Nunnally v. Shockley

103 S.E.2d 74, 97 Ga. App. 300, 1958 Ga. App. LEXIS 764
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedFebruary 21, 1958
Docket36944
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 103 S.E.2d 74 (Nunnally v. Shockley) 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
Nunnally v. Shockley, 103 S.E.2d 74, 97 Ga. App. 300, 1958 Ga. App. LEXIS 764 (Ga. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

Quillian, Judge.

The defendants insist that Nunnally v. Shockley, 91 Ga. App. 767 (87 S. E. 2d 115) and Shockley v. *305 Nunnally, 93 Ga. App. 437 (91 S. E. 2d 793), appeals from jury trials in which Mrs. Shockley sought damages arising out of the same fall alleged in the present petition, established the law of the case adversely to the claim of the plaintiff. With this contention we cannot agree. In those cases it was held that, no notice of the defective threshold having been received by the landlords, the verdict was unauthorized by the evidence because the threshold, where the injury occurred, was on premises to which the defendants had no right of entry. It will be noted that in those cases a right of entry by the landlords was neither pleaded nor proved. In the present case the petition alleged that the landlords, through their agent, retained and exercised the right to enter the Crossley store for the purpose of inspecting and repairing it. This allegation placed an entirely different burden of care upon the defendants from that alleged in Mrs. Shockley’s petition (Dobbs v. Noble, 55 Ga. App. 201, 203, 189 S. E. 694), and the decision in her case did not establish the law of the case as to the defendants’ duty to discover and repair the defective threshold.

Mrs. Shockley testified in part that: she was entering the Crossley store to purchase some ice cream; as she opened the screen door the toe of her shoe hung on the threshold and it moved and she fell; there was nothing on the threshold to indicate that it would move; she had received no warning as to the fact that the threshold would move.

J. B. Hammond testified in part that: he went back and looked at the threshold strip after Mrs. Shockley had been carried out of the store; he could tell that the strip had been knocked loose because of the fresh dirt under it; the threshold strip had been knocked to one side at approximately a 50 degree angle.

Paul Cleaton testified in part that: he examined the threshold and there was a big-headed roofing nail in the east side of the threshold, but the west side was loose; he carefully examined the threshold and found no evidence of any nail ever having been put in it to hold it to the floor.

Mell Conner testified in part that: he inspected the threshold and it was loose on the west side; there was a roofing nail in one end and there was no nail in the other end of the threshold strip; the threshold could be moved back and forth with your *306 toe; there was no evidence that a nail had ever been put in the loose end of the threshold; in his opinion the roofing nail was not the type that you normally see fastening a door sill.

The above evidence was sufficient to present a question for the jury as to whether the threshold strip was maintained in a negligent manner and whether this negligence was the proximate cause of Mrs. Shockley’s injuries.

Whether or not the proof submitted by the plaintiff was sufficient to show actionable negligence on the defendant’s part, and whether the defendant’s negligence, or Mrs. Shockley’s negligence was the proximate cause of her injuries, were questions for the jury.

When a tenant assumes exclusive possession of the premises the landlord is responsible only for such defects of which he has notice, but if the landlord either retains or assumes a right of entry he is then liable for such defects as should be discovered by the exercise of ordinary diligence. Davis v. City of Atlanta, 84 Ga. App. 572, 576 (66 S. E. 2d 188); Dobbs v. Noble, 55 Ga. App. 201, 203, supra.

In regard to whether the Trust Company of Georgia, an agent of the defendants, inspected the premises, M. G. Crossley, owner of the store in which Mrs. Shockley fell, testified in part that: “When the Trust Company of Georgia took over the property, I think Mr. Adams let us know they had taken over in a personal letter. But he did come in periodically every 4 to 6 weeks, and he would come in my place and look over my place and talk to me about it. He would look around and see what condition it was in. I didn’t call on him to come and make those visits, he just appeared and looked around.”

As to this same issue, C. W. Shurlock, another tenant in the building testified in part that: “While I was in the building Mr. Deadwyler, representative of the Trust Company of Georgia; came down a few times and made a few suggested changes and repairs in the office. When the Trust Company of Georgia took over the operation and management of the property they made some changes and adjustments that they thought were necessary. They examined the building, I think all the property, and made some minor repairs to put the property in first class condition; they painted the inside of the building and they moved the par *307 tition that divided our office from the main lobby forward and increased the size of the office. This was as the result after their general inspection of all the property.”

The above testimony was sufficient to present an issue for the jury’s determination as to whether the defendants through their agent, the Trust Company of Georgia, assumed the right to enter and inspect the premises, and if the jury decided the above question in the affirmative, as to whether the defendants’ agent was negligent in failing to ascertain that the threshold strip was defective and repair the same. The general grounds are without merit.

Special ground 1 of the amended motion for new trial excepted to the trial judge’s failure to charge the jury that “the husband would have no right of recovery against these defendants unless the wife, for whose services he was suing, had a right to recover of these defendants.” The ground failed to state how this omission was harmful to the defendants and was too incomplete to be considered by this court. Jones v. State, 50 Ga. App. 14 (1) (176 S. E. 824); Morris v. State, 185 Ga. 67 (2) (194 S. E. 214); Smallwood v. Pollard, 54 Ga. App. 617, 618 (188 S. E. 594).

Special ground 2 made a general exception to 5 excerpts of the charge. This ground is without merit, because some, if not all, of the principles charged were correct and applicable to the facts of the case. Louisville & Nashville R. Co. v. Bean, 49 Ga. App. 4 (174 S. E. 209).

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Bluebook (online)
103 S.E.2d 74, 97 Ga. App. 300, 1958 Ga. App. LEXIS 764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nunnally-v-shockley-gactapp-1958.