Christner v. Eason
| Decision Date | 06 June 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 55579,55579 |
| Citation | 245 S.E.2d 489,146 Ga.App. 139 |
| Parties | CHRISTNER v. EASON. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
A. W. Touchton, Lake Park, for appellant.
Tillman, Brice, McTier, Coleman & Talley, George T. Talley, Valdosta, for appellee.
The trial court erroneously granted Eason's motion for judgment on the pleadings, and we reverse.
Christner, the appellant, filed this suit against appellee, a policeman. Both parties characterize the case as one sounding in libel. Appellant alleged in her complaint that she was involved in a serious automobile collision and that appellee, who was assigned to investigate the collision, prepared a report which falsely stated her running a red light was the cause of the accident. Appellant also alleged appellee made up the damaging report with the knowledge that it was false. Neither party introduced evidence of any kind, and the court granted appellee's motion for judgment on the pleadings. By brief attached to the motion, appellee alleged as a complete defense that his report was a privileged communication, a statement "made bona fide in the performance of a public duty." Code § 105-709(1).
" After the pleadings are closed but within such time as not to delay the trial, any party may move for judgment on the pleadings." CPA § 12(c) (Code Ann. § 81A-112(c)). " Gulf American Fire & C. C. v. Harper, 117 Ga.App. 356(1), 160 S.E.2d 663 (1968). Here, whether appellee reported bona fide is disputed in the pleadings, and it was error to conclude his communication was privileged as a matter of law.
Appellee also asserts as grounds for affirmance that appellant failed to plead all the elements of a cause of action in libel. Failure to plead a cause of action, however, would not be proper basis for granting judgment on the pleadings. "A complaint is not required to set forth a cause of action, but need only set forth a claim for relief . . . 'If, within the framework of the complaint, evidence may be introduced which will sustain a grant of relief to the...
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