Cox v. Murray

167 So. 2d 523, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1948
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 15, 1964
DocketNos. 1381, 1382
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 167 So. 2d 523 (Cox v. Murray) 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
Cox v. Murray, 167 So. 2d 523, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1948 (La. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinion

SAMUEL, Judge.

These two suits arise out of one accident and were consolidated for trial in the district court and for argument here. The first No. 1,382 of our docket, was filed by Dr. Franklin C. Cox against Jerry B. Murray and his liability insurer, Marquette Casualty Company and Joe Barshop Distributing Company and its insurer, Trinity Universal Insurance Company, for personal injuries received when he was struck by a car belonging to and driven by Murray. The second, No. 1,381 of our docket, was filed by Murray against Dr. Cox, Barshop and Trinity for damages to the Murray automobile. All defendants in both suits answered denying negligence on their part and alternatively pleading contributory negligence on the part of the respective plaintiffs.

The trial court found that the negligence of Dr. Cox was the sole proximate cause of the accident. It dismissed his suit (No. 1,382) and awarded judgment in the other suit (No. 1,381) in favor of Murray and against Dr. Cox for damages to the Murray vehicle, dismissing Murray’s demands against Barshop and Trinity. Dr. Cox has appealed from both judgments.

Six witnesses testified to the manner in which the accident happened. They were: Dr. Cox and his passenger, Dr. William E. Arthur, Jr., witnesses for Cox; Jesse Mesa, driver of the Barshop vehicle, and Jose Flores, his helper, witnesses for Barshop and Trinity; and Murray and John Boyd, a filling station attendant, witnesses for Murray and Marquette. The testimony of Drs. Cox and Arthur is sharply in conflict with the testimony of the other witnesses in many material respects. However, with one exception, i. e., a finding that the Barshop vehicle was parked entirely on the road shoulder at the time the accident happened, we agree with the facts which must have been found by the trial court. From our consideration of all the pertinent testimony adduced during the trial, we find the following :

The accident occurred on the Airline Highway above New Orleans in the Parish of St. Charles at about 3.00 a. m. on February 14, 1960. There had been rain and snow prior to that time and slush was still on the highway. The temperature was about 25 degrees. The highway consisted of four paved lanes, two for traffic traveling towards New Orleans and two for traffic traveling in the opposite direction towards Baton Rouge. The two sets of lanes were separated by a neutral ground and there was a shoulder on both sides of the highway.

Dr. Cox and Dr. Arthur, residents of Texas, had come to Baton Rouge on February 13 to investigate a business venture. Later that day they drove to New Orleans, [525]*525had dinner and visited the night spots in the French Quarter. At about 1:30 a. m. on February 14 they left New Orleans in an automobile owned and driven by Dr. Cox to return to Baton Rouge. They had done some drinking at the night clubs and had a bottle with them in the car.

A short distance above Moisant Airport Dr. Cox decided to turn into a service station on the opposite side of the highway. He attempted to cross the neutral ground in an area which was not designed for traffic but apparently had been used by other vehicles as a crossover. The rear wheels of his car- stuck in the mud of the neutral ground and the car could not be moved. The front end extended into the New Orleans bound portion of the highway and the rear of the car extended approximately three feet into the lane, next to the neutral ground, which was reserved for traffic traveling towards Baton Rouge. The two doctors attempted to get help from the service station attendant but were unsuccessful.

At this time the Barshop vehicle, a truck tractor without a trailer, which was being drived by Barshop’s employee, Mesa, arrived on the scene. Mesa was in the process of driving from San Antonio to New Orleans. He decided to stop at a motel which he had passed and which was on the opposite side of the highway. He slowed his speed to between 5 and 10 miles per hour and, at a point about 30 or 35 feet on the Baton Rouge side of the stalled Cox car, proceeded to his left to cross the neutral ground, make a U turn and go back to the motel. Flores, Mesa’s helper, saw Dr. Cox standing in the neutral ground by his automobile waving and he, Flores, told Mesa someone wanted help. In making his turn Mesa had seen the headlights of the automobile driven by Murray one-half mile or more away and approaching from the direction of New Orleans.

While the truck was moving very slowly Dr. Cox ran from his position on the neutral ground into the Baton Rouge bound lanes of the highway behind the truck and then to the driver’s side thereof. He walked beside the truck as it was still moving and until the truck reached a position facing in the direction of Baton Rouge completely off the highway and on the shoulder except for approximately 2i/£ feet of its left rear which remained on the highway. Mesa had rolled his window down and he asked Dr. Cox if he wanted to be pulled out. The doctor replied that he would appreciate it. At that time Dr. Cox was less than a foot away from the cab of the truck which continued to move very slowly. Dr. Cox then turned and proceeded to walk fast or run at an angle to his car 70 or 75 feet away in the neutral ground. He had taken several steps when he was struck by the Murray car at about the center stripe between the two Baton Rouge bound lanes. He was very seriously injured.

Murray was traveling at a speed of between 50 and 60 miles per hour, within the speed limit, when he saw the stalled Cox vehicle, which he testified he thought was making a left turn across the neutral ground, more than 300 feet away. He also saw the truck and its tail lights. He slowed his speed to about 50 miles per hour, passed the stalled vehicle and then saw Dr. Cox for the first time when the latter walked or ran in front of his car. He immediately veered to his left and applied his brakes. The right rear of his car skidded into the left rear of the truck and the front center of the car struck Dr. Cox.

Dr. Cox contends that Barshop and its insurer are liable as a result of: (1) Mesa’s failure to warn him of the approaching Murray car; (2) violations by Mesa of certain traffic regulations; and (3) alternatively, last clear chance. He contends that Murray and his insurer are liable because of Murray’s negligence, and alternatively, as a result of the application of the doctrine of last clear chance.

In connection with these contentions counsel for Dr. Cox relies upon a version of the accident which the trial court has rejected, as we do. The facts, as found [526]*526by the trial court and by this court, require a rejection of the contentions. We are convinced, as was the trial court, that the sole proximate cause of the accident was the negligence of Dr. Cox. He left a safe position very close to the left side of the truck, where he could not be seen by the approaching Murray because of the angle of the truck with its front on the shoulder and the portion of its left rear on the highway, and darted into the path of the Murray vehicle at a time when it was much too late, from a standpoint of time and distance, for Murray to do anything effectively to avoid the accident. See Reeves v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Ins. Co., La.App., 163 So. 2d 169; Fontenot v. Travelers Indemnity Company, La.App., 134 So.2d 330; Deason v. Greyhound Corporation, La.App., 106 So. 2d 348; Montgomery v.

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Related

Welch v. Welch
169 So. 2d 713 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1964)
Cox v. Murray
168 So. 2d 269 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1964)

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Bluebook (online)
167 So. 2d 523, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1948, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cox-v-murray-lactapp-1964.