Evans v. Walker

111 So. 2d 885
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 4, 1959
Docket9012
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 111 So. 2d 885 (Evans v. Walker) 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
Evans v. Walker, 111 So. 2d 885 (La. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

111 So.2d 885 (1959)

Walter R. EVANS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
Glen M. WALKER, doing business as Standard Auto Parts, et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 9012.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

May 4, 1959.

*886 Madison, Madison, Files & Shell, Bastrop, for appellants.

Thos. W. Davenport, Monroe, for appellees.

AYRES, Judge.

Plaintiffs, husband and wife, seek to recover damages for personal injuries sustained by the wife and medical expenses incurred and to be expended by the husband as the result of an automobile collision occurring about 5:00 o'clock p. m. June 30, 1956, at the intersection of Marie Place and Emerson Avenue in the City of Monroe. The plaintiff, Mrs. Evans, was a guest passenger in a Chevrolet automobile driven and operated by Mrs. H. G. Prophit, Jr., which was struck on the right side by a Plymouth automobile driven and operated at the time by the defendant, Glen M. Walker. Made defendants are Walker and his public liability insurer, Indiana Lumbermen's Mutual Insurance Company. From an adverse judgment plaintiffs have appealed.

The facts, despite some confusion arising out of inaccuracies of pleadings and errors in preliminary statements of the parties, have been definitely established. Marie Place is a boulevard thoroughfare occupying a general north and south course and consisting of two traffic lanes, each 20 feet in width, separated by a neutral ground 40 feet in width. Each lane is for one-way traffic; northbound traffic occupies the east lane and southbound traffic the west lane.

Mrs. Prophit, immediately prior to the collision, was driving north on Marie Place. On arriving at the intersection with Emerson Avenue, which crosses Marie Place at right angles, after first bringing her car to a stop, Mrs. Prophit turned left and proceeded in a westerly direction in the intersection. She again stopped before entering the southbound or western lane of Marie Place, after which she proceeded into the intersection, where her car was struck by the Plymouth of the defendant, Walker, as he was traveling south on Marie Place. The Plymouth struck the Chevrolet broadside and came to rest facing the direction in which it was traveling, about midway of the intersection of the west lane of Marie Place and Emerson Avenue. The Chevrolet stopped on the southwest corner of the intersection headed in a northwesterly direction.

Charges and counter-charges of negligence are made against the drivers of each of the vehicles. Negligence charged to Walker consists of excessive speed, failure to keep a proper lookout or to apply his brakes or to make any other effort to avoid the accident after he saw or should have seen Mrs. Prophit's car. Alleging that in driving at an excessive rate of speed, violating the primary right of way of Marie Place and in failing to maintain a proper lookout, Mrs. Prophit was charged by defendants with negligence constituting the sole proximate cause of the accident. Additionally, in the alternative, contributory negligence was charged to Mrs. Evans in not maintaining a proper lookout and in not protesting and warning the driver of her excessive speed and disregard of the superior right of way of traffic on Marie *887 Place and the signs indicative thereof, as well as her failure to observe the approach of the Walker car and warn Mrs. Prophit thereof.

During the course of the trial, based upon facts established therein, defendants filed an exception of no cause and of no right of action, predicated upon the fact that plaintiffs, in consideration of the payment to them of the sum of $1,500, plus accrued medical expenses, had fully released Mr. and Mrs. Prophit and their insurer from all claims arising out of the aforesaid accident without reservation of any rights as against these defendants.

The fact of negligence and the question of whose negligence constitutes a proximate cause of the accident are issues of fact. There is a "Yield Right Of Way" sign on Emerson Avenue immediately east of its intersection with Marie Place. Both Mrs. Prophit and Mrs. Evans were familiar with this sign. Their testimony is that Mrs. Prophit brought her car to a stop on two occasions, as heretofore stated, (1) before entering and turning left on Emerson Avenue and (2) before entering and attempting to cross the west lane of Marie Place. Both also testified that each of them made careful observation to the north, the only direction from which traffic could have been anticipated to approach in a one-way traffic lane. Nevertheless, they did not see the Walker car. Walker entered Marie Place at its "T" intersection with Park Avenue, only one block, but a distance of 363 feet, from the intersection of Marie Place and Emerson Avenue. The evidence further establishes that a clear and unobstructed view exists for the aforesaid entire distance along Marie Place between Emerson Avenue and Park Avenue.

Walker testified that he turned south on Marie Place off Park Avenue; that he saw the Prophit car on Emerson Avenue as it moved across the space in line with the neutral ground or boulevard of Marie Place; that Mrs. Prophit failed to stop but entered the intersection immediately in front of his vehicle, whereupon he applied his brakes but was unable to avoid the collision. The physical facts of the accident and of the impact support Walker's version of the accident and attest to the fact he was traveling at a moderate rate of speed.

More specifically, Mrs. Evans' version of the accident is given in her testimony, wherein she stated:

"A. Mrs. Prophit and I were proceeding north on the Marie Place boulevard. We came to the Emerson intersection, we stopped and Mrs. Prophit looked ahead, then we turned left and we came to a complete stop again and we both looked to the right and we proceeded to cross Emerson—I mean Marie Place on Emerson and we must have been one-half (1/2) or three-quarters (¾) across that lane and Mrs. Prophit looked to the right and she said `he is going to hit us' and I looked out the window and at that—the headlights were right in the car and at us. He struck us with great force right in the middle of the car and knocked us up on the west-south-west corner of the Emerson and Marie Place intersection."

Mrs. Prophit's version corroborates the testimony of Mrs. Evans. She gave this testimony:

"Q. So you would think that you were three-quarters (¾) of the way across at the time of the actual impact? A. I would say that. I'm not real sure that that would be the term of it and all but that is my impression of it and I think that right.
"Q. Now at what position there in the street were you when you said to Mrs. Evans `he is going to hit us'? A. Just at the minute it hit, I just got it out of my mouth and bam, there it was.
"Q. In other words your words and the impact itself were more or less instantaneous? A. Yes, very few seconds if any.
*888 "Q. And I believe you said that the first time you saw the Walker car its headlights were practically against the right side of your car? A. Well I didn't—I mean I was just looking forward like that and I knew a car was coming. Of course I didn't know if it was a man or a woman or what kind of car or anything else. I said `oh goodness, we are going to be hit' and we were.
"Q. In other words you simply caught it out of the right side of your eye? In other words—A.—That's right.

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Bluebook (online)
111 So. 2d 885, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/evans-v-walker-lactapp-1959.