Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Georgia

Re: Evidence

Competent evidence simply means evidence which is admissible in court. Opinion evidence, on the other hand, may or may not be admissible; if not, it is not competent. E.g., by definition, a real estate appraisal is an opinion. Therefore, if the proper qualifications are shown, an appraiser can always give his/her opionion as to the value of property. Likewise, a lay person can give an opinion e.g. as to whether someone is drunk. An opinion is, as you might suspect, further down the totem pole of reliability than, say, a blood alcohol test, if the issue is sobriety. However, in order for an opinion to be admissible, if technical expertise is required the witness may not be allowed to give a certain opinion. I, e.g., would not be allowed to testify as to my opinion about the need for surgery but I might be allowed to give my opinion as to the degree of alertness of the patient.