Alphonso v. Hotel Grunewald Caterers Inc.

7 Pelt. 139
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 16, 1922
DocketNO. 8796
StatusPublished

This text of 7 Pelt. 139 (Alphonso v. Hotel Grunewald Caterers Inc.) 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
Alphonso v. Hotel Grunewald Caterers Inc., 7 Pelt. 139 (La. Ct. App. 1922).

Opinion

Dinkelspiel; J.

The substantial allegations in plaintiff's petition ai that he was engaged as a candy vendor, having in his possession, selling oandy, a oar$,whioh he w-s pushing along Oonti Street ¿bíjüksh going in the direction of the river in the block between Royal end Bourbon Streets in this city, end that he was run into ;nd knocked down by a horse end wagon belonging to the Grünewald Laundry, whioh yí£.s proceeding in the same direction on Conti Streep but was behind your petitioner, and that just prior to striking petitioner and his oert, the Grünewald Laundry Wagon was run into end struck by an automobile v?hich was also proceeding on Conti Street towards the river, and was the property of defendant, George Forsch-ler, and was then in charge of defendant's employee acting in the ,-oope of hie employment. This accident occurred on December 5th, 1931, and caused petitioner's wagon to upset, destroying the wagon, i cs contents and injuring petitioner, particularly his -hands, end that because of s, id injury he had not been ¡able to work and for the loss of oandy, his claim for Doctor's bills and the injury he sustained he filed this suit against both The Hotel. Grünewald Cat-, erers Inc., and George Forsohler, claiming demages in the sum of $5337.00 with legal interest from judicial demand.

To this ^sfctiiOHBXxCis petition there was first filed exceptions thvt same -was too vague ‘.nd indefinite, and further that said petition disclosed no right or cause of action. The exceptions being overruled, answers were filed by the defendants.

_The defendant, Forsohler, denied any indebtedness due plaintiff for causes cited in the petition, admits the injury hut denies the extent thereof, and proceeding to answer further, substantially says, that the maohine driven by his chauffeur was being -driven on Conti Street between Bourbon and Royal Streets, at xsjasssl a speed of from four to five miles a.n hour and further averring that in front of his machine and proceeding in the s'ame direction on Conti Street, were a horse end wagon being driven along the center of the Street at a slow trot, and near the South ourb and [141]*141between the wagon and cmrb plaintiff was propelling a email oandy vendor's handoart; and alleging further, on oato'nlng up with the wagon and handoart, defendant’s chauffeur sounded hie horn as a signal preparatory to passing to the left of the wagon; the driver of the wagon thereupon pulled over to the right and defendant had almost oompletely passed by when either the wagon driver sixths feeding that he had pulled over too near to the candy oart pulled on the left rein and pulled into the right side of the defendant's automobile, or the horse shied to the left; that the left right hub of the wagon struok the right rear fender of defendant's automobile, the jolt throwing the horse and. with him the wagon against olaintiff' s- oart; snd further alleging that the automobile was being driven at a very slow speed snd in a oareful xtii manner; that said automobile was passing the wagon On the left -in acoordenoe with lagál requirements; that the oolllssion between his automobile and the wagon was in no way due to any negligence or went of skill on the part of his chauffeur, end that any question of negligence and responsibility in this case lies between plaintiff and the owner and operator of the horse and wagon. He prays that there be judgment in his favor and againet plaintiff, dismissing plaintiff's suit in so' far ?s it is against this defendant, with oosts.

The answer of the Hotel Grünewald Caterers Ino*, de*. nies all the allegations contained in plaintiff's petition, exoept that it is a corporation domiciled in the city of Hew Orleans; denies that the driver of the wagon ran into end knocked down the plaintiff,denies that the plaintiff was near the righth'-uid ourb at the time he was struok, averring that the automobile owned by George ForsohlaSr and operated by his chauffeur, struok the wagon owned by defendant, knocked same up against the oandy oart of plaintiff, and alleging Í35&1 the true cause of the acoident wa3 due to the negligence and [142]*142carelessness of the driver or chauffeur in charge of the automobile which belonged to the defendent firstly, which said driver vís.3 at the time of the accident the agent, servant or employee of said Forschler, acting within the scope of bis authority and in the course of his employment for the said Forschler, end that the said 'driver or chauffeur of the said automobile wes not exercising due c.-re end caution at the time of the accident, end did not .have hie automobile under control, and simply ran into the re®r part cf defendant's wagon. They finally pray for judgment dismissing plaintiff1 a suit, for costs 'nd for general relief,

An ex&min-'ticn of,this record, and quoting only such portions n-f it ts we deem applicable to the facts in this case, the testimony of the driver of the Grünewald Hotel wagon, satisfies us that he was struck by the -;utomobile when he was going towfris the river between Royal end Bouibon Streets; that his wagon was in the center of the street on the downtown side and that he was pa«sing r man with r candy wagon, cnd that there w's an automobile parked, fnd th*t the automobile that struck the w'gon wcs on the leitht-nd side --nd thr-t the fire/fc knowledge he h-d v? e that it knooked him br.ck and hit his arm c-n the side .grabbed Ms horse of the wagon which holds the cover up, .and he/ end in doing so broke the shaft; the horse got frightened and he was struggling with the horse. In reference to whet occurred to the candy man, he goes on to say that the plaintiff was in the rear, shoving his little push oart "-nd the only way that fc* got hurt was his wagon upset him, and when this v/itness sew him he was holding his arm rnd si id his arm wes hurt.

On cross exímiuetion he says that hie horse never struck the candy men and whet h:^p.ned wf s th.t the 0 nfty man wes knocked back, the candy spilled out into the street, s-lso that e. portion of the broken glass on th-¡ W'gon vir. s- in the street,

The witness, ?hilips, wh; w.’3 the chauffeur for the [143]*143defendant, Forsohler, describing what occurred at the time of the accident, was asked:

Q. Did the automobile hit the horse et all?
A Ho sir, the automobile did'not touch -the horse?
Q. Then if the automobile did not touch the horse, how in the world could you get it past unless the horse swung in front of you? In other words how could that wagon have got up where it could run into vour automobile without the horse swinging over towards youil
A. He did olose in on me, I had delivered the front part of my machine with the rear p&rt of the ws-gon with safety, when the rear / part of the automobile oame in conteot with the front part of the wagon thats how he closed in on me, and thats how I hsid room enough to get that far without any trouble at all.
Q. If .you had room enough to get -past him end you he-d got your automobile so that the rear of .the automobile was opposite the •‘front EfxihKini wheel of the wagon, in order to oillide with you the horse must have swung over, shifted to the left or toward the downtown side, must he not?
A. Yes sir, he closed on me.
Q. And yet you didn* t hit it?
A. I didn't hit the horse. Ho sir, . didn't hit the horse.

The testimony of Dr.

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7 Pelt. 139, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alphonso-v-hotel-grunewald-caterers-inc-lactapp-1922.