37 S.E.2d 723 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1946
The testimony of the plaintiff being vague, indefinite, and self-contradictory on the controlling issue of the case, and her right to recover against the defendant not being established by other evidence, the verdict in her favor was without evidence to support it; and the trial judge erred in overruling the defendant's motion for a new trial.
On the trial, the jury found for the plaintiff. The defendant's motion for a new trial was overruled, and the exception here is to that judgment.
This case was before this court in Mitchell v. Liberty NationalLife Ins. Co.,
The burden was on the plaintiff to show that her disability was the result of such a bodily injury, and she was the only witness to testify as to the time, manner, and circumstances under which she was injured. While her husband testified that he carried her to Dr. Russell, and later to other doctors, he did not testify that he knew of his own knowledge that the plaintiff sustained the injury *675 testified to by her; but his testimony was that he carried her to Dr. Russell after she said that she had fallen and sprained her ankle. The only medical testimony in the case was to the effect that the plaintiff's disability was the result of multiple arthritis, and that this could not have resulted from an injury such as testified to by the plaintiff. Whether or not the plaintiff carried the burden of showing that her disability was the result of a bodily injury sustained by her while the policy was in force, depends entirely on her own testimony.
It is well-settled law in this State that the testimony of a party to a cause, as distinguished from that of other witnesses, is to be construed most strongly against her, when it is self-contradictory, vague, or equivocal, and it will not authorize a recovery, unless other evidence establishes her right thereto, if the most unfavorable version of her testimony shows that the verdict should be against her. Henry v. N.C. St.L. Ry. Co.,
The plaintiff's testimony being the only evidence before the jury in support of her allegations, that she sustained a bodily injury by spraining her ankle while the policy was in force and that this caused her to become totally and permanently disabled, and her evidence on this vital issue being vague, uncertain, and self-contradictory, the verdict in her favor was without evidence to support it; and for this reason the trial judge erred in overruling the defendant's motion for a new trial. Long Cigar Grocery Co. v. Harvey,
Judgment reversed. Felton and Parker, JJ., concur.