Trammell v. Shirley

145 S.E. 486, 38 Ga. App. 710, 1928 Ga. App. LEXIS 413
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 14, 1928
Docket19042
StatusPublished
Cited by77 cases

This text of 145 S.E. 486 (Trammell v. Shirley) 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
Trammell v. Shirley, 145 S.E. 486, 38 Ga. App. 710, 1928 Ga. App. LEXIS 413 (Ga. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

Luke, J.

In this suit against the sureties on a constable’s bond the defense was non est factum. On the first trial of the case the. court directed a verdict for the defendants, and this court, in Shirley v. Trammell, 34 Ga. App. 776 (131 S. E. 190), held that the evidence was in sharp conflict as to when the bond was signed by the sureties, and reversed the judgment of the trial court.

When the case was tried the second time the jury found for the plaintiff, and the defendants filed a motion for a new trial, based on the general grounds and on the special ground that the court erred in not granting a new trial, because of newly discovered evidence. Error is assigned on the judgment overruling this motion.

The defendants admitted in open court that they signed the bond, but insisted that they signed it “as of August 25, 1923.” They further admitted that their principal on the bond defaulted between January 1, 1923, and August 25, 1923.

It is readily seen that the controlling question is whether or not the bond, at the time it was signed by the defendants, was dated [711]*711January 1, 1923 or August 25, 1923. And, since the evidence was conflicting as to this crucial question, the jury’s verdict resolving that conflict in favor of the defendant in error can not be disturbed by this court for any reason assigned in the general grounds of the motion for a new trial.

The alleged newly discovered evidence referred to in the only special ground of the motion for a new trial is that of the son of the deceased principal on the bond. At the trial of the case, this witness testified for the plaintiffs in error, and we would, in any event, feel hesitant in holding that the trial judge abused his discretion in overruling this ground of the motion. However, this ground is not for our consideration. In the first place, the affidavit of the two witnesses in support of the witness upon whose evidence a new trial was sought is defective in that it fails to show the associates and means of knowledge of such witness. Civil Code (1910), § 6086; Hart v. State, 36 Ga. App. 673 (2) (137 S. E. 798); Ivey v. State, 154 Ga. 63 (6) (113 S. E. 175); Carpenter v. State, 35 Ga. App. 349 (133 S. E. 350). In the second place, the affidavit of the defendants and their counsel as to diligence merely stated that they “did not know of the evidence . . before the trial of the ease therein stated, and that the same could not. have been discovered by the exercise of ordinary diligence.” This was a mere conclusion of the affiants, without basic facts from which the court could judge whether or not they could have discovered the evidence by the exercise of ordinary diligence; and the special ground also was defective for this reason. Hart v. State, supra; Taylor v. State, 132 Ga. 235 (3) (63 S. E. 1116); Tyre v. State, 35 Ga. App. 579 (134 S. E. 178).

This court is so often called on to pass upon motions for a new trial which contain grounds not in proper form for consideration, that, for the convenience of members of the bar, the writer of the foregoing opinion is permitted by his associates, who concur in the judgment of affirmance, to incorporate herein a brief digest of decisions on defects of form in such motions, which was prepared by Judge A. W. Cozart, of the Columbus bar.

Rule 1. (a) A ground of a motion for new trial can not be considered which contains an affirmative statement of fact material to the determination of the error assigned, unless it is unqualifiedly approved by the trial judge. Jordan v. State, 153 Ga. 167 (111 S. E. 417); Hayes v. Chapman, 147 Ga. 625 (95 S. E. 216).

[712]*712(b) What are known as the “general grounds” do not have to be approved. Harris v. State, 120 Ga. 196 (47 S. E. 573).

A ground based on newly discovered evidence need not be approved by the trial judge in the sense that the recitals of facts in the affidavits offered in support of the ground are verified as true. Avery v. State, 11 Ga. App. 418 (75 S. E. 446).

(c) A ground of a motion for a-new trial may be approved or ' verified by the trial judge in the bill of exceptions, or by a certificate made upon or attached to the motion, or in a certificate attached to each separate ground. National Fire Ins. Co. v. Van Giesen, 132 Ga. 671 (64 S. E. 655); Strickland v. State, 8 Ga. App. 421 (1) (69 S. E. 313).

(d) “The usual general certificate of a trial judge approving as true all statements of fact contained in a special ground of a motion for a new trial will be construed by this court [the Court of Appeals] as approving as true only such statements in the ground as are purely statements of fact, and not as approving other allegations therein, which, although stated as facts, should properly be construed as mere conclusions of the movant based upon facts set forth in the ground.” Humphrey v. State, 24 Ga. App. 22 (99 S. E. 714); Rewis v. State, 27 Ga. App. 258 (108 S. E. 62).

(e) “Allowing” an amendment to a motion for a new trial is not an “approval” of grounds contained in the amendment. Wright v. State, 9 Ga. App. 235 (70 S. E. 968); Thornton v. Cordell, 8 Ga. App. 588 (70 S. E. 17); Pollard v. State, 125 Ga. 270 (54 S. E. 171), and cases cited.

(f) A ground of a motion for a new trial, though approved, is not valid, if it is contradicted by the record. Harris v. Vallee, 29 Ga. App. 769 (9) (116 S. E. 642); James v. Cooledge, 129 Ga. 860 (60 S. E. 182); Georgian Co. v. Kinney, 19 Ga. App. 732 (3) (92 S. E. 31).

While it is well settled that, where a conflict occurs between the recitals in a bill of exceptions and the record, the record controls (May v. State, 90 Ga. 704 (3) 17 S. E. 108; Rome Ry. &c. Co. v. King, 33 Ga. App. 385, 126 S. E. 294), yet where a conflict occurs in the certified record itself, as where the judge certifies to having given a specific instruction, and the general charge as also certified and sent up does not contain the language of such excerpt in the instruction embracing the law on the same subject, the record will [713]*713be reconciled by assuming that both charges were given. Grooms v. Grooms, 141 Ga. 478 (3) (81 S. E. 210). Bohannan v. Knapp, 33 Ga. App. 702, 704 (127 S. E. 808).

(g) “Rulings upon the sufficiency of pleadings are not proper subject-matter for a motion for a new trial.” Coulson v. State, 13 Ga. App. 148 (2) (78 S. E. 1108), and citations; Tompkins v. American Land Co., 139 Ga. 377 (2) (77 S. E. 623), and cit.; Watkins v. Mims, 35 Ga. App. 170, 171 (132 S. E. 241).

“A judgment upon a demurrer cannot be considered upon a motion for a new trial.” Polhill v. State, 25 Ga. App. 383 (103 S. E. 469).

(h)

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145 S.E. 486, 38 Ga. App. 710, 1928 Ga. App. LEXIS 413, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trammell-v-shirley-gactapp-1928.