Pointer v. Roberts, 288 Ga. 150

Roberts, Pointer, and Debra Pointer were involved in an automobile collision with Roberts' liability undisputed.
A consolidated March 28, 2008 pretrial order identified witnesses who may testify and allowed adding others with proper notice.
Roberts amended the pretrial order five weeks before trial to add Dr. Stephen C. Allen as a potential expert witness.
Two weeks before trial, Roberts moved for a continuance because Dr. Allen would be unavailable during trial; the motion was denied at a telephonic conference that was not transcribed.
Later, the trial court allowed Reverend Osie Wilson, a lay witness added after the pretrial order, to testify for the Pointers, while Roberts argued this favored the Pointers and unfairly excluded Dr. Allen.
The Court of Appeals reversed, holding the denial of the continuance effectively excluded Dr. Allen; the Georgia Supreme Court granted certiorari to review.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the trial court abused discretion in denying Roberts' continuance	Roberts contends denial prejudiced his ability to present Dr. Allen's testimony.	Pointers contend the trial should proceed as scheduled and the denial was appropriate.	No abuse; denial was proper, not the exclusion of Dr. Allen.
Whether the Court of Appeals erred by treating denial of continuance as exclusion of a witness	Roberts argues the denial equates to excluding Dr. Allen.	Pointers argue denial is a scheduling issue, not an exclusion.	Court of Appeals erred; focus is on denial of continuance, not witness exclusion.
Whether the lack of a transcript of the telephonic conference precludes appellate review	The record is incomplete to support Roberts' claims on continuance.	Record supports the trial court's discretion even without the telephonic conference transcript.	Transcript absence is fatal to Roberts' appellate claims for review.

Roberts v. Pointer, 301 Ga.App. 531, 687 S.E.2d 848 (2009) (intermediate appellate decision addressing continuance discretion)
Zachary v. State, 245 Ga. 2, 262 S.E.2d 779 (1980) (record completeness requirement for appellate review)
Bandy v. Henderson, 284 Ga. 692, 670 S.E.2d 792 (2008) (abuse of discretion standard for continuance decisions)