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

549 So. 2d 859, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1553
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 2, 1989
DocketNos. 88CA0615, 88CA0616
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 549 So. 2d 859 (Holloway 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
Holloway v. State ex rel. Department of Transportation & Development, 549 So. 2d 859, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1553 (La. Ct. App. 1989).

Opinions

SAVOIE, Judge.

This case deals with an allegedly defective shoulder. Plaintiffs, Clark Holloway and Charles R. Facundus, filed suit against the State of Louisiana through the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) seeking to recover damages for injuries sustained in a one-vehicle accident on May 21, 1984 in East Baton Rouge Parish. Facundus was driving a 1973 GMC Astro cab-over-truck with a Lo-Boy Equipment trailer, and Holloway was a passenger. The vehicle was southbound on Louisiana Highway 37, Greenwell Springs Road; Greenwell Springs Road is a two lane road with one to two foot wide shoulders and adjacent ditches. Facundus’ truck left the roadway after negotiating a right-hand curve, travelled along the shoulder and then the ditch. It stopped after hitting a tree on the right side of the ditch.

At the time of the accident, both men were in the course and scope of their employment. Wausau Insurance Company (Wausau), the compensation carrier for the plaintiffs’ employer, Facundus Dozer & Equipment Company, intervened in the lawsuit to recover the compensation benefits and medical expenses it had paid and would possibly pay in the future to plaintiffs.

Following trial on the merits on March 30 and 31, 1987, the trial court rendered judgment finding Facundus 60% at fault and DOTD 40% at fault. The court awarded damages to Facundus and Holloway as follows: Facundus — general damages, $65,-000.00; past lost wages, $9,000.00; future lost wages, $71,050.00; and medical expenses, $14,182.52 (total — $159,232.52); and Holloway — general damages, $90,-000.00; past lost wages, $13,000.00; future lost wages, $30,399.00; and medical expenses, $31,181.85 (total — $164,580.85). The court awarded Wausau damages as follows: against Holloway, medical, $31,-181.85 and worker’s compensation benefits, $30,786.31; and against Facundus, medical, $14,182.52, and worker’s compensation benefits, $32,340.00. The damages awarded Wausau against Facundus were reduced by Facundus’ percentage of fault. From this judgment, DOTD, Holloway, and Wausau appeal.

The parties urge as error the following:

1) the trial court erred in finding DOTD at fault (raised by DOTD);
2) the trial court erred in attributing 60% fault to Facundus (raised by Holloway and Wausau);
3) the trial court erred in only awarding general damages of $90,000.00 to Holloway (raised by Holloway);
4) the trial court erred in only awarding future lost wages of $30,399.00 to Holloway (raised by Holloway);
5) the trial court erred in failing to render judgment for Wausau including language reflecting credit for any future expenses or benefits Wausau might have to pay Facundus or Holloway (raised by Wausau);
[862]*8626) the trial court erred in rendering judgment for Wausau which included a reduction of its award against Facundus by the amount of Facundus’ fault (raised by Wausau).

FINDINGS OF FAULT AND ALLOCATION OF FAULT

The trial court reasoned that if Fa-cundus had never driven off the road, the accident would not have happened, and therefore found that Facundus was more at fault than DOTD. The court found that DOTD was at fault because the shoulder was inadequate. The trial court distinguished the case of Myers v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co., 493 So.2d 1170 (La.1986).

The plaintiffs contend that there was a severe drop-off between the road and the shoulder at the point where Facundus’ tire went off the road, and that as the truck went onto the shoulder and continued travelling, there were areas where the shoulder was nonexistent. DOTD argues that the allegedly inadequate shoulder was irrelevant to the accident because it was defective at an area where Facundus’ truck was already in the ditch. DOTD further contends that the curve in the road also did not contribute to the accident because the curve was not hazardous and because the truck went off the road after it negotiated the curve.

In reviewing a decision of the trial court, this court may not disturb that decision unless it is clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978). Under either negligence or strict liability, DOTD has a duty to travelers to maintain the highways and their shoulders in a reasonably safe condition. Myers, 493 So.2d at pp. 1171-1172; Kyle v. City of Bogalusa, 506 So.2d 719, 722 (La.App. 1st Cir.1987). The duty to maintain the shoulders encompasses the obligation to protect a motorist who inadvertently drives onto the shoulder. Deville v. State through DOTD, 498 So.2d 1142, 1144 (La.App. 3d Cir.1986) citing Rue v. State, Department of Highways, 372 So.2d 1197 (La.1979). “[A]n implicit necessity for the functional use of a shoulder is a connection between the roadway and shoulder that allows for safe gradual movement from one to the other.” Sinitiere v. Lavergne, 391 So.2d 821, 825 (La.1980).

We can not say that the trial court erred in distinguishing the Myers case. As the supreme court stated in Myers: “Whether DOTD had breached this duty, that is, whether the roadway and shoulders at the scene of the accident were in an unreasonably dangerous condition will depend upon the particular facts and circumstances of each case.” Myers, 493 So.2d at 1172 (footnote omitted). In Myers, the plaintiff was a guest passenger in an automobile which was forced off the roadway by another car, travelled along the shoulder for ten feet, began sliding down into the roadside ditch, travelling eighty-seven feet, and subsequently struck a tree on the right side of the roadside ditch. The accident occurred on Greenwell Springs Road, near the location of the accident in the case sub judice. In the Myers case, the same experts who testified in this case were witnesses. Dr. Edward J. Rhomberg testified on behalf of the plaintiffs in both cases and opined that in 1977 DOTD violated its standards for horizontal clearance when it widened Greenwell Springs Road to make the roadway twenty-four feet wide and each shoulder about a foot in width. The supreme court rejected this opinion, holding that although DOTD technically violated its standards, the improvements made the highway safer. Dr. Rhomberg also testified that Greenwell Springs Road was unsafe because it did not meet the current standards for construction of new highways and major reconstruction of older ones. The supreme court held that the failure of DOTD to reconstruct the state’s highways to meet modern standards does not establish the existence of a hazardous defect. Myers, 493 So.2d at 1170. For these reasons, the supreme court found that DOTD was not liable to the plaintiff.

In this case, the trial court’s basis for finding DOTD liable was different from the plaintiff’s contentions in Myers (which focused on the width of the shoulder). Here, [863]*863the court found that the shoulder was not adequately maintained whereas maintenance of the shoulder was never an issue in Myers. This finding was supported by the evidence. Testimony of the plaintiffs’ witnesses shows that at the point where the truck went off the road there was a drop-off of a minimum of 3¾ inches and a maximum of 7 inches.

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Bluebook (online)
549 So. 2d 859, 1989 La. App. LEXIS 1553, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holloway-v-state-ex-rel-department-of-transportation-development-lactapp-1989.