Pierce v. Wendy's International, Inc.

504 S.E.2d 14, 233 Ga. App. 227, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 2556, 1998 Ga. App. LEXIS 878
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedJune 19, 1998
DocketA98A0422
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 504 S.E.2d 14 (Pierce v. Wendy's International, Inc.) 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
Pierce v. Wendy's International, Inc., 504 S.E.2d 14, 233 Ga. App. 227, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 2556, 1998 Ga. App. LEXIS 878 (Ga. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

Ruffin, Judge.

John Webb Pierce sued Wendy’s International, Inc. (“Wendy’s”) to recover for injuries resulting when Pierce fell into a hole located on Wendy’s property. The trial court granted Wendy’s motion for summary judgment. Pierce appeals, and for the following reasons, we affirm.

To prevail on summary judgment, the moving party must show that no genuine issue of material fact remains to be tried and that the undisputed facts, viewed in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, warrant judgment as a matter of law. Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins, 261 Ga. 491 (405 SE2d 474) (1991). Viewed in this light, the evidence shows that Pierce was the lawn maintenance supervisor for the landscape company that performed weekly landscape work at Wendy’s restaurant. Pierce’s duties included cutting grass, trimming bushes, and planting flowers and shrubs. On March 28,1995, Pierce was providing landscape services to Wendy’s by weedeating a strip of grass along an adjacent highway when he fell into a hole. At the time of his fall, Pierce was walking backward, looking down at the weedeater and not paying attention to the ground behind him. In his deposition, Pierce stated that the hole was covered with grass and difficult to see when it was approached from the side, because plants obstructed his view. However, Pierce admitted that if he stood directly in front of the hole, it was an obvious hazard. Pierce further admitted that if he had been walking forward, he possibly would have seen the hole. As a result of Pierce’s fall, he suffered injuries to his left leg and lower back.

The evidence of record shows that this was not the first time that Pierce had observed the hole in question. Pierce had performed landscape work at this location at least 18 to 20 times before the accident. On March 21, 1995, one week prior to the accident, Pierce observed the hole as he performed landscape services for Wendy’s. According to Pierce’s affidavit, “the hole was only a dip in the ground” during the summer of 1994, but from the summer of 1994 to March 21,1995, the dip became larger and between March 21, 1995 and March 28, *228 1995 it eroded away under the grass. However, contrary to Pierce’s affidavit, in his deposition, he states that he is unable to recall how many times he saw the hole prior to March 21, 1995. According to both Pierce’s deposition and affidavit, he stated that the hole appeared to have increased in size, between the time that he last observed the hole, and the date of the incident, due to soil erosion. Pierce told his supervisor about the hole when he noticed it on March 21, 1995.

Relying on the facts supplied in the entire record, including all pleadings, affidavits and depositions, the trial court granted Wendy’s motion for summary judgment.

1. Pierce asserts that the trial court erred in denying his motion to strike Wendy’s store manager’s affidavit as untimely. The record shows that Wendy’s filed its motion for summary judgment on September 5, 1996, but did not file the store manager’s supplemental affidavit until December 5, 1996. On March 17, 1997, the date of hearing on the motion for summary judgment, Pierce filed his motion to strike as untimely. The trial court denied Pierce’s motion to strike the supplemental affidavit and considered the supplemental affidavit in support of Wendy’s motion for summary judgment.

We note initially that even though the order denying Pierce’s motion to strike is a non-final order and as such is not directly appealable under OCGA § 5-6-34 (a), it is appealable under OCGA § 5-6-34 (d). OCGA § 5-6-34 (d) states: “Where an appeal is taken under any provision of (a), (b), or (c) of this Code section, all judgments, rulings, or orders rendered in the case which are raised on appeal and which may affect the proceedings below shall be reviewed and determined by the appellate court, without regard to the appeal-ability of the judgment, ruling or order standing alone and without regard to whether the judgment, ruling, or order appealed from was final. . . .” The notice of appeal in this case states on its face that the appeal is being taken from the order granting summary judgment, which is directly appealable pursuant to OCGA § 5-6-34 (a), as well as the order denying Pierce’s motion to strike the supplemental affidavit. “Thus, having filed a notice of appeal from the grant of summary judgment, [Pierce] can also appeal the order [denying the motion to strike]. OCGA § 5-6-34 (d);’ [cit.].” Young Constr. v. Old Hickory House #3, 210 Ga. App. 559 (1) (436 SE2d 581) (1993). Accordingly, this contention of error is properly before this Court.

Turning to the merits of Pierce’s assertion that the affidavit should not have been considered by the trial court, we find Hershiser v. Yorkshire Condominium Assn., 201 Ga. App. 185 (1) (410 SE2d 455) (1991) and Gunter v. Hamilton Bank &c., 201 Ga. App. 379 (411 SE2d 115) (1991) controlling. In Hershiser, we determined that the trial court erred in considering supplemental affidavits filed after the *229 motion for summary judgment was filed because the movant did not request an extension of time to file and serve the affidavits pursuant to OCGA § 9-11-6 (d), nor did the trial court find excusable neglect on the movant’s part in failing to file timely and serve the affidavits. Hershiser, supra at 185.

Likewise, in Gunter, the plaintiff filed a supplemental affidavit and deposition in support of its motion for summary judgment and the defendant objected at the hearing and moved to have it stricken as untimely filed. However, the trial court considered both the supplemental affidavit and the deposition in granting summary judgment to the plaintiff. We held the supplemental affidavits and deposition were not timely filed, and consequently were not properly before the trial court for consideration. Gunter, supra at 381. As to the supplemental affidavit, we determined that “OCGA § 9-11-56 (c) which requires that a motion for summary judgment be served at least 30 days before the time fixed for a hearing, and OCGA § 9-11-6 (d) which requires that ‘when a motion is supported by affidavit, the affidavit shall be served with the motion,’ have been construed together to mean that an affidavit relied on in support of a motion for summary judgment must be on file for at least 30 days prior to the hearing. [Cits.]” Id. at 381.

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Bluebook (online)
504 S.E.2d 14, 233 Ga. App. 227, 98 Fulton County D. Rep. 2556, 1998 Ga. App. LEXIS 878, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pierce-v-wendys-international-inc-gactapp-1998.