Bacon v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc.

137 So. 213, 18 La. App. 96, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 590
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 19, 1931
DocketNo. 13724
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 137 So. 213 (Bacon v. New Orleans Public Service, 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
Bacon v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., 137 So. 213, 18 La. App. 96, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 590 (La. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinions

HIGGINS, J.

Plaintiff brings 'this suit in his own behalf and on behalf of his minor son against the New Orleans Public Service, Inc., and Archie J: Lejeune in solido for damages alleged to have resulted from a collision between a Ford truck belonging to Lejeune and a street car operated by the New Orleans Publiq Service, Inc. The accident occurred at the corner of Dumaine street and Carrollton avenue, on Mardi Gras Day, February 16, 1926, at 3:30 p. m.

The plaintiff claims that the accident was caused through the joint and concurrent negligence of the defendants, and that they are liable on the following grounds: First, because the street car did not come to a full stop upon reaching the intersection of Car-rollton avenue, and that it did not accord the truck the right of way as required by the traffic ordinance of the city; second, because the motorman was guilty of negligence in running the car at an excessive rate of speed and in not keeping a proper lookout; third, because the motorman permitted the right front door of the vestibule of the street car to remain open in violation of Act 16 of 1914; fourth, because the driver of the truck was at fault in operating his truck at an excessive rate of speed, -without efficient brakes, and in failing to keep a proper lookout.

The street car company admitted the accident and injury to plaintiff’s son, who was a passenger, but denied that the motorman was guilty of any negligence, averring that the collision was caused entirely by the fault of the truck driver in operating the truck with defective brakes, and further that the plaintiff’s son was guilty of contributory negligence in riding .on the step or platform of the car in violation of the motorman’s and the conductor’s orders to ride inside the ear.

The driver and owner of the truck failed to answer, and judgment by default was rendered against him in the sum of $5,091.50 by one of the judges of the civil district court on April 12, 1927. The case was then tried on its merits ás against the railway company before a jury in another division of the same court, resulting on November 25, 1930,' in a verdict in favor of plaintiff for the sum of $10,000, three jurors dissenting. The railway company applied for a new trial, which was refused by the judge, who stated,, in his written reasons for doing so, that the refusal was not to be construed as expressing an opinion of approval of the verdict, but, as the record was fully made up, he preferred to let the aj)pellate court i'eview it. The railwáy company then obtained a suspensive appeal; none of the parties having appealed from the judgment rendered by default.

The undisputed facts of the case may be stated as follows:

The plaintiff’s minor son, aged fourteen years- nine months, together with four other young men, were passengers on one of the ■defendant’s street cars. The car was of the small type,, having about eight or nine er.oss-[215]*215seat's and two side seats at each end. The brakes were operated by hand -and also the doors of the vestibule. The doors on the left side of the car were closed, but the right front and the right rear door were open for the purpose of receiving and discharging passengers. The ear was on Dumaine street, proceeding toward the lake, or City Park. Dumaine street is a paved thoroughfare 32 feet 5 inches in width, with double street car tracks in its center, the downtown tracks being used by cars going in the direction of the lake and the uptown tracks by those going toward the river. This street crosses at right angles Car-rollton avenue, which is a boulevard with a neutral ground in the center 61 feet 1 inch in width. On both sides thereof are paved roadways, each 24 feet 5 inches wide, vehicles moving down town using the riverside thoroughfare and those going toward Canal street occupying the lakeside roadway. The street car had crossed the riverside thoroughfare and the neutral ground of Carrollton avenue, and was about in the "center of the lakeside roadway of the avenue, when the Ford truck, proceeding toward Canal street, collided with it, the left front part of the truck striking the right front step of the car, demolishing the stop. The impact derailed the street car, and its momentum caused it to cross the uptown tracks on Dumaine street, traverse the street, surmount a 6%-inch gutter curb, and finally come to rest 7½ feet upon the uptown sidewalk of Dumaine street. The truck stopped on Dumaine street on the street car tracks. Plaintiff’s son, who was riding either on the right side of the front platform, or on the right front step, sustained three fractures of the right leg, and was removed to the Charity Hospital at once for attention.

It is first argued on behalf of plaintiff that the motorman failed to observe paragraph (a), subsection 7, article 1, section 1, of the traffic ordinance to the effect that Carrollton avenue is a right of way street, and that vehicles approaching Carrollton avenue from inter-’ secting streets “shall, before crossing or turning into same, come to a full stop,” and paragraph (c) subsection 7, article 1, section 1, of the traffic ordinance to the effect that at intersections of right of way streets with one another all vehicles approaching from the left shall give the right of way to vehicles approaching from the right. The street ear was approaching from the left, and plaintiff contends that this also gave the motortruck the right of way under the latter provision of the ordinance.

Counsel for defendant railway company argues that the provisions of the traffic ordinance referred to do not apply to street cars, because a street car cannot be said to be a vehicle within the meaning of the traffic ordinance, and that to so hold would be to seriously impede and hamper the movement of street cars and to inconvenience the public in the enjoyment of tfyeir use.

We do not believe it is necessary to consider whether or not the provisions of the ordinance apply to street cars, and therefore v express no opinion on that point. It is sufficient to say that, if the ordinance is applicable, the truck had the right of way, and, if inapplicable, then the defendant has not offered in evidence any ordinance, franchise, or statute which gives it the right of way at the intersection, and therefore the case falls under the general law which grants to both motor vehicles and street cars equal rights at street crossings. The rule is stated in Hud-dy’s Oyc. of Automobile Law, vol. 7-8, p. 143, as follows: “At intersecting streets, the general rule is that a street ear crossing in one direction and an automobile approaching at right angles have equal right to the use of the crossing. Each must exercise reasonable care to avoid a collision, and neither can heedlessly continue his course on the assumption that the other will give< way.”

Ruling Case Law, vol. 25, verbo “Street Railways,” § 98, states the law in the following language: “The preferential right generally accorded to street cars over other vehicles between street crossings does not, by the great weight of authority, prevail at street crossings, and the courts are generally agreed that the drivers of vehicles, pedestrians and street cars have equal rights at these crossings, and that neither. has a superior right to the other, but that each must exercise ordinary care in crossing, and each is bound to use equal diligence to avoid collision.”

See, also, Booth on “Street Railways” (2d Ed.) 490.

We next consider the question of the speed of the street car and the failure of the motorman to keep a proper lookout.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Gunter v. State, Department of Highways
127 So. 2d 31 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1961)
French v. T. S.C. Motor Freight Lines
39 So. 2d 363 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1949)
Broussard v. Hotard
4 So. 2d 563 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1941)
Mosher v. Burglass
170 So. 416 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1936)
Alford v. Bisso Ferry Co.
161 So. 368 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1935)
Upton v. Bell Cabs, Inc.
154 So. 359 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1934)
Sontheimer v. Littlejohn
137 So. 219 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
137 So. 213, 18 La. App. 96, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 590, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bacon-v-new-orleans-public-service-inc-lactapp-1931.