Opinion
A90A1862.
DECIDED FEBRUARY 25, 1991.
Paternity action. Richmond Superior Court. Before Judge Mulherin.
Charles R. Sheppard, for appellant.
O. L. Collins, for appellee.
The appellant instituted a paternity action against the appellee, seeking to have him declared the father of her two children. The case was tried before a jury, which returned a verdict in favor of the appellee. The case is before us pursuant to our grant of the appellant's application for a discretionary appeal from the denial of her motion for new trial. The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court erred in prohibiting the appellant from using a tape recording of a conversation between herself and the appellee, made while the two of them were alone in a car, to impeach the latter's testimony that he was not the father of the children. Held:
In concluding that the recording could not be used for impeachment purposes, the trial court relied on Division 3 of Ransom v. Ransom, 253 Ga. 656 ( 324 S.E.2d 437) (1985), wherein the Georgia Supreme Court held that a wife's private telephone conversations with a third person, recorded by her husband without her knowledge or consent in violation of OCGA § 16-11-62 (1), could not be used against her in a divorce trial for the purpose of impeachment. See OCGA § 16-11-67. However, that case has no applicability to the present situation, since OCGA § 16-11-62 does not prohibit the recording of a conversation by one of the actual parties thereto. See Mitchell v. State, 239 Ga. 3 (1) ( 235 S.E.2d 509) (1977); Evans v. State, 252 Ga. 312, 318 ( 314 S.E.2d 421) (1984). Accordingly, we hold that the trial court erred in excluding the tape recording.
Judgment reversed. Birdsong, P. J., and Cooper, J., concur.