Pfeiffer v. Georgia Department of Transportation

Summary

The Supreme Court of Georgia granted certiorari to decide whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming summary judgment for the Department of Transportation while declining to address the widow's legal arguments that were first raised on appeal. Affirming, the Court held that absent special circumstances an appellate court need not consider arguments raised for the first time on appeal, because withholding meritorious arguments until appeal thwarts summary judgment's expeditious-disposal purpose, ignores the parties' OCGA § 9-11-56 duty to present their best case, and offends the appellate mission of correcting errors committed in the trial court. The Court further explained that Dental One Associates does not license new legal issues on appeal; it addresses only the movant's burden to present facts showing entitlement to summary judgment. Justices Benham, Hunstein, and Carley dissented, arguing that review of a summary-judgment grant turns on the sufficiency of the record evidence rather than on which arguments the nonmovant raised below, and that precedent therefore compelled reversal and remand.