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Richardson v. Barber12/3/1999
WHOLE COURT
BLA-049
BLACKBURN, Presiding Judge.
Donald Ray Richardson, the biological father of Zsa Vonn, appeals the trial court's order which determined that he was not entitled to receive further proceeds from the settlement of Zsa Vonn's wrongful death suit brought by Zsa Vonn's mother. The trial court determined that Richardson lacked any meaningful relationship with Zsa Vonn as shown by evidence concerning custody, control, and lack of support and the poor example he set, under the standards of OCGA ยง 19-7-1 (c) (6). The trial court therefore precluded Richardson from receiving any portion of the remaining proceeds of the settlement of the underlying wrongful death action. The trial court determined that the mother had a meaningful relationship with the child and was entitled to the proceeds of the settlement.
Zsa Vonn's mother, Janice Barber, filed a wrongful death action against Dr. Homer Breckenridge after Zsa Vonn was killed when Dr. Breckenridge struck him with his car. During the pendency of the wrongful death action, Barber and Richardson entered into a settlement agreement by which they agreed that Barber would control the wrongful death action. The agreement further provided that Barber was entitled to 50 percent of the proceeds from any judgment or settlement with the remaining 50 percent of the proceeds to be held in escrow until Richardson's rights in the proceeds were determined. Richardson was paid $5,000 upon entering the agreement with the express understanding that if the court determined he was not entitled to further proceeds, such monies were non-refundable.
After Barber obtained a $1,000,000 settlement in the wrongful death action, the parties filed the underlying joint declaratory judgment action for the trial court's determination of Richardson's rights in the escrowed $500,000. On appeal from the trial court's determination of that issue, Richardson raises several enumerations of error.
1. In his first enumeration of error, Richardson contends that the trial court erred by adopting verbatim the proposed findings of fact and Conclusions of law prepared by Barber's attorney prior to announcing the court's decision regarding such facts and Conclusions. Richardson contends that the trial court's actions effectively deprived him of a thorough consideration of the case.
In their joint complaint, the parties submitted the issues to the trial court based upon the record in the wrongful death action and the depositions and affidavits of the parties and witnesses. They also filed their briefs setting forth their respective positions. Thereafter, the trial court requested that each side present findings of fact and Conclusions of law to the trial court and not to each other. The record contains no objection to this request. The trial court adopted the order presented by Barber's counsel.
Although the practice of adopting orders prepared by counsel has been "greatly disfavored," it is not reversible error. See PDA, Inc. v. Haas Corp., 185 Ga. App. 785, 786 (366 SE2d 169) (1988); North Fulton Community Hosp. v. State Health Planning &c;, 168 Ga. App. 801, 810 (3) (310 SE2d 764) (1983); Pruitt v. First Nat. Bank of Habersham County, 142 Ga. App. 100, 101 (2) (235 SE2d 617) (1977); United States v. El Paso Natural Gas Co., 376 U. S. 651, 656-657, fn. 4 (84 SC 1044, 1047, 12 LE2d 12) (1964).
Richardson argues that the order adopted by the trial court contained "inadmissible facts, exaggerations, overreachings, and misquotations from the record." Specifically, Richardson contends the order's reference to Richardson's affidavit as an "ex-parte affidavit . . . prepared by [Richar
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