Hayes v. State Farm Insurance Co.

928 So. 2d 742, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 909, 2006 WL 1029685
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 20, 2006
DocketNo. 40,649-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 928 So. 2d 742 (Hayes v. State Farm Insurance 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
Hayes v. State Farm Insurance Co., 928 So. 2d 742, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 909, 2006 WL 1029685 (La. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

DREW, J.

hAt issue are the trial court’s assessment of 50/50 fault to the two drivers and amount of damages awarded plaintiffs, Mary C. and John Wayne Hayes, for injuries resulting from an auto accident. The judgment of the trial court is amended and, as amended, affirmed.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On December 28, 2001, a car driven by Leora Johnson and insured by State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company collided with a vehicle driven by Mary C. Hayes on U.S. Highway 371 in Coushatta. Both vehicles were southbound on the north/south running road.

On the east side of the highway, Piggly Wiggly Drive formed a T-intersection with Highway 371 (Ringgold Drive). Mrs. Hayes stopped at the stop sign where Pig-gly Wiggly Drive entered the highway and then proceeded to turn left onto Highway 371 to travel south. Mrs. Johnson entered Highway 371 from the west side, leaving the parking lot of Southmoor Insurance Company and also driving south. The impact was at Hayes’ passenger side front wheel, front fender and passenger door and at Johnson’s driver’s side front corner.

Mr. and Mrs. Hayes sued John W. Johnson, owner of the vehicle; Leora Johnson, driver; and State Farm Insurance Compa[745]*745ny for damages. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and the Johnsons answered, denied liability and, alternatively, asserted that Mary Hayes’ negligence barred her recovery. In an amended petition, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes asserted that the Johnsons’ liability coverage was insufficient to 12cover the damages and named as a defendant the Hayes’ auto insurer, also State Farm, for uninsured coverage.

Following trial on the merits, the trial judge issued oral reasons for judgment and concluded that the Johnson vehicle entered the road at an angle while she was looking back to the north checking for southbound traffic. Concerning the Hayes vehicle, the trial judge stated that Mrs. Hayes could very well have been across the lane when she got hit and that he did not think she had completed her left turn and was traveling south down the highway. Stating he was very familiar with the location of the wreck, the trial judge found that both parties were completely honest about their versions of entering the road. Since each driver was at fault in some way, the trial court apportioned the fault at 50% each.

In the judgment signed June 6, 2005, the trial court set the following damages:

Special Damages $13,014.79
General Damages $24,000.00
Future Pain and Suffering $ 5,000.00
Future Medical Expenses $ 5,000.00
Loss of Consortium $ 2,500.001

The trial judge gave State Farm a $5,000.00 credit for a medical payment on the Hayes policy and assessed costs against the defendants.

The Johnsons and State Farm appealed, complaining that the trial court erred in assessing liability at 50% each. • The defendants objected to quantum, arguing that some medical treatment was not attributable to the accident; the. general damages were excessive, and future medicals and pain 13and suffering were not proven at trial. The plaintiffs answered the appeal, -requesting that the 50% fault assessed against Mrs. Hayes be reduced to 0% and the costs of the appeal be charged to the defendants.

DISCUSSION

In Bryant v. Newman, 39,437 (La.App.2d Cir.4/20/05), 900 So.2d 343, 348, this court cited the standard set out in Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840, 844-845, (La. 1989), which is appropriate in this dispute:

It is well settled that a court of appeal may not set aside a trial court’s or a jury’s finding of fact in the absence of “manifest error” or unless it is “clearly wrong,” and where there is conflict in the testimony, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences. are as reasonable. The appellate review of fact is not completed by reading only so much of the record as will reveal a reasonable factual basis for the finding in the trial court, but if the trial court or jury findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, the court of appeal may not reverse even though convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. In applying the manifestly erroneous— clearly wrong standard to the findings below, appellate courts must constantly have in mind that their initial review [746]*746function is not to decide factual issues de novo.
When findings are based on determinations regarding the credibility of witnesses, the manifest error- — clearly wrong standard demands great deference to the trier of fact’s findings; for only the factfinder can be aware of the variations in demeanor and tone of voice that bear so heavily on the listener’s understanding and belief in what is said. Where documents or objective evidence so contradict the witness’s story, or the story itself is so internally inconsistent or implausible on its face, that a reasonable fact finder would not credit the witness’s story, the court of appeal may well find manifest error or clear wrongness even in a finding purportedly based upon a credibility determination. But where such factors are not present, and a factfinder’s finding is based on its J^deeision to credit the testimony of one of two or more witnesses, that finding can virtually never be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong.

0Citations and footnotes omitted.)

Liability

While another trier of fact may have allocated the liability differently, our review of this record reveals that the trial court’s 50/50 apportionment of fault to both drivers is reasonable and should not be disturbed on appeal. The defense contention was that Mrs. Hayes essentially pulled into the path of the Johnson vehicle, while Mrs. Hayes’ position was that Mrs. Johnson had not entered the highway when she began her own left turn and that Mrs. Johnson was looking north while entering the southbound lane. The record shows that both drivers should have been more observant.

Mrs. Hayes testified she looked right, left, and back to the right to determine the road was clear before she turned left onto Highway 371. She did not see the Johnson vehicle prior to the collision which stopped the Hayes vehicle. According to Mrs. Hayes, the two drivers discussed the accident and neither knew what happened.

The investigating officer stated that both Mrs. Johnson and her passenger stated they did not know what happened and that the Johnson vehicle entered the road at an angle from the parking lot on the west side of the road.

Mrs. Johnson testified she was driving her father-in-law’s car accompanied by Stacy Bolyer and her two sick children whom the women had taken to the doctor. They had stopped at the cell phone business in [sSouthmoor Insurance to speak with Mr. Bolyer. Mrs. Johnson stated that she entered the road and “out of the corner of my eye I[saw] a car, and before I knew it I hit it.” She said she slammed on her brakes.

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Bluebook (online)
928 So. 2d 742, 2006 La. App. LEXIS 909, 2006 WL 1029685, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hayes-v-state-farm-insurance-co-lactapp-2006.