Thomas J. Griffin filed suit against Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation “Lawyers”, alleging breach of contract and bad faith refusal to pay a claim under a policy of title insurance “the Policy” issued by Lawyers. Lawyers answered, denying liability, and the parties thereafter filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The trial court granted Griffin’s motion for partial summary judgment as to Lawyers’ liability under the Policy but denied the motion on the issue of whether Lawyers acted in bad faith under OCGA § 33-4-6 “bad faith claim”. Further, the trial court denied Lawyers’ motion for summary judgment on Griffin’s claims. After both parties filed cross-appeals from the trial court’s order “original order”, the trial court issued an amended order vacating its original order, which denied all motions filed by the parties, and dismissed the parties’ cross-appeals. Following a trial, the jury returned a verdict in favor of Griffin in the amount of $773,217.50. Lawyers appeals, arguing that i the trial court erred in modifying its original order, as above, and proceeding to trial after Lawyers appealed the original order and paid costs and ii the trial court’s original order was error insofar as it denied its motion for summary judgment and granted Griffin’s motion for summary judgment as to Lawyers’ contractual liability. Lawyers also contends the trial court erroneously charged the jury, excluded expert witnesses, and allowed recovery of certain expert witness fees. After Lawyers filed its notice of appeal from the original order, the trial court was deprived of jurisdiction to modify its original order and proceed to trial. Accordingly, we reverse the trial court’s amended order and judgment on the jury verdict. With respect to the original order, we affirm the trial court’s denial of Lawyers’ motion for summary judgment as to its liability under the Policy but reverse the trial court’s denial of Lawyers’ motion as to Griffin’s bad faith claim. We also reverse the original order with respect to the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment to Griffin on the issue of Lawyers’ liability under the Policy.
“Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. We apply a de novo standard of review and view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.” Citations omitted. Lawyers Title Ins . Corp. v. Stribling , 294 Ga. App. 382, 383 670 SE2d 154 2008.
