Life Ins. Co. of Ga. v. Burke
| Decision Date | 08 March 1962 |
| Docket Number | No. 21543,21543 |
| Citation | 125 S.E.2d 48,217 Ga. 742 |
| Parties | LIFE INSURANCE OF. OF GEORGIA v. Leona E. BURKE. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Clement E. Sutton, Washington, J. Lon Duckworth, Jason B. Gilliland, Atlanta, for plaintiff in error.
Walton Hardin, Washington, for defendant in error.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court
All Justices concur, except DUCKWORTH, C. J., and CANDLER, J., who are disqualified, and QUILLIAN, J., who dissents.
1. After the decision was rendered in this case and upon motion for rehearing, petitioner in certiorari, Life Insurance Company of Georgia, for the first time in the consideration of the case requested that a full bench of seven Justices be impanelled to render a decision in the case. After denial of the motion for rehearing, counsel filed a motion for reconsideration of the denial of the motion for rehearing on the sole ground that the case was decided without a full bench of seven Justices.
This case came to this court on the grant of a certiorari to the Court of Appeals. Prior to oral argument of the case in this court, Chief Justice Duckworth and Justice Candler disqualified themselves from participation in the case. Upon the call of the case for oral argument, with counsel for both parties present, the Chief Justice announced his and Justice Candler's disqualification and both retired from the courtroom. Counsel for neither of the parties indicated a desire for the case to be heard by a full bench of seven Justices, as is required by the rules of this court when such is desired. Code Ann. § 24-4531.
The Constitution of Georgia of 1945, Code Ann. § 2-3701, Const. art. 6, § 2, par. 1, provides that the Supreme Court shall consist of seven Associate Justices and that 'a majority of the court shall constitute a quorum.' A majority of the court, or four Associate Justices, have, without question, authority to render judgment and such a judgment would not be invalid or void because the places of the disqualified Justices were not filled and the case was not decided by a full bench of seven. This court in Gibbs v. Milk Control Board, 185 Ga. 844, 851, 196 S.E. 791, 796 on motion for rehearing he...
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Life Ins. Co. of Ga. v. Burke, 22076
...123 S.E.2d 426. This court granted certiorari, which was subsequently held to have been improvidently granted. Life Ins. Co. of Georgia v. Burke, 217 Ga. 742, 125 S.E.2d 48. After the judgment of the Court of Appeals in Burke v. Life Ins. Co. of Georgia, 104 Ga.App. 865, 123 S.E.2d 426, sup......
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Life Ins. Co. of Ga. v. Burke, 39916
...policy. When this case was here before (see Burke v. Life Ins. Co. of Ga., 104 Ga.App. 865, 123 S.E.2d 426; certiorari dismissed, 217 Ga. 742, 125 S.E.2d 48), this court reversed a judgment of the trial court sustaining general demurrers and special demurrers to a petition seeking recovery ......
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Reed v. Hopper
...'A majority of the court, or four Associate Justices, have, without question, authority to render judgment . . .' Life Ins. Co. v. Burke, 217 Ga. 742(1), 125 S.E.2d 48. The provision of the 1975 Habeas Corpus Act which provides that one Justice can grant or deny the application of probable ......
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Georgia Cas. & Sur. Co. v. Mills, 43601
...of 1888 (Code § 24-4008), dealing with incapacity to act on a case, and not a disqualification. The ruling in Life Insurance Co. of Georgia v. Burke, 217 Ga. 742, 125 S.E.2d 48 is contrary to the requirement of the 1945 Constitution. No litigant should be deprived of a decision by a full be......