Eubanks v. BellSouth Telecomms.

Pauline Eubanks filed this lawsuit for personal injuries against BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., Bennie Green, and Ricardo Merrell for injuries she claimed from a vehicular collision at the location of a BellSouth work site. BellSouth and Green filed a motion for summary judgment, which the trial court granted. Eubanks appeals and, for the following reasons we reverse.

The facts in this case, the record of which is more than three thousand pages, establish that the accident occurred on the morning of December 24, 1997. It is undisputed that Eubanks was driving her car south on Georgia Highway 272, which is a two-lane rural road in Oconee. At the same time, defendant Ricardo Merrell was driving north in a pick-up truck on Highway 272. The weather was inclement the morning of the accident. It is also undisputed that at the same time as Eubanks and Merrell were driving in opposite directions on the highway, Benny Green, a repairman for BellSouth Telecommunications, was “troubleshooting” to locate a problem with a telephone line in the area.