Castelluccio v. Cloverland Dairy Products Co.

7 La. App. 534, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 46
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 14, 1928
DocketNo. 10,040
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 7 La. App. 534 (Castelluccio v. Cloverland Dairy Products 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
Castelluccio v. Cloverland Dairy Products Co., 7 La. App. 534, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 46 (La. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

OPINION

JONES, J.

Plaintiff claims for himself and minor daughter, aged seventeen, for personal injuries resulting in the death of his wife, twenty-two thousand five hundred and twenty-eight dollars ($22,528.00) damages as follows:

(a) His loss of support-------------------$5,000.00

(b) His loss of affection and care 5,000.00

(c) His share for pain and suffering of the deceased_______________ 5,000.00

(d) Medicine and doctor’s bills____ 28.00

(e) Daughter’s loss of affection____ 2,500.00

(f) Daughter’s share for pain and suffering of deceased______________ 5,000.00

He alleges that his wife, aged sixty-one and in good health, while waiting on the sidewalk, near the uptown river corner of Saratoga and Gravier streets, was, on January 10, 1924, struck on the head by an iron post, which had been negligently and carelessly knocked down- by the driver of defendant’s truck; that the blow made her unconscious, fractured her skull and caused a wound three inches long on the side of her head; that she was carried at once to the Charity Hospital, where she remained suffering intensely until January 18, 1924, when she was taken home only to leave her bed when it was necessary to carry her back to the hospital for treatment which lasted until her death on February 6, 1924.

Defendant in his answer admits the accident, but denies negligence and avers that the truck was being driven up Sara-toga street, a one-way street, toward Howard Avenue at a speed of approximately eight or nine miles per hour about ten o’clock in the morning of the accident; that shortly after passing Gravier street the driver of the truck was compelled to turn to the left in order to pass a quantity of building material which extended from the lake side of the street to about the center of Saratoga street; that the surface of the street was wet and slippery because it had rained that morning; that Saratoga street is not a standard street, because asphalt had been placed over the cobble stones, and on the river side of the street just where the accident had happened, about four feet from the curb, the surface slopes at an angle of about forty degrees; that the street at this point is only twenty-two feet wide, and in attempting to pass the pile of building material which extended to the center of the street, the back wheel of the truck skidded toward the river sidewalk and caused the left rear part of the top of the truck to strike and knock down the iron post; that the driver of the truck was not guilty of negligence and that the accident was caused by the unusual slope in the street and the wet condition.

There was judgment for plaintiff individually for twenty-five hundred dollars ($2500.00) and as natural tutor for twenty-five hundred dollars ($2500.00).

Defendant has appealed suspensively and plaintiff has answered the appeal asking that the amount be increased.

While the case was pending in this court, the plaintiff died on December 28th, 1925, and on January 25th, 1926, an order was signed by the presiding judge of this court making the six major children of the deceased as his sole and only forced heirs parties plaintiff in their father’s stead and permitting the daughter, who had been meanwhile emancipated, to prosecute the suit for herself.

Defendant in his able argument and brief strenuously insists on the following defensive contentions:

[536]*536(1) Due care and precaution on his driver’s part and entire freedom from fault.

(2) No causal connection between the injury and the death.

(3) That the action brought by Salvador Castelluccio individually perished when he died and the major children of Mrs. Castelluccio can not be made parties plaintiff.

We shall consider these points separately in the above order.

The evidence shows that the big covered truck, used for hauling milk, was in good order; that it was controlled by a governing apparatus which prevented it from going more than twelve miles an hour; that it was proceeding slowly up Saratoga street and stopped almost where the accident happened; that Saratoga street, which is a one-way uptown street has very heavy traffic at this point; that one day 8400 cars passed there between 7 a. m. and ,10 p. m.; that the street is twenty-two feet wide and the grade is not standard; that between a point four feet from the curb and the curb itself, there is a drop of 1-2.10 feet in four feet; that there is a safe roadway sixteen feet wide in the middle of the street, the severe slope only beginning four feet from each curb.

The colored driver of the truck, who was working in the feed room of defendant at the time of the trial, testifies on direct examination that he was going up Saratoga street at six miles per hour; that he turned to the left in order to pass the building material in the street and his rear wheel skidded into a post at the corner.

On cross-examination he testified that he had passed that point driving a truck every day for years both in dry and wet weather on the way to Union Station for milk and never had an accident; that he did not know the width or heighth of his truck, but it was a high truck and he did not think two machines like his could pass in a street twenty-two feet wide; that there was a pile of building material in the street about three or four feet high, but he could not say how far it projected in the street; that there was sufficient space between the pile of building material and the left side of the street for the truck to pass; that he knew exactly where he was driving and could have stopped if ¡he saw fit, but did not do so; that it seemed to him the top of the machine hit the post and the weight of the topi knocked the post over; that immediately after the accident the back wheels of the truck were up against the curb and the front wheels further away from the curb. The record contains an admission that the width of the truck from mud guard to mud guard was six feet nine inches.

Rosie Flamingo, an Italian witness, testified that she saw the truck slip into the gutter and hit the post;, that there was a pile of building material in the street 2% feet high, but she could not say how far it extended, but it did not occupy one-half of the street.

Emma Stanley, a colored seamstress, testified that the building material extended into the street for one-third of the width and many automobiles passed that morning both before and after the accident.

Filbin, the owner of the garage just across the street, who was having the work done, said that the traffic was heavy that day both before and after the accident, that the building material came out into the street possibly 2y2 feet, but there was still sufficient room for two trucks to pass without hitting the slope; that the contractor had covered the drain with a board so that they could dump the material half on the banquette and over the [537]*537gutter into the street; that they were not then using much sand 'and bricks because the rear of the building was about completed.

Seiler, the foreman, who was building the addition to the garage, testifies that they did not have much material that morning as they were finishing up the work; that the material did not extend into the street more than eighteen inches.

A fireman, witness for defendant, testifies that he was on the left-hand side, because the traffic was so heavy,

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Related

Maroun v. New Orleans Public Service, Inc.
83 So. 2d 397 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1955)
Hebert v. United States
39 F. Supp. 267 (E.D. Louisiana, 1941)
Dodd v. Glen Rose Gasoline Co.
193 So. 349 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1939)

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7 La. App. 534, 1928 La. App. LEXIS 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/castelluccio-v-cloverland-dairy-products-co-lactapp-1928.