Barker v. Elrod, 291 Ga. App. 871

Summary

The Georgia Court of Appeals addressed an appeal arising from an estate dispute. It held that the trial court erred by denying a motion for new trial without the required oral hearing, but affirmed the refusal to reconstruct a trial transcript where the parties had knowingly waived a court reporter. The case was affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded for oral argument on the motion for new trial.

Holdings

1. When a motion for new trial requests a hearing, the trial court must decide the motion after an oral hearing unless it expressly orders otherwise; summarily denying the motion before the scheduled hearing was error.
2. The trial court did not err in refusing to accept or reconstruct a transcript when the parties knowingly and expressly elected to proceed with the bench trial without a court reporter, thereby waiving the right to have the transcript reconstructed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the trial court violated Uniform Superior Court Rule 6.3 by denying Barker's motion for new trial without conducting the requested oral hearing.
2. Whether the trial court erred by refusing to accept Barker's proposed transcript or reconstruct a transcript from the court's recollection when the parties had consciously elected to proceed without a court reporter.

Disposition

reversed_and_remanded