Chandler v. Sun Ray Lighting Corp.

308 So. 2d 515, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3671
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 13, 1975
DocketNo. 6610
StatusPublished

This text of 308 So. 2d 515 (Chandler v. Sun Ray Lighting Corp.) 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
Chandler v. Sun Ray Lighting Corp., 308 So. 2d 515, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3671 (La. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

GULOTTA, Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of plaintiffs for damages and injuries sustained as a result of an automobile accident.

Plaintiffs’ version of the accident is that Gwen Chandler was driving in a southerly direction on Peters Road, a blacktop two-lane highway in Harvey, Louisiana. Defendant’s truck was stopped at an intersecting service road of J. Ray McDermott Company. According to the plaintiff wife, she moved into the northbound traffic lane of Peters Road in an attempt to pass a slow moving truck proceeding in the same direction (southerly) when her automobile was struck on the left side (broadside) by a Sun Ray truck as it entered the highway from the service road. Plaintiffs further claim that the impact pushed the Chandler automobile into the truck which Mrs. Chandler was attempting to pass.

[517]*517Defendants’ version is that the driver of the Sun Ray truck had stopped at the intersection of Peters Road, and had made a right turn into the northbound traffic lane (proceeding north) after which the plaintiff driver pulled into the northbound lane to pass. According to defendants’ plaintiffs’ vehicle struck the truck which Mrs. Chandler was attempting to pass and careened headon into defendants’ vehicle which had already negotiated the turn onto Peters Road.

On appeal, defendants’ contend (1) that the plaintiff driver, Mrs. Chandler, attempted to pass another vehicle while approaching within 100 feet of an intersection in violation of LSA-R.S. 32:76(A) (2) ;1 and (2) that Mrs. Chandler attempted to pass a vehicle in a yellow line prohibited area in violation of LSA-R.S. 32:77(B).2 According to defendants, the negligent operation of the vehicle by Mrs. Chandler in violation of the statutes was a proximate cause of the accident. Defendants also complain of error in the award for special damages in the sum of $1,797.00 and of the excessiveness of the general award in the sum of $4,500.00.

While we are not favored with reasons for judgment in plaintiffs’ favor by the trial judge, it is clear that a finding of negligence on the part of the offending truck driver (i.e., entering the highway after plaintiff driver commenced a passing maneuver and struck the plaintiff vehicle broadside) is based upon a credibility determination by the trial judge. From our consideration of the record, we cannot say the trial judge erred. The judge chose to accept plaintiffs’ version of the accident and to reject defendants’ version. Significantly, the physical damage to the vehicles is consistent with this finding. Mrs. Chandler’s vehicle was damaged along the left side from the left front bumper to the left door and on the right side. The front end of the Sun Ray vehicle was damaged. The location of the damage to plaintiffs’ vehicle is corroborative of plaintiffs’ claim that the Chandler automobile was struck broadside by the defendant vehicle on the left side and pushed into the truck on plaintiffs’ right causing damage to the right side of the plaintiff vehicle.

In considering the question of plaintiff driver’s negligence or contributory negligence, we are again faced with the absence of reasons for judgment by the trial judge. However, it is clear that the court either resolved in favor of plaintiff the factual issues, i.e., that the service road is not an “intersection” as contemplated by the language in LSA-R.S. 32:76(A) (2) and that no prohibited passing yellow lines existed on Peters Road approaching the accident site; or that the trial judge concluded if statutory violations occurred, the violations were not a legal cause of the accident.

We have no difficulty in concluding that Mrs. Chandler’s driving to the left side of the highway was a substantial factor in causing the accident. Suffice it to say that if plaintiff had not executed'the maneuver, the accident would not have occurred. Nevertheless, even if the facts show that Mrs. Chandler’s action violated a statute, the violation in itself does not impose liability unless the prohibition in the statute was designed to protect from the harm which ensues from the statutory violation. Laird v. Travelers Insurance Company, 263 La. 199, 267 So.2d 714 (1972). The evidence in this case, how[518]*518ever, does not -establish that Mrs. Chandler violated any statute.

We are confronted next with the question whether the intersecting road is an “intersection” as contemplated by the statute. In Guillory v. Travelers Insurance Company, 241 So.2d 772, 774 (La.App. 3rd Cir. 1970), the court set forth factors which are to be considered in determining if a road is an “intersection.” The court stated:

“Each case depends on its own facts. Some of the factors considered by our courts are: (1) whether the intersecting thoroughfares are public or private, (2) their comparative widths, (3) the type of construction (paved, gravel, dirt, etc.), (4) the presence or absence of any signs or markings, (S) the amount of use of each.”

In the instant case, the service road is a private one which serves as the means of egress from the J. Ray McDermott terminal. Another service road intersecting with Peters Road and south of the accident site serves as the means of ingress to the terminal. These ingress and egress roads do not cross Peters Highway and run only from the building to the highway. No evidence was introduced to show whether the road was paved or not, and the only sign present was a stop sign about 20 feet from the entrance to Peters Road. Furthermore, the evidence indicated there were no signs posted on the highway to warn motorists they were approaching an intersection. Under the circumstances, we cannot conclude that defendant successfully carried the burden of proving by a prepon-derence of the evidence that the intersecting road is an “intersection.”

Nor can we conclude that defendants successfully carried the burden of showing that Mrs. Chandler attempted to pass in a no passing zone marked by yellow lines. Plaintiffs testified that no yellow lines existed near the accident site on the day of the collision. Testimony of the defendant and the investigating police officer disputed this fact. Faced with this conflicting evidence, the trial judge may have made a credibility determination that no yellow lines existed on the highway at the time of the accident or that the yellow lines were obliterated. Rendition of judgment in favor of plaintiff is consistent with this factual determination. However, the photographs taken one year after the accident show a yellow line in the southbound lane up to and past the point of impact. This clearly indicates this yellow line, if indeed it existed at the time of the accident, was not placed on the highway to warn of the McDermitt exit, but rather to warn of some danger at a distance beyond the exit. Such an extended yellow line could not have been intended to prohibit motorists from entering the left lane within one hundred feet of the intersection in violation of LSA-R.S. 32:76(A)(2). It is significant in this respect that the photographs do not show a yellow line in the northbound lane south of the impact point, as there would be if the line in the southbound lane was meant to warn of the service road exit to the highway. At any rate, whether the trial court properly concluded that no yellow line existed or whether the yellow line was not placed on the highway to warn of the exit (intersection), defendant simply failed to prove plaintiff’s contributory negligence. Having so concluded, we agree with the result reached by the trial judge casting defendants in judgment.

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308 So. 2d 515, 1975 La. App. LEXIS 3671, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chandler-v-sun-ray-lighting-corp-lactapp-1975.