112 Ga. App. 529 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1965
Lead Opinion
1. Special ground numbered 5 of the plaintiff’s amended motion for new trial complains of an excerpt from the court’s charge as follows: “I charge you, Gentlemen, that no person shall sell or offer for sale or operate on the highway any motor vehicle, trailer or semi-trailer registered in this State and manufactured or assembled after January 1, 1954, unless it is equipped with mechanical or electrical turn signals meeting the requirements of § 68-1712 of the Code of Georgia.”
This excerpt from the court’s charge is taken from Sec. 108 (b) of the Act of 1953 (Ga. L. 1953, Nov. Sess. pp. 556, 605; Code Ann. § 68-1708), and of course was correct as an abstract principle of law. However, unless the violation of such statute would amount to negligence as between the plaintiff and the defendant so as- to authorize a reduction of any damage proved by the plaintiff (comparative negligence), or as a bar to any recovery (contributory negligence), such charge was not authorized by the evidence.
As was held in Gulf Oil Corp. v. Stanfield, 213 Ga. 436, 437 (99 SE2d 209), the mere violation of a statute unrelated to the cause of action will neither authorize nor bar recovery.
The collision occurred when both vehicles had been traveling in the same direction on a State highway (the plaintiff preceding the defendant) and as the plaintiff proceeded to make a left turn the defendant attempted to pass her and struck the left rear or left side of her pick-up truck. The defendant pleaded that the
2. Special ground numbered 6, which complains that the trial court erred in failing, even without request, to charge all of Sec. 70 of the Act of 1953, supra, is controlled adversely to the plaintiff by the decision in Camp v. Ledford, 103 Ga. App. 197, supra.
3. The sole remaining special ground of the motion for new trial, dealing with the disqualified juror serving on the jury, doubtless will not recur on another trial and will not be passed upon, and no question as to the sufficiency of the evidence is presented. The trial court erred in overruling the special ground of the motion for new trial dealt with in the first division of the opinion.
Judgment reversed.
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting. 1. In addition to the facts stated in the majority opinion, the jury was authorized to find that the truck driven by the plaintiff was a 1956 model and was owned by the plaintiff who was a resident of Atkinson County, Georgia. The jury was further authorized to find that the plaintiff gave no signal when she made a left turn, either by hand or mechanical device, and that at the time she made the turn the window on the cab of the truck was up and the mechanical signal device was not working. The grounds for
The majority opinion is based upon the conclusion that there is no causal relation between the violation of Sec. 108b of the Act of 1953, given in charge by the court, and the collision which occurred in the present case, that is to say, the failure to give a mechanical signal (which the jury could have found was caused by violation of Sec. 108b) had no causal connection with the collision because the plaintiff could have given a hand signal, which she testified she did. The jury was authorized to find that she did not give the hand signal. A consideration of the question therefore involves a consideration of the requirements of that Act as to giving of signals when making a left turn.
Section 70 of the Act of 1953 (Ga. L. 1953, Nov. Sess., pp. 556, 588) provides that any stop or turn signal, when required in the Act, shall be given either by means of the hand and arm or by a signal lamp or lamps or mechanical signal device. It also provides that on certain types of vehicles (not involved in the present case) the signals must be given by a signal lamp or lamps or signal device. Section 69 provides for the giving of appropriate signals when making a left turn or right turn. It will be seen, therefore, that the law of the State does not require one signal in preference to the other under the circum
While I concede that the charge complained of might possibly have been error for some reason not assigned, and concede that it might have been error for the trial court to fail to charge the first portion of Sec. 70 of the Act of 1953 to the effect that either an arm or mechanical turn signal was sufficient compliance with the law, we are limited to the assignments of error made. The assignment of error that the charge complained of was “calculated to confuse and mislead the jury” is not sufficient to raise a question for consideration in the absence of more particulars. Kapplin v. Seiden, 109 Ga. App. 586, 592 (137 SE2d 55).
2. I concur in the ruling in Division 2 of the opinion.
3. The sole remaining ground of the motion for new trial complains of the disqualification of a juror because of relationship to the attorney of the complaining party who had the case on a fee contingent upon the amount of recovery. Under these
There being no grounds of the motion for new trial requiring a reversal of the case, the judgment overruling the motion for new trial should be affirmed.
I am authorized to state that Bell, P. J., Hall and Eberhardt, JJ., join me in this dissent.