Blanchard v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Inssurance

191 So. 2d 367, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4731
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 20, 1966
DocketNo. 1827
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 191 So. 2d 367 (Blanchard v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Inssurance) 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
Blanchard v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Inssurance, 191 So. 2d 367, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4731 (La. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

FRUGÉ, Judge.

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Blanchard brought suit in the district court against Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Company, insurer of a pickup truck which collided with the Blanchard family automobile being driven by Mrs. Blanchard. The truck was owned by Alton Lavergne and was operated with his permission at the time of the accident by Floyd J. Lavergne. The trial judge found that the driver of the Lavergne truck was negligent and that his [368]*368negligence was the proximate cause of the collision between the two vehicles. Judgment was rendered granting the plaintiff-husband $603.55 special damages for medical and hospital expenses and damages to the community vehicle; and $670.00 for expenses the husband incurred in hiring a housekeeper to perform household tasks while Mrs. Blanchard was incapacitated. The trial court awarded Mrs. Blanchard a total of $4,200.00 for what the attending physician characterized as “a moderate fascio myoligamus injury to the cervical thoracic and lumbar area of the back,” and a conversion neurosis allegedly caused or aggravated by the accident. The defendant insurer has appealed, alleging that the trial court erred in holding that his negligence was the proximate cause of the accident and in failing to find that the plaintiffs were barred from recovery because of Mrs. Blanchard’s contributory negligence. In addition, the defendants urge that the trial judge erred in awarding separate amounts for physical pain and suffering and for the conversion neurosis, and that a total award of $3,000.00 should be substituted for the aggregate award of $4,200.00. On the other hand, the plaintiffs-appellees contend that the damages awarded by the lower court are inadequate and that the amount should be increased to a total of $8,726.45.

The accident in which Mrs. Blanchard was injured occurred at an intersection of a small gravel farm road running generally north and south, with U. S. 190, a main east-west highway connecting the cities of Eunice and Opelousas in St. Landry Parish. The plaintiffs allege that the Blanchard automobile, operated at the time by Mrs. Blanchard, was traveling east toward' Opelousas on Highway 190. As she neared the gravel road, she slowed her vehicle and gave a hand and mechanical signal for a left turn onto the gravel, intending to travel north to a friend’s house located on that road. At this time she noticed the Lavergne truck, with Mr. Lavergne at the wheel, parked parallel to Highway 190, facing west in the parking lot of Fitzgerald’s store, which is located in the northeast quadrant of the intersection. As she turned left into the gravel road, Mrs. Blanchard admittedly “cut the corner”, that is, she turned short of the center of the intersection in apparent violation of R.S. 32:101. Mrs. Blanchard testified that before the rear of her vehicle left the paved portion of the highway she observed the Lavergne truck, at a distance of five to ten feet from her car, moving across the gravel road and nearly parallel to Highway 190 in a westerly direction. The two vehicles collided at a slight angle from the headon position, the left front fender of the truck meeting the left fender and headlight of the Blanchard automobile. Plaintiffs contend that the Lavergne truck was still moving at the time of the collision and that, having seen Mrs. Blanchard slowing for a left turn onto the gravel road, Mr. Lavergne was clearly negligent in driving onto a public road in violation of R.S. 32:124.

The defendant, admitting that Mr. La-vergne saw Mrs. Blanchard as she was preparing to turn left, avers that the La-vergne truck had safely crossed the northbound lane of the gravel road and was in a stationary position in the southbound or west lane of the gravel road at the time of the collision. The defendant further contends that the point of impact was entirely within the southbound lane of the gravel road and that the collision resulted solely from the fact that Mrs. Blanchard “cut the corner” in turning left onto the gravel road.

From the foregoing it is apparent that the responsibility for this accident hinges upon the determination of two factual issues, namely, whether the Lavergne vehicle was moving or stationary at the time of the collision, and whether the collision occurred in the northbound or southbound lane of the gravel road. If the record establishes that the Lavergne truck was stopped at the time of impact in its proper lane on the gravel road and that the collision between the Blanchard automobile and the truck actually occurred in that [369]*369lane, then the conclusion is inescapable that the plaintiff’s violation of the left turn statute, R.S. 32:101, was the proximate cause of the accident.1

If, however, the record reflects that the Lavergne truck was, at the time of the collision, moving across the northbound lane of the gravel road and that the collision actually occurred wholly or partially within that lane, then the Lavergne vehicle’s failure to observe R.S. 32:124 (regulating vehicles entering highways from private premises) will constitute the proximate cause of the accident.2

The testimony of five different witnesses must be considered in an effort to reconstruct the essential facts of the accident.

Floyd Lavergne, the driver of the pickup truck, testified that he saw Mrs. Blanchard slowing her vehicle as she neared the intersection and that he pulled out across the gravel road into the southbound lane and stopped, and that, though the rear of his truck might have been projecting slightly into the northbound lane, the front fender where the impact occurred was wholly within the southbound or proper lane. He stated that he did not see the left turn signal given by Mrs. Blanchard but did not deny that such a signal was given.

Eddie Fitzgerald, owner of Fitzgerald’s Store, was hanging drapes in the picture window of his house located across the gravel road from Fitzgerald’s Store and fronting on the north side of Highway 190 Mr. Fitzgerald said that he observed Mrs. Blanchard as she negotiated the left turn and that when the collision occurred between the two vehicles the Lavergne truck was stationary in what he thought was the southbound lane. On cross examination, however, the witness admitted that his estimate of the position of the truck at the time of impact was speculative since his attention was focused on the vehicles themselves and not their relative positions in the road.

Carroll Fitzgerald, Eddie Fitzgerald’s son, was working at the adding machine in the Fitzgerald store when the accident occurred. Unfortunately, he did not observe the actual impact and therefore his testimony is of little value in determining the position of the vehicles just prior to the collision.

Mrs. Blanchard, though unable to concretely fix the point of impact in the gravel road, testified repeatedly that the pickup truck driven by Floyd Lavergne was moving across her lane when she first saw it at a distance of five to ten feet and that at the moment of collision the truck was still moving in a direction almost parallel to Highway 190 (Tr. 124 and 166).

The state trooper who investigated the accident arrived on the scene some five minutes after the collision occurred and, of course, was unable to give testimony as [370]*370to whether or not the truck was stopped at impact.

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Related

Merritt v. Hemstead
206 So. 2d 718 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1968)
Blanchard v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance
193 So. 2d 527 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1967)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
191 So. 2d 367, 1966 La. App. LEXIS 4731, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blanchard-v-southern-farm-bureau-casualty-inssurance-lactapp-1966.