Bethancourt v. Bayhi

141 So. 111
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 18, 1932
DocketNo. 14153
StatusPublished
Cited by31 cases

This text of 141 So. 111 (Bethancourt v. Bayhi) 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
Bethancourt v. Bayhi, 141 So. 111 (La. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

JANVIER, J.

Mrs. Heseker was a guest passenger in a Chevrolet automobile belonging to George Ashton Cox when that vehicle, while driven by Mrs. Cox, was struck and turned over by a Nash car owned and operated by Miss Florence Bayhi.

The accident occurred on a clear day at the corner of Prytania and Philip streets in New Orleans.

The Chevrolet, in which Mrs. Heseker was a passenger, was on Philip street, crossing Prytania street, and going toward St. Charles avenue. The Nash car was on its way down Prytania street.

Solidary judgment was asked against Miss Bayhi, her insurers, General Accident, Fire & Life Assurance Corporation, Limited, and against Mr. and Mrs. Cox.

In the district court judgment was rendered against Mrs. Cox for the sum of $603, but, as against the other defendants, the suit was dismissed. From that judgment both

Mrs. Heseker, plaintiff, and Mrs. Cox have appealed, Mrs. Cox maintaining that the judgment should be entirely reversed as to her, and Mrs. Heseker asserting that the amount of the judgment should 'be increased to $1,103, as originally prayed for, and that the other defendants should be held liable solidarily with one another and with Mrs. Cox.

In her brief before us plaintiff has conceded that the evidence does not warrant a judgment against Mr. Cox and the appeal as to him has been abandoned. Defendant insurance company is admittedly insurer of Miss Bayhi, and there appears no dispute as to the liability of that company, within policy limits, for any sum as Miss Bayhi may be condemned to pay.

Since Mrs. Heseker was a guest passenger not in control of the car and since it is manifest from the record that nothing she could have done, or said, would have been effective in averting the crash, it follows that no question of any possible contributory negligence on her part is involved, and the controversy resolves itself into a dispute between the respective drivers as to the fault which constituted the proximate cause of the collision, each maintaining.that the fault of the other was the ■ sole cause thereof.

Under the traffic ordinance of New Orleans, C. C. S. 7490, vehicles on Prytania street are accorded superior rights to those on Philip street because on the former street there are street car tracks, while on the latter there are none. In paragraph 7 of article 1 of the ordinance it is provided that: “Vehicles traveling on the following streets have the right of way over vehicles approaching on intersecting streets, namely, * * * all streets with street car tracks,” and, in sub-paragraph (b) of the said paragraph 7 it is further provided, that “vehicles approaching above streets and avenues from intersecting streets shall, before crossing or turning into same, come to a full stop.”

It was, therefore, the duty of Mrs. Cox, before entering the intersection, to 'bring her vehicle to a stop. That she did not do this is conceded, and it follows that, to this extent, she was guilty of a violation of the ordinance.

In her behalf, however, it is contended that the violation was purely technical and that the danger was in no wise increased thereby. If that be true, then the fact that there was a violation does not, of itself, render her liable civilly, because;

“An act committed in violation of a city ordinance does not impose liability for the injury resulting therefrom unless the injury was the natural and-direct consequence of the violation.” Roby v. Graham, Inc., 3 La. App. 521 (syllabus).

[113]*113The above quoted rule is firmly established.

In tbe syllabus of Vaughn v. New Orleans Ry. & Light Co., 13 Orl. App. 116, this court said:

“The violation of a city ordinance is not necessarily proof of negligence. * * * ”

■See, also, Michel Bros., Inc., v. Mallynn, 3 La. App. 69; O’Kelley v. Mocklin, 140 So. 116, decided by this court March 7, 1932; Lopes v. Sahuque, 114 La. 1004, 38 So. 810, 814.

Bearing in mind the legal principle supported by the above authorities, let us ascertain whether there was causal connection between the failure of Mrs. Cox to stop her car before it entered the intersection and /the subsequent collision of the two automobiles.

While it must be conceded that it is a dangerous rule to permit persons to violate ordinances, or statutes, enacted to- insure safety, and to then contend that the violation did not add to the danger, nevertheless, if, after careful scrutiny of the facts, such contention is well founded, it must prevail. The purpose of the ordinance in question, in requiring a stop before entering right of way streets, is to afford to the driver on the less . favored street a sufficient opportunity, before entering the zone of potential danger, to make certain that no actual danger in the shape of an approaching car is present. Here it is evident that, when Mrs. Cox decreased the speed of her car as much as she did, and when, only a few feet from the intersection, she looked and could plainly see that no other visible car which, if driven at a reasonable speed, was sufficiently near to make it hazardous for her to cross, her failure to actually stop did not make the attempt to cross any more perilous.

We are not unmindful of the fact that in the several decisions to which we have referred there were not involved questions of liability as between two joint tort-feasors towards a so-called “innocent” third person, and we realize that the doctrine involved in those cases should only in plain cases and-with extreme caution be extended to persons sought to be held solidarity liable as joint tort-feasors. The doctrine of the last clear chance has no application as between joint tort-feasors (Cazeaux v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc., 16 La. App. 541, 134 So. 121, and Shield v. F. Johnson & Son Co., 132 La. 773, 61 So. 787, 47 L. R. A. [N. S.] 1080), and the thought results that, if such be true, there may be some doubt as to whether the defense is available in a situation such as is presented here, because here one defendant, though admitting a technical fault, charges that the other defendant could nevertheless, have avoided the accident ¡by the exercise of care —a charge very similar to that made in the doctrine of the last clear chance.

We have reached the conclusion, however, that the principle which is involved is not so similar to that which is present, when the last clear chance doctrine is applicable as to that which appears when the defense is total absence of negligence. In other words, in this case Mrs. Cox does not admit that her negligence had any bearing whatever on the accident and she maintains that it had nothing more to do with it than it would have had had it .been committed at some other place and at some other time. Where the doctrine of the last clear chance is relied on, he who relies on it in effect admits that his own negligence created the dangerous situation,' but he charges that, in spite of the fact that the dangerous situation' was created by his negligence, the other party could, nevertheless, have avoided the accident. Here Mrs. Cox admits that she violated the ordinance, but she contends that the violation not only did not contribute in any way to the resulting accident, but did not even create a dangerous situation.

While this exact point was not raised, a similar result was reached by this court in a case much resembling the one before us. Bee Marshall v. Freeman, 10 La. App. 12, 120 So. 414.

In Lopes v. Sahuque, supra, the Supreme Court said:

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141 So. 111, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bethancourt-v-bayhi-lactapp-1932.