Farace v. United Creamery, Inc.

159 So. 627, 1935 La. App. LEXIS 172
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 4, 1935
DocketNo. 1441.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 159 So. 627 (Farace v. United Creamery, Inc.) 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
Farace v. United Creamery, Inc., 159 So. 627, 1935 La. App. LEXIS 172 (La. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

ELLIOTT, Judge.

John Farace claims of United Creamery, Inc., damages to the extent of $938.35, with interest, as the result of a collision between their respective trucks at the intersection of Bay street with Chestnut street in the town of Amite City.

The principal item claimed is on account of damages to plaintiff’s truck; other items are for hire of another truck, due to the loss of the use of the one injured, physical injuries suffered by plaintiff, and the loss of fruit, vegetables, produce, etc., with which his truck was loaded.

The plaintiff alleges that the collision was due to the fault and negligence of the driver of defendant’s truck.

The defendant denies the fault and acts of negligence alleged against it, and alleges in turn that the collision resulted from fault and neglect of the driver of .plaintiff’s truck and of the plaintiff himself, who was occupying his truck at the time. It is alleged alternatively, if it be found that defendant was negligent and at fault, that then, in that event, plaintiff’s demand should be refused and rejected because of his contributory fault and negligence in bringing about the collision.

There was judgment in favor of the plaintiff for $450, with interest.

Defendant has appealed.

Plaintiff’s truck, which we will refer to as the fruit truck, was being driven at the time of the collision by Carl Mashon. It was loaded with apples, bananas, tomatoes, potatoes, and other produce, with plaintiff seated on the front seat by the side of his driver, and going south on Bay street in the town of Amite City. The exact time when the collision took place cannot be definitely stated, but the evidence indicates that it was between 7 and 8 o’clock a. m., broad daylight, with nothing to prevent either party seeing up and down the street at the time in question.

We will speak of defendant’s truck as the milk truck. It was being driven by Claud Landry, loaded with empty milk cans and coming from New Orleans on its way to Ty-lertown, Miss., to get a load of milk. When it came to Chestnut street in the town of Amite City, which street is part of the Amite-. Franklinton highway, it turned east on the highway. This highway is paved to the width of 18 feet through the corporate limits of the town of Amite City. The pavement is in the middle of the street. The width of this street from property line to property line does not appear from the evidence, except it may be reasonably inferred from statements of witnesses that it is a wide street with a wide intervening space on each side of the pavement, between the pavement and the property line on the north and south side of the street. The conflict between the testimony of Landry, driver of defendant’s truck, on one side, and Mashon, driver of plaintiff’s truck, and of Farace himself and of Mrs. Scarle, a lady living close to the scene of the accident, is so pronounced that their respective positions must be stated in order to be appreciated.

According to Farace and Mashon, the fruit truck was going south on Bay street at 10 or 15 miles an hour. As they reached the Chestnut street intersection, looking up and down Chestnut they saw the milk truck coming from the west on the north side of the pavement at a speed which they estimated to be 50 or 55 miles an hour. The north side of the pavement was the wrong side for it to be on, going east. They say that, when they reached the north side of the pavement on *628 Chestnut street and saw the approaching truck so near at hand, coming on the wrong side of the pavement, at the speed estimated, they applied brakes to their truck and stopped it near the edge of the pavement and on the north side of the same; that the front end of their truck, when stopped, was probably 10 or 12 inches on the pavement; that they were stopped in this position when struck; that the front end of defendant’s truck missed them as it passed, hut its left rear end, swinging in closer as it passed, contacted with the bumper on the front end and right-hand side of their truck, with the result that it caught hold of their bumper and jerked their truck under its brakes, across the street in an angling position, resulting in the damage of which the plaintiff complains.

Claud Landry was the only occupant of the milk truck. He testifies that he entered Chestnut street going east on the highway in question and approached the intersection of Bay street, driving at a speed of 15 or 20 miles an hour on the right-hand side of the pavement, the right-hand side going east would have been the south side pavement; that he saw the fruit truck on his left coming to the Bay street intersection ahead distant from him 50 or 60 feet; that he thought the truck would stop, but it did not, and attempted to come across the road; that he (Landry) was too close to the intersection to turn or stop, and the fruit truck struck his left rear wheel and brought about the collision and damages which the parties sustained.

We quote a part of Landry’s testimony on the subject:

“Q. You state that you were driving along from 15 to 20 miles an hour at the time of the collision? A. No, Sir.
“Q. How fast were you driving? A. I said I had picked up a little to try to avoid the smash-up.
“Q. How fast were you going? A. X guess 25 or 30 miles. I realized the man wasn’t going to stop so I tried to beat him across; tried to avoid the wreck.
“Q. When did you see this truck of Mr. Farace? A. When I was approaching the cross street; I guess 50 or 60 feet from the crossing.
“Q. 50 or 60 feet up Chestnut street? A, Up Chestnut street. His truck was up Bay Street. ⅜ ⅜ •
“Q. Where were you? A. I was approximately within about 50 or 60 feet from Bay Street.
“Q. If you had seen this truck 50 or 60 feet from Bay Street and you going along whatever rate per hour, either 15 or 20 or 30 miles, you should have stopped before you got to the intersection. A. I thought I had the right of way. I expected him to stop for the right of way street.
“Q. Do you know, as a matter of fact, that this accident happened on the left-hand side of the paved street going east, on the north side of the pavement? A. No, Sir.”

We have Landry stating that the fruit truck did not stop, but continued across the pavement and struck the milk truck as the milk truck passed on the south side of the street. Mrs. Scarle was coming out of her house and looking at the two trucks n they approached each other close at hand and saw that a collision between them was inevitable. She testifies that she shut her eyes at the instant of the impact, but the noise caused her to open them quickly, and, when she did, the milk truck was turning over rapidly with its wheels in the air; that plaintiff’s truck had been jerked across the street in a position pointing in another direction.

Mrs. Scarle was the only eyewitness to the accident except plaintiff and Mashon, his driver, and Landry, defendant’s driver. The lady gave her testimony in a disinterested way. She says she shut her eyes at the moment of the impact, but, according to what she says, she opened them so quick that for practical purposes she may be called an eyewitness.

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Related

Fisher v. Grady
178 So. 852 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1937)

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Bluebook (online)
159 So. 627, 1935 La. App. LEXIS 172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farace-v-united-creamery-inc-lactapp-1935.