduce the verdict, the defendant contends that the plaintiff Frank Neely qualifies as an “insured” under the Georgia Motor Vehicle Accident Reparations Act, Ga.Code Ann. § 56-3403b(b), and as an “insured” who is eligible for economic loss benefits, the plaintiff is, therefore, precluded from recovering from the defendant the amount of [629]*629damages for which compensation as economic loss is available pursuant to Ga.Code Ann. § 56-3410b(b). Accordingly, the defendant requests that the court reduce the amount of the verdict for the plaintiff Frank Neely in the amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) which constitutes the minimum coverage required by the Act. In opposition, the plaintiff concedes that he qualifies as an “insured” but contends that he is not eligible to recover under the Act since his injury did not constitute “accidental bodily injury” as specified under Ga. Code Ann. § 56-3407b(b). The sole question before this court, therefore, is whether coverage of the plaintiff Frank Neely’s injury exists under the Georgia Motor Vehicle Accident Reparations Act.

Ga.Code Ann. § 56-3407b(b) requires coverage for the “accidental bodily injury” sustained by the insured while “occupying” a motor vehicle. “Accidental bodily injury” is in turn defined ás “bodily injury . . . arising out of the operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle which is accidental as to the person claiming basic no-fault benefits. ...” Ga.Code Ann. § 3402b(c). The Code further defines the “operation, maintenance or use of a motor vehicle” as the operation, maintenance and use of a motor vehicle as a vehicle but excludes conduct in the course of loading and unloading the vehicle unless the conduct occurs while occupying it. Ga.Code Ann. § 56-3402b(h) (emphasis added). “Occupying” means to be in or upon a motor vehicle or engaged in the immediate act of entering into or alighting from the motor vehicle. Ga.Code Ann. § 56-3402b(i).

In the present case, the plaintiff sustained his injury while standing in the rear of his truck. Therefore, during his efforts to unload the regulator, the plaintiff was clearly “occupying” the truck and was not excluded from coverage by the unloading exception to the definition of “operation, maintenance or use”. Furthermore, the legislature having explicitly addressed the type of unloading activity to be excluded from coverage by the Act, it is only logical to conclude that any act of loading a vehicle while “occupying” it would fall within the scope of the phrase “operation, maintenance or use” of a vehicle. Having been injured in the “operation, maintenance or use”. of the truck, the plaintiff’s injury satisfies the definition of “accidental bodily injury” and the plaintiff was eligible to recover under the Act. The court, therefore, grants the defendant’s motion to reduce the verdict by the amount of Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), reducing the judgment of the plaintiff Frank Neely to Three Hundred Fifteen Thousand Dollars ($315,000.00).

The defendant has also filed a motion to retax cost. The plaintiffs submitted a bill of costs to the clerk of the court on February 24, 1981 and notice of the filing was received by the defendant on February 25,1981. On March 2,1981, the clerk of the court taxed the defendant with cost in the amount requested. According to the defendant, no notice of the taxation of cost was received from the clerk and the defendant’s counsel first learned of the taxation on March 26, 1981. The defendant filed this motion to retax cost on March 30, 1981. Although this motion to retax cost was not filed within five days of the taxation of cost as required by Rule 54(d), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the court will consider the motion as timely in light of the defendant’s lack of notice.

Initially, the defendant challenges the plaintiffs’ attempt to tax the cost of expert witness fees for seven doctors amounting to a total of One Thousand Three Hundred Nineteen and “/ioo Dollars ($1,319.66). The defendant’s objection is well taken. The Fifth Circuit has repeatedly held that statutory fees provided in 28 U.S.C. § 1821 are exclusive, and a district court has no authority to tax costs for compensation to expert witnesses in excess of the statutory per diem, mileage and subsistence allowance where appropriate. Jones v. Diamond, 594 F.2d 997 (5th Cir. 1979); Baum v. United States, 432 F.2d 85 (5th Cir. 1970). The plaintiffs have submitted that should the court rule that the doctors’ fees are not taxable in the amount of an expert witness fee, the plaintiff is entitled to the [630]*630regular statutory fee under § 1821 which plaintiff calculates to be Eighty Dollars ($80.00) in total for the seven doctors. The court finds that the plaintiffs are entitled to the Eighty Dollars ($80.00) in witness fees for the doctors’ deposition testimony. The defendant also challenges the plaintiffs’ attempt to tax the witness fee of Francis Ranwez totalling Two Thousand Eight Hundred Twenty-One Dollars ($2,821.00) as exceeding the statutory limit for compensating a regular witness under § 1821. Under § 1821, the plaintiffs are limited to recovering cost in the amount of Thirty Dollars ($30.00) per attendance by the witness, and finding that Mr. Ranwez made one appearance only, the court reduces the award of cost for the witness fee of Francis Ranwez to Thirty Dollars ($30.00).

The defendant has also challenged the plaintiffs’ attempt to tax the reporter’s cost with regard to a number of depositions. The cost of reporter’s fees is taxable when necessarily obtained for use in the ease. 28 U.S.C. § 1920. In order to be considered necessarily obtained for use in the case, the deposition need not be used in the actual trial. Dasher v. Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, 78 F.R.D.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
90 F.R.D. 627, 32 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 1004, 1981 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/neely-v-general-electric-co-gand-1981.