Hartley v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation & Development

785 So. 2d 150, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 697, 2001 WL 322799
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 4, 2001
DocketNo. 34,566-CA
StatusPublished

This text of 785 So. 2d 150 (Hartley v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation & Development) 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
Hartley v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation & Development, 785 So. 2d 150, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 697, 2001 WL 322799 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

1 .BROWN, J.

Plaintiff, Joycelyn Hartley, and her seven-month-old daughter were seriously injured in an automobile accident occurring at the intersection of the Stubbs-Vinson Road and U.S. Highway 80 in Ouachita Parish. She and her husband, Darron Hartley, individually and on behalf of the minor child, filed suit against several defendants, including the State Department of Transportation (“DOTD”), Ouachita Parish and their respective insurers, Core-gis Insurance Company and National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, PA, alleging that the intersection was obstructed by vegetation and was inadequately signed,1 both of which were causes of the accident. Concluding that plaintiffs could not establish negligence or causation, the trial court granted defendants’ (DOTD, Ouachita Parish and their insurers’) motions for summary judgment. Plaintiffs and intervenors have appealed.2 We reverse and remand.

Facts

On May 23, 1994, Joycelyn Hartley was driving a Toyota Tercel south on the Stubbs-Vinson Road in Ouachita Parish when she entered U.S. Highway 80 and was struck by a westbound 1979 Ford pickup truck driven by Robert Mims. The occupants of the pickup truck state that Mrs. Hartley failed to stop at the intersec[152]*152tion. The accident resulted in serious injuries to Mrs. Hartley and her seven-month-old daughter, Melody Hartley, who is a paraplegic as a result of the collision.

| i>The Stubbs-Vinson Road consist of two lanes running north and south. It is bordered on both sides by drainage ditches and pecan orchards. Ouachita Parish is responsible for the maintenance and signage of the Stubbs-Vinson Road. The parish placed a “STOP AHEAD” sign for southbound traffic approximately 1,155 feet from the Highway 80 intersection.

At the Highway 80 intersection, DOTD had placed a 30 inch “STOP” sign controlling southbound traffic on the Stubbs-Vin-son Road. DOTD is responsible for the maintenance of Highway 80 and signs at its intersections. Continuing across Highway 80 approximately 220 feet, the Stubbs-Vinson Road ends in a “T” intersection with the Huenefeld Road. Significantly, there is a “STOP” sign at this “T” intersection for southbound traffic on the Stubbs-Vinson Road.

Mrs. Hartley is unable to remember the accident or her approach to the intersection. According to her deposition, this was the first time Mrs. Hartley had driven that part of the Stubbs-Vinson Road where it intersects with Highway 80. The last thing she remembers is turning on the Stubbs-Vinson Road and crossing a railroad track four miles north of the Highway 80 intersection.

State Trooper Charles D. Harris, who investigated the accident, testified in his deposition that on the date of the accident the stop sign at the Highway 80 intersection was not obscured by any overgrowth of vegetation as alleged by plaintiffs; however, he did not specify at what distance the sign became clearly visible.

Plaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment based upon its credibility assessment of Trooper Harris’s statement. They contend that their evidence shows that the Highway 80 stop sign was too small, that the line of sight to the stop sign was obstructed by vegetation and that the second stop sign at the Huenefeld Road intersection, located some 200 feet beyond the accident scene, was the only stop sign visible upon passing the “STOP AHEAD” sign located 1,155 feet 1¡^before the Highway 80 intersection. Plaintiffs also assert that because of overhanging limbs, abundant vegetation and an abandoned house, a motorist focusing on the Huenefeld Road stop sign could easily enter the Highway 80 intersection without stopping and, further, that the view of a motorist westbound on Highway 80 of an approaching car from the Stubbs-Vinson Road would be obstructed.

Included in plaintiffs’ opposition to the motion for summary judgment was a videotape made by Darron Hartley the day following the accident in which he drove south on the Stubbs-Vinson Road to the Highway 80 intersection. This tape was interpreted by plaintiffs’ expert, James Clary, who opined that this tape showed an obscured intersection. Additionally, fact witnesses who frequently traveled the area testified by deposition that because of the vegetation, they focused on the Huene-feld Road stop sign and would miss the stop sign at Highway 80.

Plaintiffs also submitted deposition testimony showing that the parish began mowing and clearing the Stubbs-Vinson roadside the day following the accident (but after the video was taken). The parish admitted to the trimming as a part of scheduled routine maintenance. Additionally, plaintiffs showed that the DOTD moved the “STOP AHEAD” sign half the distance to the intersection and increased [153]*153the size of the Highway 80 stop sign to 86 inches within two weeks of the accident.3

DOTD and the parish filed motions in limine and objected to the introduction of the video portion of the Hartley tape, contending, among other things, that the camera was set on zoom and that the color was out of balance. Thus, they claimed that the video inaccurately depicted the visibility or lack thereof of the stop sign at the Highway 80 intersection. The trial court did not rule on the motions in limine. Defendants, however, did not object to the audio portion |4of the tape. Their expert, Bill Krone, analyzed the audio portion of the tape and concluded that, although the Huenefeld Road stop sign is the first visible stop sign, the stop sign at the intersection of Highway 80 became visible within 600 feet before the Highway 80 intersection and that the Hartley vehicle, traveling at 45 miles per hour, the speed limit of the Stubbs-Vinson Road, only required 300 feet to stop. Accordingly, they contend that Mrs. Hartley had ample time to stop her vehicle after the sign became visible.

The trial court granted defendants’ summary judgment motions, concluding that plaintiffs had not shown negligence and had not proven causation. The ruling was based on three considerations: (1) Mrs. Hartley could not remember the accident or her approach to the intersection; (2) The people in the other vehicle stated that Mrs. Hartley ran the stop sign; and, (3) Trooper Harris, who investigated the accident, stated in his deposition that the stop sign was not obscured by overgrowth.

Discussion

No one questions that Mrs. Hartley ran the stop sign at the Highway 80 intersection. It is also clear that the trial court accepted Trooper Harris’s statement, to the exclusion of all other evidence, that the stop sign was not obscured. At one point during plaintiffs’ argument about their expert’s interpretation of the videotape, the trial court stated: “You’re discounting the testimony of the Trooper? You’re saying that the video is the only evidence?” In his oral opinion, the trial court remarked that:

The Trooper of course as stated by counsel has no interest in this case. I mean he’s impartial. Has no concern of the outcome of the case I’m sure ... He says that it (the Highway 80 stop sign) was not obscured based on his investigation, that is the official investigation in this case.

We note several important underlying principles concerning summary judgment. Because summary judgment deprives litigants of the opportunity to | ^present their evidence to a jury or fact-finder, it should be granted only when it is shown that there are no genuine questions of material fact.

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Bluebook (online)
785 So. 2d 150, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 697, 2001 WL 322799, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hartley-v-state-ex-rel-department-of-transportation-development-lactapp-2001.