Spear v. Calhoun

After Koneisha Cameron was shot and killed on New Year’s Eve by an unknown person, her mother, Gennia Spear, individually and as parent and next friend filed a wrongful death action against Fred D. Calhoun, III, the owner of the property where the shooting allegedly took place, and John Does 1-5. In this appeal, Spear challenges the grant of summary judgment to Calhoun and the denial of her motion to re-open the evidence. Because we find no error in either ruling, we affirm. When considering a motion for summary judgment, the court should give the opposing party the benefit of all reasonable doubt and construe the evidence and all inferences and conclusions arising therefrom most favorably toward the non-moving party. Moore v. Goldome Credit Corp. , 187 Ga. App. 594, 596 370 SE2d 843 1988. On appeal from summary judgment, this Court conducts a de novo review of the law and the evidence. Desai v. Silver Dollar City, 229 Ga. App. 160, 163 1 493 SE2d 540 1997.

When so viewed, the evidence shows that 17-year-old Cameron was shot on New Year’s Eve at approximately midnight. Apparently, Cameron died as the result of an errant bullet fired by a New Year’s Eve reveler celebrating the imminent arrival of a new year by discharging a gun into the air. Neither the decedent nor her family resided at the apartment complex where the fatal shooting occurred. The record does not demonstrate whether Cameron was a trespasser at the time of the incident or was lawfully on the premises to use the telephone at the apartment of a person Spear knew, as Spear contends. Investigators allegedly discovered Cameron’s body lying on a sidewalk near a parking lot on the premises and recovered 40 shell casings nearby.