Wood v. Mobley

Under the present Georgia procedural law, there is little difference between a motion for directed verdict and a motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. In the grant of the former, the judge tells the jury what to do and they then have no choice and nothing but a robot voice. In the grant of the latter the result is the same, identically so, although the jury had previously returned a verdict on its own. The latter erases the verdict. Each motion is based on a consideration by the trial judge of all of the evidence in the case. With the right to appeal error in the refusal to grant a…