Paulk v. Thomas

154 S.E.2d 872, 115 Ga. App. 436, 1967 Ga. App. LEXIS 1132
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMarch 17, 1967
Docket42656
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 154 S.E.2d 872 (Paulk v. Thomas) 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
Paulk v. Thomas, 154 S.E.2d 872, 115 Ga. App. 436, 1967 Ga. App. LEXIS 1132 (Ga. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

Ebbrhakdt, Judge.

While plaintiff was testifying on direct examination he was asked whether he was engaged in making a crop prior to the accident in July, 1962. He answered, “Yes, sir, and made one up until 1962, until I got hurt, then I got behind with what I had to do because I wasn’t able to do nothing.” The answer was objected to and excluded upon the ground that it was a conclusion. This ruling is urged as error. Since later in his testimony he was permitted to testify, without objection, that after the accident he was physically unable to continue to labor on his crop, it is unnecessary for us to decide whether the ruling was error. Savannah Elec. Co. v. Crawford, 130 Ga. 421 (4) (60 SE 1056); Waters v. Wells, 155 Ga. 439 (4) (117 SE 322); Cochran v. State, 212 Ga. 245 (3e) (91 SE2d 601).

[438]*438Plaintiff tendered in evidence three photographs of the location on a graded road where the accident occurred. The photographs were made nearly three years after the date of the accident. In identifying the photographs plaintiff admitted that the appearance of the road as portrayed was not the same as when the accident occurred, in that there had been ruts of considerable depth, made by the wheels of vehicles, when the accident occurred but which no longer existed, the road appearing in the photographs to have a smooth surface. The photographs were objected to and excluded on the ground that they did not depict the road as it appeared at the time of -the collision.

We find no error in this ruling. “The question of the sufficiency of the preliminary proofs to identify photographs, or to show that it is a fair or accurate representation of the objects which it purports to portray, is a question committed to the discretion of the trial judge.” Johnson v. State, 158 Ga. 192, 198 (2) (123 SE 120). Accord: Rosenthal v. O’Neal, 108 Ga. App. 54 (2) (132 SE2d 150); Owensby v. Jones, 109 Ga. App. 398 (8) (136 SE2d 451). Since a question was raised by the testimony as to whether the defendant had turned, or attempted to turn the wheels of his vehicle from ruts in the road prior to the collision, the admitted difference in the appearance of the road in the photographs was material, and there was no abuse of discretion in excluding them.

Before suit was filed plaintiff went to Dr. Exum Walker for an examination, and after the examination procured Dr. Walker’s deposition for use at the trial. The deposition was taken under stipulation that all objections, save as to leading questions, were reserved until the deposition should be offered at the trial.

Dr. Walker testified as to some of the history of the accident and injuries as given to him by the plaintiff, and expressed an opinion concerning the nature and permanence of the injuries which, on cross examination, he admitted to be in. part based upon the history given him by Mr. Paulk. Upon objection that the recitals of history were hearsay and that the opinions were based upon hearsay, portions of the doctor’s deposition were excluded.

[439]*439There was ho error in this ruling. In Atlanta, Knoxville &c. R. Co. v. Gardner, 122 Ga. 82, 95 (11) (49 SE 818), Justice Fish reviewed this problem in the light of prior decisions of our Supreme Court and decisions of the courts from other jurisdictions, and laid down the rule that complaints made to a physician of pains in designated portions of the patient’s body are not admissible in his favor, unless made under such circumstances as to be equivalent to spontaneous and involuntary exclamations or outcries, groans, convulsive movements, and other physical manifestations of present pain and suffering. That rule has not been overruled or altered; it has been followed, and we are bound by it. Goodwyn v. Central of Ga. R. Co., 2 Ga. App. 470 (1) (58 SE 688); Bolton v. Columbia Cas. Co., 34 Ga. App. 658 (130 SE 535); Alabama Great Southern R. Co. v. McBryar, 65 Ga. App. 153, 158 (7) (15 SE2d 563); Wade v. Drinkard, 76 Ga. App. 159 (4) (45 SE2d 231). It applies to opinions which are based upon the patient’s hearsay history or his subjective complaints. Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Clinard, 93 Ga. App. 64, 66 (6) (90 SE2d 923); Atlantic C. L. R. Co. v. Marshall, 93 Ga. App. 134, 137 (7) (91 SE2d 96). The doctor may, however, testify from personal- observations of his patient that he was suffering pain. Eason v. Crews, 88 Ga. App. 602, 613 (2) (77 SE2d 245).

Appellant urges that it is necessary for the doctor to obtain from his patient a history of his injuries and his complaints, subjunctive though they may be, in order to formulate an opinion and to prescribe treatment, and that since this is necessary this rule should be changed to admit testimony containing the patient’s historical statements and complaints, particularly when these are in part, at least, the basis for the doctor’s opinion concerning the nature and extent of the injuries suffered. It is suggested that the rule of necessity be used in holding the testimony admissible.

The rule of necessity, exemplified in Moore v. Atlanta Transit System, Inc., 105 Ga. App. 70 (123 SE2d 693), has no application here since the plaintiff was available and could testify himself as to how he may have been injured and as to his pain and suffering. Justice Fish pointed out in Atlanta, Knoxville [440]*440&c. R. Co. v. Gardner, 122 Ga. 82, 97, supra, that the necessity for admitting testimony of this kind no longer existed after parties were made competent to testify as witnesses. Moore v. Atlanta Transit System, Inc., supra, dealt with a situation in which the party was no longer available to testify, and applied the rule of necessity as an applicable exception.

Dealing with a contention substantially the same as that urged by appellant, Judge Bell, afterwards Chief Justice Bell, asserted in Bolton v. Columbia Cas. Co., 34 Ga. App. 658, 661 (130 SE 535): “Counsel for plaintiff in error says that ‘Just as every wrong has its remedy in the law, every fact should be capable of some legal proof.’ But in the juridical sense the court can not know that the fact exists until there is proof of it. The statement of counsel would illogically assume its existence in order to let in the proof, whereas the proof should come first. Otherwise, there is no fact to deal with. Hearsay is without probative value.”

The contention that the objections to the testimony of Dr. Walker were not timely made is without merit. If the plaintiff were not estopped from urging this by virtue of the stipulation under which the deposition was taken, he would be met with the rulings in Erk v. Simpson, 137 Ga. 608, 613 (5) (73 SE 1065); Georgia R. & Elec. Co. v. Bailey, 9 Ga. App. 106 (3) (70 SE 607); Bell v. Washam, 92 Ga. App. 63 (4) (60 SE2d 408) and Hamilton v. Pulaski County, 86 Ga. App. 705, 709 (2) (72 SE2d 487), that objections upon substantial grounds relating to the incompetency of the testimony may be urged upon the trial, though they were not raised or noted before the commissioner at the time the deposition was taken.

Plaintiff’s attending physician, Dr. T. L. Edmundson, testified and on direct examination was asked: “Will you give us a resume of what treatment you gave him later on?” and he answered: “All right, on 10/2/62 he was still complaining of the pain in his cervical spine and he also complained of insomnia.

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Bluebook (online)
154 S.E.2d 872, 115 Ga. App. 436, 1967 Ga. App. LEXIS 1132, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/paulk-v-thomas-gactapp-1967.