Hi-Tech Timber v. Valley Elec. Member.

649 So. 2d 1203, 1995 WL 36280
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 1, 1995
Docket94-1033
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 649 So. 2d 1203 (Hi-Tech Timber v. Valley Elec. Member.) 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
Hi-Tech Timber v. Valley Elec. Member., 649 So. 2d 1203, 1995 WL 36280 (La. Ct. App. 1995).

Opinion

649 So.2d 1203 (1995)

HI-TECH TIMBER COMPANY, INC., Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
VALLEY ELECTRIC MEMBERSHIP CORPORATION, et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 94-1033.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

February 1, 1995.
Writ Denied April 20, 1995.

*1204 Foster Clay Tillman Jr., Leesville, for High-Tech Timber Co., Inc.

Brian David Smith, Shreveport, for Valley Elec. Membership Corp., et al.

Before DOUCET, C.J., and THIBODEAUX and SULLIVAN, JJ.

*1205 THIBODEAUX, Judge.

This is an appeal from a twelve person jury verdict in favor of the plaintiff-appellee, Hi-Tech Timber Company, Inc., assessing 100% fault against the defendants-appellants, Valley Electric Membership Corporation and its employee, Richard B. Gillespie, Jr., and fixing property damages at $18,000.00 and the loss of the use of the vehicle at $4,350.00 arising out of a vehicular accident. Finding no error or abuse of discretion at the trial court level, we affirm.

I.

ISSUES

The issues are whether Hi-Tech and its driver, Roger Morris, are at fault and whether the trial judge abused his discretion with regard to jury instructions on liability and with regard to the exclusion of testimony and evidence presented by the defendants' investigator. Furthermore, this appeal presents the issues of whether the jury abused its discretion in the award of damages for the truck which was totalled in the accident and whether the jury's award of damages for loss of use of the truck was excessive.

II.

FACTS

On May 22, 1992, Morris, the operator of a log truck owned by Hi-Tech, was involved in an accident while he proceeded north on Louisiana Highway 392, a two-lane, rural highway and came around the curve at the top of a steep hill. Furthermore, the highway has no shoulders and deep ditches on each side. As he proceeded around the curve, he saw on his right side a sign that said, "Men Working." He saw no other signals, signs or flares. The testimony of Gillespie revealed that his crew was at the site on Highway 392 changing out a bad pole. Gillespie's testimony further revealed that at the time of the accident, they used only the cones and the "Men Working" sign which was set up on the side of the road. Gillespie further testified that they had no flares, flagmen, or any other warning that the entire roadway was blocked. As he descended the steep hill, Morris was confronted with Valley Electric vehicles blocking the entire roadway. Earlier that day, the Valley Electric work crew was assigned to remedy a potentially dangerous situation involving a high voltage distribution line pole which was broken. Valley Electric sent out two trucks, a bucket truck and a digger truck. In order to replace the pole, the digger truck had to go in the ditch where the rotted pole was located. Due to its position in the ditch and its weight, the digger truck got stuck. After the Valley Electric employees replaced the pole, the digger truck had to be pulled out of the ditch by hooking a chain to the bucket truck. This was the first time that a Valley Electric employee took it upon himself to go up the road to warn oncoming traffic about blockage of the roadway. The Valley Electric employee was not wearing an orange vest nor did he carry a flag or a walkie talkie to communicate with his fellow workers down the hill. He was positioned on the roadway halfway between the curve and the Valley Electric workers.

Morris, at first, was hired by Shell Brothers Logging as a mechanic. He later obtained his Louisiana commercial drivers license and became a driver. Morris had driven eighteen-wheelers and timber trucks for numerous years for other companies prior to driving for Shell. Morris testified that he began driving for Shell about two to three weeks prior to the accident. He further testified that he performed daily inspections of the truck's braking system for air leaks, the lights, loose tire lugs, the oil, water and belts. Morris stated that he either inspected the truck at home or at the shop the evening prior to the accident. Furthermore, the truck was inspected and serviced on a weekly basis. If adjustments to the braking system were needed, he did it and those adjustments were re-inspected by the shop mechanic.

On the date of the accident, Morris was hauling saw logs from the woods to the mill. Saw logs are bigger and heavier than regular logs. The accident occurred on his second trip to the mill. Valley Electric employees were not working on the pole on his first trip. Morris described his actions just prior to the accident. He stated that he was going up a *1206 hill at about 40 miles per hour and after topping the hill there was a slight downgrade so he began to gain a little speed. Because he was approaching a curve and going down a hill, he had to apply his brakes. When he reached the curve, which was at the top of the hill, he saw the "Men Working" sign. About halfway to the curve in the road he started to brake because the truck is top heavy. After he made the curve over the top of the hill, he saw the Valley Electric employees working and blocking the entire roadway. When he saw the "Men Working" sign, Morris testified that he did not think that the road was blocked but that men would be working on the side of the road. Gillespie testified that prior to pulling the digger truck out of the ditch, the Valley Electric work crew was not blocking the road. However, the testimony indicates that once the road was blocked, Valley Electric did nothing to indicate this obstruction.

Morris testified that he did not want to hit the trucks because there was at least one man standing between the two trucks. As he saw the situation below, Morris dropped two to three gears allowing the motor and the transmission to help in the braking of the truck. Applying the brakes on the truck does not lock the brakes because the truck was equipped with an anti-lock braking system. Had the brakes locked he would have had less control of the truck. Morris struck the pole that was protruding from the digging truck at about twenty miles per hour, after which, he put the truck in the ditch. Morris testified that putting the truck in the ditch was the only thing he could do to avoid hitting the Valley Electric vehicles and employees. After landing in the ditch, the truck travelled fifteen feet. Morris described what happened to the truck. The wheels hit the bank of the ditch. The logs slid forward in the truck and cut the headache rack and shoved it into the cab of the truck against his seat, pushing Morris over the steering wheel. Morris testified that although he was conscious immediately following the accident, he was in shock.

Gillespie testified that the "Men Working" sign was put out to indicate that they were working on the side of the road and not to indicate that the road was blocked. He was never told that using the sign allowed them to block the road. Furthermore, on the east side of the roadway, there was no sign since they were short one sign. Gillespie also testified that no one in the crew thought about stopping traffic before they began pulling the digging truck out of the ditch. Gillespie further testified that the road was blocked because they were in the process of unchaining the digger truck from the bucket truck. However, he admitted that they could have driven the vehicles into one lane of the roadway before unchaining the vehicles which would have allowed the traffic to pass in the unoccupied lane. He further admitted that had he taken that action, the accident would not have occurred.

III.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
649 So. 2d 1203, 1995 WL 36280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hi-tech-timber-v-valley-elec-member-lactapp-1995.