MACON-BIBB COUNTY HOSP. AUTHORITY v. Reece, A98A1833.
Decision Date | 26 February 1999 |
Docket Number | No. A98A1833.,A98A1833. |
Citation | 513 S.E.2d 243,236 Ga. App. 669 |
Parties | MACON-BIBB COUNTY HOSPITAL AUTHORITY v. REECE et al. |
Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Sell & Melton, John A. Draughon, Kevin T. Brown, Macon, for appellant.
Groover & Childs, Duke R. Groover, Frank H. Childs, Jr., Macon, for appellees.
OCGA § 42-5-2(a) imposes "the responsibility [on] the governmental unit, subdivision, or agency having the physical custody of an inmate to maintain the inmate, furnishing him food, clothing, and any needed medical and hospital attention." Plaintiff Macon-Bibb County Hospital Authority ("the Hospital") brought this action on an account against defendants Jones County, Georgia, and Jones County Sheriff Robert N. "Butch" Reece, seeking to recover the expenses of medical treatment to gunshot wounds provided to three men brought to the Hospital by Jones County Sheriff's Deputy Guy Mosteller. In a prior appeal, the grant of summary judgment to defendants was reversed, but the denial of summary judgment to plaintiff Hospital was affirmed. Macon-Bibb County Hosp. Auth. v. Reece, 228 Ga.App. 532, 492 S.E.2d 292. Viewed in the light most favorable to the party prevailing before the trier of fact, the evidence at a subsequent jury trial revealed the following:
Throughout the spring of 1995, the Jones County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation investigated Larry J. Palmer for suspected drug selling. At approximately 2:00 a.m. on May 25, 1995, Jones County Sheriff's Deputy Guy Mosteller was dispatched to the Palmer residence to investigate a reported "burglary in progress [with] shots fired." Deputy Mosteller was subsequently informed that Deputy Mosteller activated his Officer Bloodworth from the City of Gray arrived, and the two officers removed the other two occupants, Antonio Hughes and Handy R. Taylor. "
A second handgun was discovered in the car, and both weapons were confiscated. Deputy Mosteller noticed that Antonio Hughes was bleeding in the neck area, that Handy Taylor's right hand was bleeding, and that Robbie Freeman had been wounded in the knee. Robbie Freeman and Antonio Hughes were handcuffed by Deputy Mosteller, and an ambulance was summoned. Deputy Mosteller "never formally booked the three men or charged them with any crime" arising out of this encounter. Specifically, he exercised his discretion not to charge the driver with exceeding the posted speed limit because they "needed medical treatment." Deputy Mosteller
The three men remained in handcuffs while in the ambulance until they got to the hospital, where Deputy Mosteller removed the cuffs from all three men. He never placed them in handcuffs again. Deputy Mosteller received plaintiff's Exhibits 1, 2, and 3 from a "lady in the emergency room." These pre-printed forms are captioned "LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY APPROVAL FOR INITIAL MEDICAL TREATMENT OF PRISONERS." Line four contains the pre-printed statement: "The patient is a prisoner of ______ [blank]." In response to this inquiry, Deputy Mosteller filled in "Jones County S.O." but ...
The jury found for defendants. Plaintiff's motion for new trial was denied, and this appeal followed. Held:
1. Plaintiff first contends the trial court erred in refusing to give the following written requests to charge:
No. 6: "`(when) Mosteller handcuffed the men and sat them down in the median of the road, he placed them under arrest.'"
No. 7: "`[T]he facts clearly indicate that the men were under arrest when they entered the hospital in handcuffs with Deputy Mosteller.'"
Plaintiff argues these charges are correct statements of the law because they are the law of the case, as quoted from the prior appeal. We disagree.
"A request to charge must embody a correct, applicable and complete statement of law, legal and perfect in form and adjusted to the pleadings and evidence; it must not be argumentative or seek an expression of opinion on the part of the court; and it must not be so phrased so as to have tendency to confuse and mislead the jury or to becloud the issues in the case." (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Gen. Ins. Svcs. v. Marcola, 231 Ga.App. 144, 147(4), 497 S.E.2d 679. Davis v. Cincinnati Ins. Co., 160 Ga.App. 813, 815(1), 288 S.E.2d 233.
The requested instructions are indeed based on statements in the prior appeal, but there they occur in the context of this Court's de novo review of all the evidence on appeal from the grant of summary judgment to defendant-appellees. Stiltjes v. Ridco Exterminating Co., 192 Ga.App. 778, 779(2)(a), 386 S.E.2d 696. The statements from our prior decision as relied...
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