Enlow v. Blaney

527 So. 2d 1178, 1988 WL 63523
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 22, 1988
Docket87-442
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 527 So. 2d 1178 (Enlow v. Blaney) 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
Enlow v. Blaney, 527 So. 2d 1178, 1988 WL 63523 (La. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinion

527 So.2d 1178 (1988)

Michael E. ENLOW, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Ronald M. BLANEY, et al, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 87-442.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

June 22, 1988.

*1179 McElroy & Ramsey, R. Scott Ramsey, Berwick, for plaintiff-appellant.

Gold, Weems, Bruser, Sharp, Sues & Rundell, Raymond L. Brown, Jr., Peggy St. John, Alexandria, Theus, Grisham, Davis & Leigh, Phil D. Myers, Monroe, Smith, Taliaferro, Seibert, Boothe & Purvis, Leo Boothe, Jonesville, for defendants-appellees.

Before GUIDRY, FORET and LABORDE, JJ.

GUIDRY, Judge.

Plaintiff, operating a motorcycle, collided with a pickup truck driven by Rhonda B. Polk, the minor daughter of Ronald M. Blaney. Plaintiff filed this suit against Ronald M. Blaney and his insurer, Commercial Union Insurance Company (hereafter Commercial Union), seeking damages for the injuries sustained in that accident. Plaintiff subsequently amended his petition to name the Catahoula Parish Police Jury and its insurer, Great Plains Insurance Company, as additional defendants. Defendants, Ronald M. Blaney and Commercial Union, filed a reconventional demand seeking recovery of the damages to the Blaney truck.

After a trial on the merits, the trial court ruled in favor of defendants, dismissing plaintiff's suit and granting judgment on the reconventional demand in favor of Blaney and Commercial Union for $2,570.07. Plaintiff appealed.

FACTS

Plaintiff, operating a motorcycle in an easterly direction on Cash Bayou Road in Catahoula Parish, collided with a pickup truck traveling west driven by Rhonda Blaney Polk, the minor daughter of Ronald M. Blaney. The accident occurred at a curve in the road. Plaintiff's motorcycle struck the pickup truck on its left front, the principal point of impact being the left front wheel. At the time of the accident, the weather was clear and the road was dry.

The only witnesses to the accident were plaintiff, Rhonda Polk, and Missy Smith, a passenger in Rhonda's truck. Rhonda's younger brother, Boo Blaney, was also a passenger in the truck at the time of the accident, but did not testify. The defendant, Ronald Blaney, was also in the vicinity, *1180 following his daughter a short distance behind in another pickup truck. Ronald Blaney did not see the actual collision because he was observing the surrounding soybean fields.

Plaintiff, a 24 year old insurance salesman, was licensed to drive an automobile but did not have a motorcycle endorsement on his driver's license. He was seriously injured in the accident. Rhonda Blaney Polk, the 14 year old driver of defendant's pickup truck, was not licensed to drive. Both plaintiff and Rhonda Blaney Polk lived in the vicinity of the accident and both were familiar with Cash Bayou Road.

On appeal plaintiff urges trial error in the following particulars:

1. The trial court erred when it found defendant, Ronald M. Blaney, to be free of fault in causing the accident.
2. The trial court erred when it concluded that the Catahoula Parish Police Jury was not negligent in failing to provide traffic control devices on Cash Bayou Road.
3. The trial court erred when it concluded that plaintiff was solely responsible for causing the accident on Cash Bayou Road.
4. The trial court erred when it did not find Ronald M. Blaney negligent in permitting his 14 year old daughter to operate a vehicle on a public road without a driver's license.
5. The trial court erred when it did not raise an adverse presumption against defendants as a result of their failing to call seven subpoenaed witnesses.

We have carefully reviewed the record and finding no clear error in the trial court's conclusions, we affirm.

The trial court disposed of all of the issues presented for review except two, which we will address later in this opinion, in the following excellent written reasons for judgment which we are pleased to adopt as our own:

"The Cash Bayou Road.

"Evaluation of the testimony concerning this accident must of necessity take into account the nature and physical characteristics of the Cash Bayou Road. These same factors must also be considered in judging any liability of the Defendants. The possible liability of the Police Jury on the one hand, and Blaney on the other, is governed by different legal principles hereafter set forth.

"The Cash Bayou Road is really not a highway or a road, but should more properly be characterized as a country lane. It originated as an animal or wagon trail located in the dense woodlands of the delta area of Catahoula Parish. As time passed, and the surrounding area began to develop, the Cash Bayou Road evolved with it. Land was cleared and some of the woodlands gave way to cultivated fields. This caused an increase in the amount, and change in the nature of, the traffic flow, and the former wagon trail was graded first and then graveled. Subsequently, the Police Jury developed the road further by a minimum type hard surfacing with a three course blacktop application.

"Cash Bayou Road remains a dead end road, very lightly traveled, located on a narrow right-of-way in a sparsely settled rural area of the Parish. It meets the transportation requirements of the area it serves. There have been no significant complaints about its condition or safety. The curve where this accident occurred is fully visible and was familiar to both Plaintiff and Rhonda Blaney. The road and curve did not constitute any unusually hazardous circumstance, and could in no way be characterized as a trap, even in the case of a motorist traveling it for the first time.

Liability of Ronald M. Blaney.

"Plaintiff seeks to hold Ronald M. Blaney 10% [sic] at fault in this case because of the alleged negligence of his daughter. Blaney does not contest his responsibility for Rhonda's actions in this case, but does deny that she was negligent in any way.

"Plaintiff's case against Blaney, therefore, rests upon general negligence law under Civil [sic] Article 2315. As I understand it, the specific act of negligence which Plaintiff alleges on the part of Rhonda was the alleged failure on her part to *1181 keep the pickup truck driven by her on her right side of the roadway, and the subsequent encroachment into his lane of traffic.

"Both parties presented evidence, including that of a traffic reconstruction expert on each side, giving its version of the point of impact and the way the accident occurred and its cause. After examining that evidence, it is my opinion that the Plaintiff has failed to prove that the point of collision was in his east bound lane of traffic. I feel that the Defendants, who, of course, did not have any burden of proof, presented the more credible evidence which indicates that the point of impact was at or near the center line of the roadway. It was, if anything, in Rhonda Blaney's west bound lane of traffic. It should be noted that this is a narrow road and even when a pickup truck is on its own side that the left side of the truck is very near the center of the road.

"I was particularly persuaded by the testimony of Missy Smith and of the Trooper Kemp, who was the investigating officer, and the other physical evidence located on the highway.

"It is conceded that Rhonda Blaney approached this curve at a reasonable and lawful rate of speed, and that there was no other evidence of improper operation of the vehicle on her part.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
527 So. 2d 1178, 1988 WL 63523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/enlow-v-blaney-lactapp-1988.