Greenbriar Dodge, Inc. v. May, 155 Ga. App. 892

Summary

The Georgia Court of Appeals affirmed a $6,000 verdict for automobile purchasers on their counterclaim under the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act. The court rejected challenges to jury instructions concerning deceit, the FBPA, the Uniform Commercial Code, damages, and the jury trial of the counterclaim. It also held that alleged charging errors and the reading of pleadings and exhibits did not constitute reversible error.

Holdings

1. Verbal inaccuracies that were harmless slips of the tongue and could not reasonably have confused or misled the jury did not constitute reversible error. Reading the parties' pleadings was also not error where the court instructed the jury that pleadings were not evidence.
2. The trial court did not err in giving the requested charges on deceit and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act because the evidence supported a bait-and-switch theory, pressure to purchase, and misrepresentations concerning material characteristics of the vehicle.
3. The evidence supported a damages instruction permitting a verdict from one dollar to $7,200, and the $6,000 lump-sum verdict was not so excessive that it could not be upheld. A jury may determine damages in an FBPA action when the trial court orders a jury trial, and the trial court did not abuse its discretion in doing so.
4. The trial court did not err in charging the jury on Uniform Commercial Code provisions concerning rejection of nonconforming goods, revocation of acceptance, and foreclosure because those issues were at least peripherally raised by the trial evidence.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court erred in denying Greenbriar Dodge's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or, alternatively, for a new trial.
2. Whether alleged verbal inaccuracies and other asserted errors in the jury charge, including the reading of pleadings and submission of exhibits, constituted reversible error.
3. Whether the evidence authorized jury instructions concerning deceit and the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act.
4. Whether the evidence supported submitting damages up to $7,200 and whether the jury, rather than the court, could determine damages and attorney fees under the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act.
5. Whether the trial court erred by instructing the jury on Uniform Commercial Code provisions concerning rejection of nonconforming goods, revocation of acceptance, and foreclosure.
6. Whether the constitutional issues concerning the Georgia Fair Business Practices Act were properly before the Court of Appeals after transfer from the Supreme Court of Georgia.

Disposition

affirmed