Thompson v. Milam
| Decision Date | 02 March 1967 |
| Docket Number | No. 42598,No. 3,42598,3 |
| Citation | 154 S.E.2d 721,115 Ga.App. 396 |
| Parties | Fred E. THOMPSON, Administrator v. Florence D. MILAM |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Syllabus by the Court.
The fact that an insured, for a stated consideration, executes to his insurance carrier a release of liability for bodily injury under the terms of the uninsured motorist provision of his policy does not preclude him from maintaining an action against the party negligently causing his injuries.
Mrs. Florence D. Milam brought a suit for personal injuries against Fred E. Thompson in the Superior Court of Fulton County. The plaintiff alleges she sustained injuries as the result of being struck by an automobile driven by the defendant. The defendant filed a motion for summary judgment which was overruled and the case is here for review.
Freeman D. Mitchell, Atlanta, for appellant.
Ben J. Camp, Atlanta, for appellee.
J. KELLEY QUILLIAN, Judge.
1. The facts alleged in the motion for summary judgment were in substance that: the defendant did not have automobile liability insurance; the plaintiff had an automobile liability insurance policy with Allstate Insurance Company; the policy contained an uninsured motorist clause which obligated Allstate to pay to her all sums she would be legally entitled to recover as damages against the owner or operator of an uninsured motor vehicle; the plaintiff was paid $3,500 by Allstate and in consideration thereof executed a release discharging Allstate from any liability under said policy; that the plaintiff also executed an agreement whereby she would hold the cause of action for said injuries in trust for Allstate and any amounts recovered from the defendant would be paid to Allstate, provided, however, all amounts recovered in excess of $3,500 would be retained by the plaintiff.
The appellant contends that in executing the release to Allstate the plaintiff made a complete surrender of her cause of action and accepted the $3,500 as full compensation for the injuries, and was therefore estopped from proceeding with the suit against him. The appellant further insists that to hold otherwise would violate the rule that a person may have but one satisfaction for his injuries. Edmondson v. Hancock, 40 Ga.App. 587, 151 S.E. 114.
While it is true that the acceptance of payment by a joint tortfeasor as full settlement will bar an action against any one jointly liable, in the present case the plaintiff received the funds from a source which was in no way connected with the defendant. Under these circumstances there was no violation of the rule of torts that the plaintiff is...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Aretz v. United States
...the other hand, payments to an injured party from a collateral source do not diminish the liability of a tortfeasor. Thompson v. Milam, 115 Ga. App. 396, 154 S.E.2d 721. In Williams Bros. Lumber Company v. Meisel, 85 Ga.App. 72, 68 S.E.2d 384 the question was "whether the employer could be ......
-
Cincinnati, New Orleans & Texas Pacific Railway Company v. Hilley
...693, 699, 70 S.E.2d 163; Borochoff v. Fowler, 98 Ga.App. 411(2), 105 S.E.2d 764; (3) collateral source insurance: Thompson v. Milam, 115 Ga.App. 396, 154 S.E.2d 721; (4) collateral source employer's payment of medical bills and money to live on: Limbert v. Bishop 96 Ga.App. 652, 657, 101 S.......
-
Barbara J. Carney v. Hulon Mcafee
... ... There, ... the Ohio Supreme Court reaffirmed the holding in Klein v ... Thompson (1869), 19 Ohio St. 569, that evidence of ... compensation from a source other than the tortfeasor, or ... persons in privy with him ... collateral source. Beaird v. Brown (Ill. 1978), 58 Ill. App ... 3d 18, 15 Ill. Dec. 583, 373 N.E. 2d 1055; Thompson v. Milam ... (Ga. 1967), 115 Ga. App. 396, 154 S.E. 2d 721; State Farm ... Mutual Automobile Ins. Co. v. Board of Regents (Ga. 1970), ... ...
-
Bennett v. Haley
...of health insurance for the needy; and, just as any other insurance form, it is an acceptable collateral source. See Thompson v. Milam, 115 Ga.App. 396, 154 S.E.2d 721. We add that plaintiff's case may have been highly prejudiced had the trial court allowed evidence of the Medicaid payments......