Jerry Baker brought a wrongful death action against his ex-wife, Shirley Sweat, claiming that Sweat caused the August 2002 automobile accident that killed their daughter, Bobby Jo Baker. Baker subsequently added Patriot General Insurance Company, Sweat’s insurer, as a defendant, alleging that it improperly settled all claims arising from the accident with unauthorized parties.1 The defendants moved for summary judgment. In granting their motions, the Clinch County Superior Court found as a matter of law that there was clear and convincing evidence that Baker had relinquished his parental rights by failing to support, visit, or establish a relationship with Bobby Jo during her lifetime. The court concluded that, as a result, Baker lacked standing to maintain an action for her wrongful death, and dismissed Baker’s complaint. On appeal, Baker contends there was not clear and convincing evidence that he had abandoned Bobby Jo and that the court improperly granted Patriot General summary judgment on the ground of abandonment. For the reasons that follow, we disagree and affirm. “On appeal from a grant of a motion for summary judgment, we review the evidence de novo, viewing it in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, to determine whether a genuine issue of fact remains and whether the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Citation omitted King v. Goodwin , 277 Ga. App. 188 626 SE2d 165 2006. The following facts are undisputed, unless otherwise indicated. Baker and Sweat married on February 10, 1971. They separated a few months later and then reunited, and they lived together “off and on” for the next few years. In the spring of 1975, Sweat left Baker and moved in with her mother. According to Baker, he did not know where Sweat lived after she moved out, he did not attempt to find her, nor did he know that Sweat was three or four months pregnant at the time. Sweat gave birth to Baker’s daughter, Bobby Jo, on September 24, 1975.
When Bobby Jo was approximately two months old, she had a stroke and was hospitalized. Sweat called Baker and told him that their daughter was sick and in the hospital. According to Baker, this was when he first learned that he had a child with Sweat. Although Sweat testified that Baker initially denied that he was the father of Bobby Jo, Baker testified that he never challenged his paternity. Bobby Jo suffered another stroke while in the hospital and remained hospitalized for over one year.2 According to Baker, he visited the child in the hospital several times, although he admitted that, at the time of his deposition, he could not remember what the child had been suffering from or why she had been in the hospital. Baker admitted that he never paid any of the hospital expenses for either Bobby Jo’s birth or her extended hospitalization, nor did he reimburse Sweat for those expenses.
