Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Gay
| Citation | 102 S.E.2d 492,214 Ga. 2 |
| Decision Date | 07 March 1958 |
| Docket Number | No. 19965,19965 |
| Parties | RESERVE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY v. Willie T. GAY. |
| Court | Georgia Supreme Court |
Eugene M. Kerr, Augusta, for plaintiff in error.
Randall Evans, Jr., Thomson, for defendant in error.
Syllabus Opinion by the Court.
This case is here on the grant of a petition for certiorari in Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Gay, 96 Ga.App. 601, 101 S.E.2d 158. The plaintiff had brought an action under an insurance policy seeking to recover $200 hospital expenses, $260 medical bills, $8.50 ambulance bill, $400 attorney's fees, the statutory penalty of 25%, and interest, making a total of $995.19. The jury returned a verdict in his favor for $800. The Court of Appeals held that, under the evidence, the plaintiff was entitled to recover only $141 under the policy, and held that the evidence supported a recovery of $400 attorney's fees and interest, and affirmed the judgment of the trial court in denying the defendant's motion for new trial provided the plaintiff write off the amount of the verdict in excess of the $141 recoverable under the policy and $400 attorney's fees, and interest. The only exception in this court is to the decision of the Court of Appeals in affirming the judgment of the trial court provided the plaintiff write off from the verdict all amounts in excess of $141 principal, $400 attorney's fees, and interest. The defendant denied that the plaintiff was entitled to any attorney's fees. The effect of the ruling of the Court of Appeals was to allow the plaintiff to recover $400 attorney's fees when it is impossible from the verdict to determine what amount the jury allowed as attorney's fees. While there was evidence that would have supported a finding of $400 for attorney's fees, the evidence did not demand such a finding. ...
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...Peaks. Therefore, the verdict and judgment are tainted and the judgment on punitive damages must be reversed. Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Gay, 214 Ga. 2, 3, 102 S.E.2d 492; Eastern Foods v. Forman, 202 Ga.App. 347, 348, 415 S.E.2d 1. Compare Mock v. Wrigley, 178 Ga.App. 660, 661, 344 S.E.2d (c......
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...Baker v. Richmond City Mill Works, 105 Ga. 225, 227, 31 S.E. 426; McCarthy v. Lazarus, 137 Ga. 282(2), 73 S.E. 493; Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Gay, 214 Ga. 2, 3, 102 S.E.2d 492; Ginn v. Morgan, 225 Ga. 192, 193, 167 S.E.2d Later, this court added a proviso in Hogan v. Olivera, 141 Ga.App. 399......
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...law concerning attorney fees allowable in such cases, and further in view of the Supreme Court's holding in Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Gay, 214 Ga. 2, 3, 102 S.E.2d 492, that appellate courts are without authority to fix compensation of an attorney in any case, we are . . . bound by the 'any ......
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Hogan v. Olivera, 52664
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