Anding v. Southwestern Ins. Co.

358 So. 2d 690
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 3, 1978
Docket6392
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 358 So. 2d 690 (Anding v. Southwestern Ins. Co.) 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
Anding v. Southwestern Ins. Co., 358 So. 2d 690 (La. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

358 So.2d 690 (1978)

Leo ANDING et ux., Plaintiffs-Appellees,
v.
SOUTHWESTERN INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 6392.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

April 11, 1978.
Rehearing Denied May 11, 1978.[*]
Writ Refused July 3, 1978.

*692 Kramer & Davis, James D. Davis, Alexandria, for plaintiffs-appellees.

Stafford, Randow, O'Neal & Smith, Grove Stafford, Jr., and Russell Potter, Alexandria, William J. Doran, Jr., Baton Rouge, for defendants-appellants.

Before WATSON, GUIDRY and FORET, JJ.

WATSON, Judge.

This is one of three consolidated cases arising out of an accident which occurred on Highway 399 in Vernon Parish on the afternoon of October 15, 1975. A loaded log truck driven by Clyde Ellis Clark collided with a Ford automobile driven by Mrs. Ora Mae Anding, wife of Leo Anding. The Anding grandchildren, Cody and Tonya, were passengers in the Ford; Tonya died in the accident; her brother and grandmother were injured.

In docket # 6390, La.App., 358 So.2d 699, George Elie Anding and Gwendolyn Lacaze Anding ask damages for the death of their daughter, Tonya Denean Anding, and the personal injuries of their minor son, George Decody "Cody" Anding. Named as defendants are Clyde E. Clark, his insurer, Southwestern Insurance Company and the Louisiana Department of Highways. In the instant case, docket # 6392, Leo Anding, et ux. v. Southwestern Insurance Company, et al., Mr. and Mrs. Leo Anding ask damages for Mrs. Anding's personal injuries, medical expenses, and loss of the Ford automobile from the same defendants. In docket # 6391, Clyde E. Clark v. Leo Anding, et ux., La.App., 358 So.2d 700, Clark is suing Mr. and Mrs. Leo Anding and the Department of Highways for damage to his truck and loss of income.

The trial court concluded that Clark was negligent in operating ". . . a monstrous vehicle over a narrow road on a rainy day near top speed and failing to apply his brakes . . ." timely (TR. 160); that the Highway Department was negligent in maintaining a slippery patchwork surface on Highway 399 without posting warnings or reduce speed signs; and that Leo Anding was negligent in having slick tires on the Ford automobile. Mrs. Anding's actions were stated to be those of a reasonably prudent driver. The demands of Clark in docket # 6391 were dismissed. In docket # 6390, George Elie Anding was given judgment against the Department of Highways, Clark and his insurer, in the sum of $36,566.23, including $1,566.23 for funeral expenses. Gwendolyn Lacaze Anding, former wife of George, was awarded $40,313.10, including $313.10 for Cody's medical expenses, and an additional $5,000 for Cody's use and benefit, against the same defendants. In the instant case, docket # 6392, Ora Mae Anding was awarded judgment against Clyde E. Clark and the Louisiana Department of Highways, in solido, in the amount of $200,000 and judgment against Southwestern Insurance Company in the amount of $100,000, its policy limits for injury to one person. The demands of Leo Anding were dismissed with prejudice. The Department of Highways was given judgment against Southwestern Insurance Company and Clark for one-half of the total, limited, as to Southwestern Insurance Company, to its policy limits of liability.

The Department of Highways has appealed, contending that: the Department was not negligent; any negligence in maintaining Highway 399 was not a proximate cause of the accident; Ora Mae Anding was negligent both in causing the accident and in driving with defective tires; Leo Anding's negligence in equipping the automobile with defective tires should be imputed to Ora Mae Anding; the damages awarded are excessive. Southwestern Insurance Company and Clark have appealed, contending *693 that: Ora Mae Anding was negligent; Clark was not negligent; any negligence on the part of Clark was not a cause in fact of the accident; the awards of $200,000 to Ora Mae Anding and $5,000 to George Decody Anding are excessive. Mr. and Mrs. Leo Anding have answered the appeals asking that her damages be increased from $200,000, the amount prayed for in their petition, to $600,000. They contend that the trial court should have allowed amendment of their petition to claim damages more in keeping with the evidence presented; that the award to Ora Mae Anding is so low as to constitute an abuse of the trial court's discretion; and that any negligence of Leo Anding in having slick tires on the Ford was not a cause in fact of the accident and should not bar his recovery of damages. The trial court stated in denying amendment of the pleadings that the $200,000 was sufficient. Also answering the appeal are the parents of the minors who ask that the award for the death of Tonya be increased to $100,000 for each of them.

Because of George's youth the only eyewitnesses who could testify as to the circumstances of the accident were Mr. Clark and Mrs. Anding. Mrs. Anding was going north, returning home to Pitkin from DeRidder where she had taken the two grandchildren to the health center. She testified she was not familiar with the highway. She came over the crest of a small hill going about 40 m.p.h. A slick place in the road caused the back of her car to wiggle out of line. She straightened out, observed Clark's truck coming from the opposite direction in her lane of traffic and checked her speed. There was a narrow bridge in the valley between the two vehicles. It was stipulated that the top of her hill was 870' from the bridge and Clark's hilltop was 543' from the bridge. The truck appeared to Mrs. Anding to be in the middle of the road and she pulled to the side to give the truck the right-of-way. Her right tire went off the roadway because of a rough spot in the blacktop. She then tried to pull her car back on the edge of the road surface. The car hit a slick place that caused her car to skid at an angle down the highway with perhaps a third of the car in the left lane of traffic. Mrs. Anding told the children the truck was going to hit them. Her car and the truck collided. Mrs. Anding testified that the truck did not appear to check its speed at any time prior to the collision. She thought it remained in her lane until the impact. Her husband was responsible for deciding on the purchase of new tires. She was not aware that her back tires were slick.

Clark was hauling wood from Kisatchie Forest to the DeRidder Boise Southern paper mill. His trailer was loaded with tree length wood, and weighed approximately 72,000 pounds, the legal maximum. It had not been weighed when the accident occurred. Clark was familiar with the road and had made the same trip earlier in the day. The roadway was narrow and wet with rain. It had been raining all day. He was driving in ninth gear at a speed of about 45 miles an hour, the truck's maximum when loaded. Clark topped a small hill and saw the Anding car coming from the opposite direction down another small hill. There was a bridge between them. Clark observed the Ford fishtail slightly then straighten out and pull to the side. The right front wheel dropped off the roadway. Clark said he stopped accelerating, but the grade kept his speed approximately the same. When the Anding car turned back to the highway it skidded across the roadway, and the vehicles collided. Clark first admitted that he did not apply his brakes until immediately before the collision, despite observing Mrs. Anding's difficulties. He then claimed when recalled to the stand that he braked when he saw her car drop off the road. The trial court noted this as an apparent conflict in reasons for judgment.

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Bluebook (online)
358 So. 2d 690, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anding-v-southwestern-ins-co-lactapp-1978.