Henderson v. Central Mutual Insurance

111 So. 2d 351, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 902
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 3, 1959
DocketNo. 8991
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 111 So. 2d 351 (Henderson v. Central Mutual Insurance) 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
Henderson v. Central Mutual Insurance, 111 So. 2d 351, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 902 (La. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

AYRES, Judge.

This action ex delicto is predicated upon an intersectional automobile collision. Plaintiffs are husband and wife. Plaintiff, Mrs. Mary Henderson, seeks to recover damages for personal injuries and plaintiff, L. P. Henderson, seeks to recover for hospital and medical expenses incurred and for the loss of his wife’s earnings as the result of the accidental injuries sustained by her.

The accident occurred at the intersection of Corbitt and Fairfax Streets in the City of Shreveport at approximately 5:30 o’clock P.M. February 3, 1958. One of the vehicles involved was a Mercury automobile owned by Frank W. Harmon, driven and operated at the time by his wife, Mrs. Betty W. Harmon, who was accompanied by plaintiff, Mrs. Henderson, as a guest passenger. The other vehicle concerned was a 1955 model Lincoln automobile owned by L. G. Palmer, driven and operated at the time by his minor son, Neal Frederick Palmer. The defendants are the Central Mutual Insurance Company and the Firemen’s Insurance Company, the public liability insurers, respectively, of the Harmon Mercury and of the Palmer Lincoln.

On trial the issues were submitted to a jury. In accordance with its verdict there was judgment in favor of Mrs. Mary Henderson for $3,000 and in favor of L. P. Henderson for $435, plus interest, against both defendants, in solido. The defendant, Central Mutual Insurance Company, appeals both suspensively and devolutively from the judgment rendered against it. Plaintiffs appeal from that portion of the judgment against Firemen’s Insurance Company. They have also answered the appeal of the Central Mutual Insurance Company praying that the awards be increased. Firemen’s Insurance Company has neither appealed nor answered plaintiffs’ appeal.

[353]*353The scene or locale of the accident may be briefly described. Corbitt Street takes a general east and west course. Fairfax Street intersects it at right angles. The former is the favored street, right of way having been conferred by city ordinance. Stop signs are posted on Fairfax near its intersection with Corbitt Street.' The Harmon car was proceeding in a westerly direction on Corbitt Street, the Palmer car south on Fairfax. The accident occurred in the intersection. The Harmon car came to rest in the southwest quadrant of the intersection. After the accident both cars were at rest facing approximately opposite the direction in which they were traveling. Neither car can be said to have been operating at excessive speed. While the speed limit was shown to have been 25 miles per hour, the testimony is that both cars were traveling at approximately that rate. There is, however, some evidence in the record tending to show that the Harmon car may have been proceeding at as much as 35 miles per hour.

Inasmuch as the defendant, Firemen’s Insurance Company, neither appealed nor answered plaintiffs’ appeal, the questions or issues as to the fault and negligence of the driver of the Palmer automobile and of that defendant’s liability are foreclosed and are no longer before the court. In passing, however, it may be observed that the correctness of the verdict of the jury and of the judgment of the court as to Palmer’s liability has been most convincingly established by the record. The driver admitted to the police officers and as a witness on the trial of the case that he did not stop before reaching Corbitt Street but proceeded into the intersection without maintaining a proper lookout or making proper observation. Moreover, he testified he did not see the Plarmon car until momentarily before the accident. The only issue, therefore, before the court as concerns this defendant is one of quantum.

Negligence charged against Mrs. Harmon, plaintiff’s host, consists of her failure to maintain a proper lookout or to stop her car or to take other action to prevent the accident when she saw, or should have seen by the exercise of due diligence, the entry of the Palmer car into the intersection in disregard of its inferior right and without the driver heeding the stop sign. Each of the defendants alleges and contends that the accident was caused by the fault and negligence of the driver of the opposing vehicle.

The defendant, Central Mutual Insurance Company, in the alternative, pleads contributory negligence against plaintiff, Mrs. Mary Henderson, in that she failed to maintain a proper lookout and timely warn the driver of the car in which she was riding.

Primarily, questions of fact are involved, the first as to the negligence vel non of Mrs. Harmon. There was no obstruction to her view as her car approached the intersection. She had full view of traffic on the intersecting street for a considerable distance, as did the driver of the other vehicle. Mrs. Harmon testified, reiterated and emphasized that she never once looked up Fair-fax Street to see if there was any traffic approaching the intersection. As she was entering the intersection crossing the curb line of Fairfax, she observed for the first time the approach of the Palmer automobile passing the stop sign, whereupon she applied her brakes and swerved her car slightly to her left, the front of her car striking about the center of the left side of the other. Thus, it is seen that Mrs. Harmon was operating her automobile on a right of way street and at a reasonable and moderate rate of speed. Under these circumstances, the question is whether her failure to keep and maintain a proper lookout was a substantial dereliction of duty and such a direct factor that, without it, the accident would not have occurred. It has been stated that in gauging the fault which may be attributable to a motorist who was operating his vehicle in obedience to positive law one should be convinced that the dereliction was most substantial and that it was such a direct factor that, without it, the accident would not have occurred. Kientz v. [354]*354Charles Dennery, Inc., 209 La. 144, 24 So.2d 292; Wood v. Manufacturers Casualty Ins. Co., La.App., 107 So.2d 309.

No reason has been shown why Mrs. Harmon could not have seen the Palmer automobile approaching the intersection and running the stop sign had she looked and made timely and proper observation of traffic approaching the intersection. The record leaves' no doubt there was no obstruction to her view. Whatever the operator of a motor vehicle can see, or should see, by the exercise of reasonable observation and precaution, he is charged with having seen. His failure to see what he could have seen by the exercise of due diligence does not absolve him from liability. Jackson v. Cook, 189 La. 860, 181 So. 195. The decisions of the courts of this State are replete with pronouncements as to the duty and obligation of motorists to be observant at all times and constantly on the alert. Such duty never ceases. Nor is a motorist relieved of the duty of looking in the direction from which others may be expected to come by virtue of his superior right of way. In such instances, where the accident could have been prevented by the mere observation of traffic conditions, he who fails to look cannot recover, though the other party was grossly at fault. Johnson v. Item Co., 10 La.App. 671, 121 So. 369; Montalbano v. Hall, La.App., 108 So.2d 16. Neither is a motorist relieved of the duty of maintaining an adequate lookout at intersections by virtue of a superior right of way. Johnson v. Item Co., supra; Hamilton v. Lee, La.App., 144 So. 249; Murphy v. Star Checker Cab, Inc., La.App., 150 So. 79; Pugh v. Henritzy, La.App., 151 So. 668; Holderith v. Zilbermann, La,App., 151 So. 670; Sullivan v. Locke, La.App., 73 So.2d 616,

This court, in Prudhomme v.

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Bluebook (online)
111 So. 2d 351, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henderson-v-central-mutual-insurance-lactapp-1959.