Allen v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance

151 So. 2d 122, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1442
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 22, 1963
DocketNo. 5768
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 151 So. 2d 122 (Allen v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance) 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
Allen v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, 151 So. 2d 122, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1442 (La. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinions

LANDRY, Judge.

This present action and the suit entitled LaBauve v. Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York, La.App., 151 So.2d 130, arise from a common intersectional automobile •collision. Both said actions were consoli•dated for trial below as well as appeal to this court.

The accident which gave rise to the suit and counter suit herein involved occurred •on the morning of November 13, 1961, at •approximately 8:05 o’clock, at which time a 1957 Ford automobile belonging to plaintiff, Douglas Allen, and being driven by his -daughter, Sally, was in collision with a 1955 Ghevrolet owned by John LaBauve and being operated by his wife, Mary LaBauve, the aforesaid accident occurring in the intersection formed by Government Street and South Acadian Throughway, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The present plaintiff, Douglas Allen, seeks recovery of monetary judgment in the sum of $350.41 from defendant, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., (liability insurer of the LaBauve vehicle), for damages allegedly sustained by plaintiff’s Ford in the aforesaid collision. In Suit Number 5769 plaintiff LaBauve prays for judgment against defendant, The Fidelity & Casualty Company of New York (Allen’s liability insurer), in the amount of $235.46, said sum being allegedly expended by LaBauve in effecting repairs to his said vehicle necessitated by the accident in question.

Our esteemed brother below rejected and dismissed the claim of plaintiff, Douglas Allen, in Suit Number 5768 and in Suit Number 5769 rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff, John A. LaBauve, and against defendant, The Fidelity and Casualty Company of New York, in the sum prayed for therein. From said adverse decrees plaintiff, Douglas Allen, and his aforesaid insurer have appealed.

No witnesses were summoned herein on behalf of any of the parties presently before the court. By stipulation of counsel appearing in the record, the instant actions were submitted to the Honorable Trial Court upon an agreed statement of facts which admittedly concisely describes the details of the accident. The pertinent portions of said agreed stipulation of facts, which forms a part of the record, read in full as follows:

"1.
“That the investigation report of the Baton Rouge Police Department pertaining to the accident involved in these suits, filed in evidence as Exhibit 1, accurately reflects the facts .to which the investigation officers would have testified had they personally appeared as witnesses on the trial of this case.
***** *
3.
“That the following is agreed to be the facts elicited on the testimony of Mrs. Mary LaBauve and Miss Sally Allen: “Miss Allen, traveling west on Government Street in the innermost lane, entered the intersection on a green light. Before the front of her automobile reached the center of the intersection, she stopped at a point where she could no longer see the traffic light to allow an oncoming automobile to make a left turn in front of her. While she was stopped, the light for west-bound traffic on Government Street changed from green to red. After this car had cleared her path, she commenced traveling forward through the intersection.
“Mrs. LaBauve was traveling south on Acadian Throughway in the outside lane. There was a line of cars to her left, stopped in the inside southbound [124]*124traffic lane of Acadian Throughway. Before she reached the intersection she observed that the traffic light turned green for southbound traffic. She continued at the same rate of speed into the intersection where the front of her car struck the side of the Allen automobile.
“When the light changed, the first southbound car in line in the inside lane on Acadian started forward and went around behind the Allen automobile. The stopped line of cars had prevented Mrs. LaBauve from seeing the Allen automobile until the moment of collision.
“Government Street is a four lane street and Acadian Throughway is a six lane street each with an equal number of lanes going in each direction.”

The basis of the instant appeals is the contention of appellants that the learned trial court erred in the following respects, namely: (1) in relieving Mrs. LaBauve of liability predicated upon the principle that a motorist approaching a favorable traffic signal does not have the duty of observing the presence of vehicles lawfully proceeding through an intersection pursuant to the pronouncements in Bryant v. Ouachita Coca Cola Bottling Company, 239 La. 83, 117 So. 2d 919 and Youngblood v. Robison, 239 La. 338, 118 So.2d 431; and (2) in holding that although the driver of the Ford automobile entered the intersection on a green light, she did not have the right to proceed through the intersection after the light changed which ruling is contrary to the jurisprudence as established, inter alia, by Potts v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., et al., La.App., 136 So.2d 77; Dupuy v. Maury, La.App., 136 So.2d 302; and Schindler v. Gage, La.App., 59 So.2d 215.

Tersely stated, appellants’ position is that Miss Allen was free of negligence inasmuch as she entered the intersection on a favorable light which accorded her the right to complete the crossing, of the intersection notwithstanding the light changed to favor opposing traffic before she had in fact completed such crossing. Predicated upon the aforesaid premise appellants maintain that Miss Allen lawfully preempted the intersection with the result that opposing traffic was. obligated to yield the right of way to her and stop, if necessary, to permit her passage through the junction in question.

Appellees maintain, however, the trial court correctly applied the rule enunciated' in the Bryant and Youngblood cases, supra,, to the effect that a motorist entering an intersection on a favorable light is required' to look neither to the right nor left and is-not deemed guilty of negligence for failure to observe a motorist traversing the intersection on an unfavorable traffic light.

In support of the contention that a motorist entering an intersection on a green light is entitled to complete his crossing thereof despite the light changing to favor opposing traffic before the crossing is completed, learned counsel for appellants has cited the following ¡authorities: Schindler v. Gage, La.App., 59 So.2d 215; Blue Ribbon Cleaners v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., La. App., 125 So.2d 613; Potts v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., et al., La.App., 135 So.2d 77; Dupuy v. Maury, La.App., 136 So.2d 302, and Lloyd v. Marquette Casualty Co., La.App., 142 So.2d 621.

Esteemed counsel for appellees, in addition to the Bryant and Youngblood decisions, supra, relies upon Washington Fire & Marine Insurance Co. v. Williams, La.App., 144 So.2d 737, recently decided by our brothers of the Fourth Circuit. In addition, learned counsel for appellants stoutly maintain that the line of jurisprudence cited' and relied upon by appellants is clearly distinguishable from that relied upon by appellees on the ground that all of appellants’ authorities involve instances wherein vehicles proceeded into an intersection from a stopped position and none involved continuous moving vehicles as is the case in the instant matters.

In Schindler v.

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Bluebook (online)
151 So. 2d 122, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1442, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/allen-v-state-farm-mutual-automobile-insurance-lactapp-1963.