Adamson v. City of Lafayette

521 So. 2d 1258, 1988 WL 16562
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 2, 1988
Docket87-94
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 521 So. 2d 1258 (Adamson v. City of Lafayette) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adamson v. City of Lafayette, 521 So. 2d 1258, 1988 WL 16562 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

521 So.2d 1258 (1988)

Billy G. ADAMSON & Jo Ann Adamson, Plaintiffs-Appellants,
State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Intervenor-Appellee,
v.
CITY OF LAFAYETTE, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 87-94.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

March 2, 1988.
Rehearing Denied April 11, 1988.
Writ Denied June 2, 1988.

*1260 Shelton & Legendre, Karl W. Bengston, Lafayette, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Voorhies & Labbe, Gregory K. Moroux, Lafayette, for defendant-appellee.

David M. Kaufman, Lafayette, for intervenor-appellee.

Before GUIDRY, YELVERTON and KNOLL, JJ.

KNOLL, Judge.

This appeal concerns injuries sustained as a result of negligence or under the theory of strict liability. Billy G. Adamson and his wife, Jo Ann, appeal the dismissal of their claims against the City of Lafayette for damages they received when their automobile struck a mound of dirt at the end of a dead-end street. After a bench trial, the court ruled that the City of Lafayette was not negligent and, although the failure to erect signs showing the street was a dead-end created an unreasonable risk of harm, the City of Lafayette was not liable because the negligence of Mr. Adamson was the only cause-in-fact of the accident.

The Adamsons contend that the trial court erred: 1) in its determination that the defective condition of the roadway was not a legal cause of the accident; 2) in finding that the City of Lafayette was not negligent regarding the condition of the roadway at the time of the accident; and 3) in finding Mr. Adamson negligent. The issue presented is whether Mr. Adamson was guilty of 100% victim fault. We affirm in part, reverse in part and render.

FACTS

In the late evening hours of June 4, 1983, Mr. and Mrs. Adamson were returning home after an evening out at a Lafayette restaurant. Mr. Adamson was driving their vehicle and Mrs. Adamson was occupying the passenger seat. En route home Mr. Adamson, thinking he was turning on Maryview Farm Road, mistakenly turned onto Dahlia Street. Mr. Adamson testified that shortly after he turned onto Dahlia Street a vehicle traveling in the opposite direction blinded his vision when the driver failed to dim its lights. Accordingly, he momentarily diverted his vision to the edge of the road to avoid the blinding lights. Upon reverting his vision to the roadway, he saw that he was at the end of Dahlia Street, and that there was a large pile of dirt blocking travel. He instantly applied his brakes but was unable to stop. He collided headon into the dirt pile. As a result of the collision, both he and Mrs. Adamson sustained injuries. Mr. Adamson left the scene of the accident without calling the police, returned to his home, and obtained help from his neighbor, William Roland, a former policeman, to bring them to the hospital. Mrs. Adamson was treated at the hospital for a cut in her mouth, cracked front teeth, and a contusion to her shoulder, and released. Mr. Adamson was hospitalized overnight for injuries to the head, neck, chest and arms, and released the next day. Mr. Adamson admitted that he had been drinking but denied that he was intoxicated.

Mr. and Mrs. Adamson filed suit against the City of Lafayette for damages for its negligence or a breach of its duty under strict liability which caused a defective condition on Dahlia Street by failing to post signs showing the street was a dead-end street, and allowing the presence of the pile *1261 of dirt at the end of the road. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, the Adamsons' insurer, intervened, seeking recovery from the City of Lafayette of the amounts it paid the Adamsons under its collision coverage. The City of Lafayette filed a third-party demand against Mr. Adamson and State Farm seeking contribution to the extent Mr. Adamson was at fault in causing the accident.

The trial court found Mrs. Adamson free from fault but it did not award her damages because she did not sue her husband or his insurer. Only Mr. & Mrs. Adamson bring this appeal.

DETERMINATION OF FAULT

The trial court found that although Dahlia Street was unreasonably dangerous because no signs were erected to show that it was a dead-end street, Mr. Adamson's negligence was the sole cause of the accident because even if the street had been properly signed, Mr. Adamson would not have seen the signs. We disagree.

Contributory negligence, as a complete bar to recovery, was eliminated by LSA-C. C. Art. 2323; Turner v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., 471 So.2d 709 (La.1985). This circuit has consistently held that where the fault of a motorist and the fault of a governing body responsible for warning motorists against unusually dangerous road hazards combine to produce an accident, comparative negligence is applicable. Ledbetter v. State Dept. of Transp. and Dev., 482 So.2d 1035 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1986), affirmed, 502 So.2d 1383 (La.1986); Veazey v. Parish of Avoyelles, 476 So.2d 1057 (La. App. 3rd Cir.1985), writ denied, 478 So.2d 1238 (La.1985). Although a recent amendment to LSA-C.C. Art. 2324 effected by Act 373 of 1987 has changed the tort victim's right of recovery against joint tortfeasors, the accident giving rise to the case sub judice predates that amendment, therefore the holding in Forest v. State, La. Dept. of Transp., 493 So.2d 563, 571 (La.1986), a case which agreed with our earlier pronouncements in Ledbetter and Veazey, is applicable: "A public authority is liable in solido with a motorist when its negligence, combined with that of a motorist, is found to be the cause of the accident."

In determining the issue presented on appeal we first address whether the trial court erred in its determinations of fault or freedom from fault as to Mr. and Mrs. Adamson and the City of Lafayette. The trial court found that the City created an unreasonable risk of harm by not properly warning motorists that Dahlia Street was a dead-end road, and that Mr. Adamson was negligent by driving inattentively because he was intoxicated. The trial court also found no negligence on the part of Mrs. Adamson for riding with her husband. We have thoroughly reviewed the record and do not find the trial court manifestly erroneous in making these findings. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978). Moreover, the record convinces us that Mr. Adamson was intoxicated.

The crucial questions, however, are the degree of Adamson's intoxication and whether the trial court incorrectly concluded that because of Mr. Adamson's intoxicated condition he would not have heeded the warnings if the City had erected them. First, we find the record does not establish that Mr. Adamson was so inebriated that he was unable to function. Mr. Adamson admitted drinking alcoholic beverages during the course of the afternoon and evening preceding the accident, that he was inattentive, and that because he thought he was on another road, his speed was slightly excessive for a short, subdivision street. Although witnesses testified that Mr. Adamson had been drinking, no witness stated that he was so intoxicated that his senses were so impaired he was unable to function. Second, there is a presumption that had the appropriate signs been in place to warn plaintiff, he would have obeyed them. See Gadman v. State Through Dept. of Transp. & Dev., 493 So.2d 661 (La.App. 2nd Cir.1986), modified on other grounds, 497 So.2d 1001 (La.1986), and Willis v. Everett, 359 So.2d 1080 (La. App. 3rd Cir.1978), writ denied, 362 So.2d 800 (La.1978). Further, under Forest,

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Bluebook (online)
521 So. 2d 1258, 1988 WL 16562, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adamson-v-city-of-lafayette-lactapp-1988.