Hanley v. Checker Cab Co.

126 So. 274, 12 La. App. 562, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 51
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 17, 1930
DocketNo. 11,785
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 126 So. 274 (Hanley v. Checker Cab Co.) 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
Hanley v. Checker Cab Co., 126 So. 274, 12 La. App. 562, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 51 (La. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

HIGGINS, J.

Plaintiffs, as husband and wife, bring this suit against defendants in solido for damages for personal injuries sustained by the wife and for medical and hospital expenses, etc., claimed by the husband as head and master of the community of acquets and gains.

Defendants denied liability. There was judgment in favor of the wife for the sum of $2,500 and in favor of the husband for $537, with legal interest from judicial demand, against the defendants in solido, from which they have appealed.

The record shows that on February 23, 1925, at about 1:45 p. m. Mrs. Hanley, one of the plaintiffs, and Mrs. Lucille Reilly, were passengers in a Checker taxicab, owned and operated by the defendant Checker Cab Company, Inc. The taxicab was proceeding down Bourbon street in the direction of Esplanade avenue. A Yellow taxicab, owned and operated by Toye Brothers, the other defendant, was being driven on Esplanade avenue in the direction of the river. Bourbon street is a paved, narrow, one-way street in the direction of Esplanade avenue with single street car tracks in its center. Esplanade avenue has a neutral ground in the middle upon which there are double street car tracks, with paved streets on each side of the neutral ground. The paved side nearest Canal street is a one-way street in the direction of the river and the opposite side is a one-way street in the direction of the lake. There is a brick wall along Bourbon street about 6 feet in height, which comes up to the property line on the uptown lake corner of Bourbon street and Esplanade avenue. As both taxicabs approached this intersection, the front of the Yellow cab struck the left [564]*564side of the Checker cab about where the door of the cab is located, turning the Checker cab over on its side on the river side of the neutral ground of Esplanade avenue against a telephone post. The Yellow cab proceeded on out Esplanade avenue in the direction of the river and was brought to a stop by the chauffeur some distance from the scene of the accident.

Mrs. Hanley was seated on the left side and Mrs. Reilly on the right side of the Checker cab, and they both testified that as the Checker cab went down Bourbon street, they admonished the driver not to drive so recklessly because they were alarmed for their safety; that he was operating the cab at an excessive rate of speed; and that he entered the avenue, at the^ point where the accident occurred, at an excessive rate of speed without stopping to ascertain if there was any traffic coming towards the river on Esplanade avenue.

The driver of the Checker cab was not produced as a witness, but the Checker Cab Company produced other witnesses who testified that the driver of the Checker cab stopped at the intersection of Bourbon street and Esplanade avenue and blew his horn before entering the intersection. Th'ey further testified that the Yellow cab was going at an excessive rate of speed and did not stop or blow its horn before coming to the intersection.

The chauffeur of the Yellow cab, as a witness for defendant Toye Brothers, testified that he was driving on Esplanade avenue in the direction of the river at about 15 miles per hour, and that as he approached the intersection of Bourbon street he slackened his speed to about 3 miles per hour and blew his horn; that he looked up Bourbon street for a distance of about 50 feet and did not see any traffic approaching, and then proceeded to cross, when suddenly the Checker cab at a great rate of speed dashed in front of his car and was struck on the left rear side about where the door is located, resulting in the Checker cab turning over as hereinabove described.

The plaintiffs' seek to hold the Checker Cab Company liable on the ground that Mrs. Hanley was a passenger in the Checker cab, which therefore bore the burden of proving that it was free from negligence or fault; and further contend that the defendant Toye Brothers is responsible because of the negligent, careless, and reckless manner in which its chauffeur operated the Yellow cab; and that the negligence of both chauffeurs was the proximate cause of the damage and injury for which plaintiffs seek to recover.

The Checker Cab Company contends that it discharged the burden of showing itself free from negligence as a carrier of passengers by the testimony of its witnesses to the effect that the Checker cab stopped at the intersection of the two streets and blew its horn before proceeding across, and further that its witnesses have established the fact that the Yellow cab was solely responsible for the accident because of the excessive speed at which it was being operated.

The defendant Toye Brothers contends that the Checker cab was solely responsible for the accident because it did not stop or blow its horn at the intersection but proceeded across the path of the Yellow cab at a reckless rate of speed; and that its evidence establishes the negligence of the driver of the Checker cab and shows that the driver of the Yellow cab was free from fault; that while the Checker cab had the right of way under the traffic ordinance of the city of New Orleans and the Yellow cab technically violated the provisions of the ordinance in failing to stop at the intersection before proceeding to cross, nevertheless the prox[565]*565imate cause of the accident was -the excessive rate of speed of the Checker cah which entered the intersection in a reckless and careless manner.

The plaintiff and Mrs. Reilly testified that the driver of the Checker cab entered the intersection at a rate of speed of approximately 30 miles per hour and that the driver did not stop or blow its horn before entering the intersection although his view of traffic coming from his left was obstructed by the brick wall along Bourbon street.

The witnesses for the Checker Cab Company and also Mrs. Reilly and Mrs. Hanley, as witnesses for plaintiffs, testified that the Yellow cab did not stop or blow its horn, but entered the intersection at a rate of speed of about 35 miles per hour, and that the driver of the taxicab was looking towards his left instead of towards his right just before the accident.

The driver of the Yellow cab testified that the Checker cab entered the intersection at an excessive rate of speed of about 30 or 35 miles per hour without stopping or blowing his horn before doing so. He is corroborated by Mrs. Reilly and Mrs. Hanley.

In short, the testimony of the Checker Cab Company’s witnesses corroborates the plaintiffs’ evidence that the driver of the Yellow cab was at’fault, and the witnesses for Toye Brothers corroborate the plaintiffs’ evidence that the driver of the Checker cab was at fault in causing the accident. The defendants blame each other with having caused the accident.

We have reached the conclusion. that the proximate cause of the accident was the negligence, carelessness, and recklessness of the drivers of both taxicabs in entering the intersection at an excessive rate of speed, without due precaution and care. This is especially true in view of the fact that the vision of both drivers, as to traffic coming into the intersection, was obstructed by the 6-foot brick wall situated on the uptown* lake corner of Bourbon street. Therefore plaintiffs are entitled to recover.

Both defendants contend the quantum of damages allowed is excessive. It appears that Mrs. Hanley was seated on the left-hand side of the Checker cab and Mrs. Reilly on the right-hand side. Both cabs were traveling at a rapid rate of speed when they collided.

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Bluebook (online)
126 So. 274, 12 La. App. 562, 1930 La. App. LEXIS 51, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hanley-v-checker-cab-co-lactapp-1930.