122 Ga. App. 642 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1970
The sole question for decision here is whether a husband’s action for loss of consortium due to injuries to his wife, is a part of a single cause of action for personal injury and property damage, where all the elements of damage arise from a single occurrence. In order for a former recovery to be pleaded in bar of a subsequent action, the two suits must be between the same parties and on the same cause of action, and the test of identity of cause of action is whether the same evidence will support both. See Code §3-607; Underwood v. Underwood, 139 Ga. 241 (77 SE 46). It has been held numerous times in this State that a single wrongful or negligent act, which injures both one’s person and property, gives but a single cause of action, and a settlement of the property damages will, where pleaded, bar an action on account of injuries to the person where both items of damage are the result of a single occurrence. See Ga. R. & Power Co. v. Endsley, 167 Ga. 439 (145 SE 851, 62 ALR 256); Gregory v. Schnurstein, 212 Ga. 497 (93 SE2d 680); James v. Emmco Ins. Co., 71 Ga. App. 196 (30 SE2d 361); Krasner v. O’Dell, 89 Ga. App. 718 (1) (80 SE2d 852); Phillips v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 121 Ga. App. 342 (173 SE2d 723). While counsel state that no reported Georgia cases clearly show what a husband’s damages on account of injuries received by his wife (loss of consortium, etc.) may include, yet it has been held in the Krasner case, supra, that medical expenses incurred for treatment of a child’s injuries and loss of the child’s services, when caused by the single tortious act of
Judgment affirmed.