Eldridge v. Carrier

888 So. 2d 365, 2004 WL 2599910
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 17, 2004
Docket04-203
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 888 So. 2d 365 (Eldridge v. Carrier) 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
Eldridge v. Carrier, 888 So. 2d 365, 2004 WL 2599910 (La. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

888 So.2d 365 (2004)

Anna ELDRIDGE and Hardy Eldridge
v.
Charles D. CARRIER, et al.

No. 04-203.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

November 17, 2004.

*366 L. Clayton Burgess, Lafayette, LA, for Plaintiffs/Appellants Anna Eldridge and Hardy Eldridge.

David A. Hughes, Hughes & Lafleur, Alexandria, LA, for Defendants/Appellees Charles D. Carrier and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

James B. Reichman, Alexandria, LA, for Defendant/Appellee State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company.

Court composed of ULYSSES GENE THIBODEAUX, Chief Judge, BILLIE COLOMBARO WOODARD, MARC T. AMY, MICHAEL G. SULLIVAN, and JOHN B. SCOFIELD[*], Judges.

AMY, Judge.

The plaintiff and her husband filed suit against the defendant and his automobile liability insurer, seeking damages related to injuries she alleges that she sustained in an automobile accident with the defendant. Following a trial, the jury found in favor of the defendant. The plaintiffs appeal, contesting the jury's finding that the defendant was not at fault in causing the accident, as well as other evidentiary issues. *367 For the following reasons, we affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Factual and Procedural Background

The accident from which the instant matter arose occurred at approximately six o'clock on the evening of August 17, 2000, in Oberlin, Louisiana. According to the record, Charles D. Carrier, the defendant herein, was leaving Polly's Cafe with his elderly mother. Mr. Carrier had parked his Lincoln Towncar in an angle parking spot in front of the cafe on Sixth Avenue.[1] As he backed from his parking spot, the rear portion of his car was struck by the front of Anna Eldridge's Dodge Ram pick-up truck.

Prior to the accident, Ms. Eldridge testified that she had been at the house of her friend, Terri Durio. Ms. Eldridge stated that they had called two other friends and that the group was going to go to a casino together. Ms. Eldridge testified that each member of the party drove separately to the casino, with herself driving in front, followed by Ms. Durio in her Geo Metro, and the other members behind her. Ms. Eldridge drove south on Highway 26 and turned left onto Sixth Avenue. She continued in an easterly direction on Sixth Avenue until her car collided with Mr. Carrier's as he backed out onto Sixth Avenue. Testimony indicated that the force of the collision pushed Mr. Carrier's car back into the parking spot, albeit at an angle. Ms. Eldridge stated that she was taken by ambulance for treatment of burns and bruises she suffered when her air bag deployed in the accident. She later treated with numerous doctors for injuries to her neck and back that she alleges she sustained in the collision.

Ms. Eldridge and her husband, Hardy Eldridge, filed suit against Mr. Carrier and his insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, on July 19, 2001. Although the parties reached an agreement regarding property damages, a jury trial proceeded on the issues of liability and expenses for Ms. Eldridge's past and future medical treatment. The jury found in favor of the defendant, answering "No" to the question "Was the defendant, Charles Carrier, at fault and was such fault a cause in fact of the accident?" The plaintiffs appeal the verdict, asserting the following as error:

1. The jury abused it[s] discretion and committed manifest error when it disregarded the law as it pertains to backing out of a parking space and all of the uncontroverted testimony, including that of the defendant who did not see the plaintiff when he backed out, in finding that the defendant Charles Carrier was not at fault at all for the automobile accident and injuries sustained by plaintiff, Anna Eldridge.
2. The judge committed legal error in allowing a non-expert police officer to give the ultimate conclusion as to how the accident occurred despite the fact the police officer did not see the accident, was not an expert, and admitted he was not an expert.
3. The judge committed legal error in allowing a diagram showing the ultimate conclusion of the point of impact and prepared by a non-expert police officer into evidence even after the police officer admitted the diagram was not accurate and was not to scale.
4. The judge in this matter committed legal error in allowing the jury to hear evidence of Hardy Eldridge's employee *368 benefits at his job in order to argue that the medical bills should have or could have been paid by his health insurance.

Discussion

Fault

The plaintiffs assert that the jury was incorrect in finding that Mr. Carrier was not at fault for the accident. Pointing to Mr. Carrier's testimony that he did not see Ms. Eldridge's vehicle behind him when he checked before backing into the street,[2] the plaintiffs argue that Mr. Carrier breached a duty to "see what he should have seen." In support of this assertion, the plaintiffs cite La.R.S. 32:281(A), which states that "[t]he driver of a vehicle shall not back the same unless such movement can be made with reasonable safety and without interfering with other traffic." They also refer to numerous cases which state that motorists who are backing have a high duty of care. See, e.g., McDonald v. Hollingsworth, 02-131 (La.App. 5 Cir. 6/26/02), 823 So.2d 408; Taylor v. Chism, 27,186 (La.App. 2 Cir. 8/23/95), 660 So.2d 145.

In response, the defendants suggest that Mr. Carrier did not breach his duty because he did, in fact, turn around to look down Sixth Avenue for oncoming traffic. However, the defendants suggest at trial and on appeal that he did not see Ms. Eldridge because she had not yet made her turn onto Sixth Avenue when Mr. Carrier checked. According to the defendants, the fact that Ms. Eldridge's vehicle collided with the back of Mr. Carrier's vehicle demonstrates that it was her, and not him, who was driving carelessly. The defendants point to Ms. Eldridge's trial testimony, in which she stated:

Q. Mrs. Eldridge, the police officer's report says, "Driver of vehicle two" — and that's you designated here — "stated that she saw vehicle one backing out of the parking area, but she thought that he was going to stop. After seeing vehicle one wasn't going to stop, it was too late for her to stop."
A. Right.
Q. Did you tell him that?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. That's not what you told us earlier, though, is it?
A. Yes, it is.
Q. Okay. You saw him — As you approached, you saw him backing out?
A. Right.
Q. You saw that he was backing out?
A. Yes, sir. Well, I seen the lights. Within a split second, he was on me. I didn't have time to stop.
*369 Q. Okay. In answering the interrogatories, you were asked, "Please give a concise detailed description of the manner in which the accident complained of herein occurred."
A. Right.
Q. And your answer was, "Plaintiff contends that she was headed east on Sixth Avenue, Main Street, when she observed Charles Carrier's vehicle backing out of the parking area of Polly's Cafe. She contends that she thought that he was going to stop. And by the time that she realized that he was not stopping, it was too late for her to stop."
A.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Kelly Doucet v. Hornet Service Company
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019
Robertson v. GUIDEONE MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY
11 So. 3d 1247 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2009)
Haas v. Romero
977 So. 2d 196 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008)
Travis J. Haas v. Ryan S. Romero
Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2008
Baker v. State, Dept. of Health & Human Resources
921 So. 2d 1209 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2006)
Yellott v. Underwriters Ins. Co.
915 So. 2d 917 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2005)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
888 So. 2d 365, 2004 WL 2599910, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eldridge-v-carrier-lactapp-2004.