Hayes v. Karsh

138 So. 2d 825, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1698
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 12, 1962
DocketNo. 316
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 138 So. 2d 825 (Hayes v. Karsh) 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
Hayes v. Karsh, 138 So. 2d 825, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1698 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

SAMUEL, Judge.

This is a suit for damages and personal injuries arising out of an automobile collision. An intervention was filed on behalf of Associates Finance Inc. and Emmco Insurance Co. as subrogees of plaintiff. At the conclusion of the trial an exception of no right or cause of action was urged on behalf of Allstate.

There was judgment in the trial court in favor of plaintiff and against Mr. and Mrs. Karsh in the sum of $2,530.00, which total amount consisted of $980.00 for loss of earnings, $1,500.00 for pain and suffering, and $50.00 representing that portion of the damages to his car paid by plaintiff, and in favor of intervenors and against Mr. and Mrs. Karsh in the sum of $781.28 being the amount paid by intervenors for damages to the plaintiff car. The judg[827]*827ment maintained the exception of no right or cause of action and dismissed the suit and the intervention against Allstate. Mr. and Mrs. Karsh have appealed. Plaintiff also has appealed seeking an increase in the award for pain and suffering and judgment against Allstate as liability insurer of Mr. and Mrs. Karsh. Intervenors have not appealed nor have they answered the appeal taken by Mr. and Mrs. Karsh.

The facts are relatively undisputed. The accident happened at about 11:00 A.M. Plaintiff was driving his car on Upperline Street in the City of New Orleans in the direction of the river, i. e., in a southerly direction. The defendant car, driven by Mrs. Karsh on a mission for the community of acquets and gains existing between herself and her husband, was proceeding down South Galvez Street in an easterly direction. As they approached each other the defendant vehicle was to the right of plaintiff. Both cars were traveling only 10 or 12 miles per hour.

Upperline and South Galvez Streets intersect each other at a blind corner which, at the time of the accident, was uncontrolled by traffic lights, signs or warning devices of any kind. South Galvez at Upperline changes from a single roadway two-way street on the upper or western side of Upperline, the direction from which Mrs. Karsh was coming, to a double roadway separated by a neutral ground on the opposite, i. e. downtown or eastern, side of Upperline. There is an offset to the left which must be negotiated by traffic proceeding, as was Mrs. Karsh, downtown from the single roadway to the double roadway across Upperline. The single roadway being traveled by Mrs. Karsh actually comes to a dead end on the opposite side of Upperline so that it was necessary for her to turn to her left in order to cross Upperline and continue downtown on South Galvez, the route she intended to take.

Due to work being done on the river side of Upperline some distance from South Galvez, plaintiff was traveling in his left-hand lane as he approached the corner. The vehicles collided in the lane on Upper-line Street in which plaintiff was traveling when the defendant car was half way across Upperline. The defendant car struck the right door of the two-door plaintiff car. Both drivers failed to see the other car until only about 8 feet away and too late to avoid the collision.

Although defendants have mentioned the doctrine of preemption in their brief, they have not urged the same before this court and it is quite clear that the doctrine has no application under the facts of this case. For the doctrine of preemption contemplates entry into the intersection with the opportunity, under normal and reasonable circumstances and conditions, of clearing the intersection without obstructing the path of an approaching vehicle on the intersecting roadway. Equitable Fire & Marine Insurance Co. v. Allstate Insurance Company, La.App., 137 So.2d 366; Gallioto v. Chisholm, La.App., 126 So.2d 63, and cases cited therein.

Defendants contend they are entitled to a judgment in their favor because of the fact that Mrs. Karsh approached the intersection from plaintiff’s right and thus had the right of way. They rely upon Section 38-133(b) of the Traffic Ordinance, City of New Orleans, Chapter 38 of Ordinance No. 828 Mayor Council Series and LSA-R.S. 32:237(A), both of which are to the effect that the driver approaching from the right shall have the right of way and upon the rule that the driver on the favored street is ordinarily not negligent either in proceeding past a blind corner into an intersection at a reasonable speed or for failing to observe approaching vehicles on the less favored street when the view is blocked. Noonan v. London Guarantee and Accident Company, La.App., 128 So.2d 918; Janice v. Whitley, La.App., 111 So.2d 852; Stevens v. Delanoix, La.App., 96 So.2d 844; Brashears v. Tyson, La.App., 86 So.2d 255.

[828]*828The rule on which defendants rely is well expressed in the case of Allen v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, La.App., 120 So.2d 372, 375, as follows:

“The general rule is that motorists on rights-of-way streets have a right to assume that traffic approaching the intersection from less-favored streets will observe the law and yield the right of way to traffic on such favored streets, and that such motorists can indulge in this assumption until they see, or should see, that the other motorist has not observed, or is not going to observe, the law. * * *
“This principle has application at blind comers, or blind intersections, regardless of whether the movement of traffic is controlled or governed by signal lights, stop signs, or the statutory rule as to directional right of way. * * * ”

It is plaintiff’s contention that the situation presented by this case does not come under the above rule relative to inter-sectional collisions; that it involves a turning situation in which the defendant car, in order to proceed across Upper-line from its position in the single roadway to the double roadway of South Galvez, had to turn left into Upperline. They argue that the controlling law is to be found in the Traffic Ordinance of the City of New Orleans, Ordinance No. 828 M.C.S., Code of the City of New Orleans, 1956, as amended by Ordinance No. 1434 M.C.S., effective October 1, 1958, particularly Secs. 38-75 and 38-76, and by LSA-R.S. 32:235. The pertinent portion of the ordinance provides:

“No person shall turn a vehicle at an intersection unless the vehicle is in proper position upon the roadway as required in Section 38-75 or turn a vehicle to enter a private road or driveway or otherwise turn a vehicle from a direct course or move right or left upon a roadway unless and until such a movement can be made with reasonable safety. * * * ”

LSA-R.S. 32:235(A) reads as follows:

“The driver of any vehicle on the highways of this state shall ascertain, before turning around upon any highway, that there is no traffic, vehicular or pedestrian, approaching from either direction which will be unduly delayed and shall yield right-of-way to such approaching traffic and shall not attempt to make a turn unless the way is clear.”

We agree with plaintiff’s contention. There is no question but that Mrs. Karsh was required to make a left turn in order to cross Upperline from the single to the double roadway of South Galvez. Pictures of the scene make this clear as does her testimony during which she said “My car was almost into the intersection. It was half way across the street and I was starting to make a left turn.” Under the statute Mrs.

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Mentz v. Falconnier
144 So. 2d 657 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)
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138 So. 2d 822 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
138 So. 2d 825, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hayes-v-karsh-lactapp-1962.