Johnson v. Howard

116 So. 2d 199, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1071
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 16, 1959
DocketNo. 4893
StatusPublished

This text of 116 So. 2d 199 (Johnson v. Howard) 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
Johnson v. Howard, 116 So. 2d 199, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1071 (La. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

CULPEPPER, Judge.

This is a suit for damages arising out of an automobile accident which occurred on March S, 1958 in the Parish of East Baton Rouge involving a 1955 Studebaker pick-up truck owned by Jere Howard, Sr., and being driven by his minor son, Jere Ploward, Jr., and a 1955 Ford automobile owned by Nelson Johnson, and being driven by his wife, Elizabeth S. Johnson. The Howard vehicle was covered by liability insurance issued by Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, also named as a defendant. The Johnson vehicle was covered by collision insurance issued by Service Fire Insurance of New York, and said company paid the sum of $489.82 to Nelson Johnson, pursuant to said policy, and was subrogated to that extent to the rights of said Nelson Johnson. Service Fire Insurance Company has filed a suit to recover against Jere Howard, Sr. and Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Company, the amount paid for the property damage to the Johnson vehicle. Elizabeth Johnson has sued individually for personal injuries received in the accident, and these two cases were consolidated for the purpose of trial in the lower court. Judgments were rendered in both suits rejecting the demands of the plaintiffs and dismissing their suits. No appeal was taken by Service Fire Insurance Company of New York, and this Court is therefore concerned only with the appeal in Suit Number 67,403, which was brought by Elizabeth S. Johnson against defendants.

The accident occurred at approximately 7:10 P.M. in the City of Baton Rouge at the intersection of Scenic Highway and Gulf States Road. Scenic Highway is a four lane thoroughfare which runs north and south. Gulf States Road runs east and west and intersects Scenic Highway on the west side, thus creating a T-type intersection. One hundred seven feet north of the intersection of Gulf States Road and Scenic Highway, there is a street running east and west which intersects Scenic Highway on the east side thereof, said street being identified as “Farrar Street”. To the south of the intersection of Gulf States Road and Scenic Highway lies another such intersecting street, which also intersects Scenic Highway on the east side thereof and is known as Evangeline Street. A diagram of this complicated intersection and the signal light system which was in existence at the time of the accident is filed in the record. At the time of the collision there was a signal light at the intersection of Farrar Street and Scenic Highway for vehicles proceeding south on Scenic Highway, and there were two signal lights at the intersection of Gulf States Road and [201]*201Scenic Highway, one facing west for traffic coming out of Gulf States Road onto Scenic Highway, and the other facing south for the traffic proceeding north on Scenic Highway.

The sequence of the traffic signals at this complicated intersection was as follows: Northbound Scenic Highway traffic got a green light for 12 seconds during which time southbound Scenic Highway (at the Farrar Street intersection) did not move and Gulf States Road traffic did not move. After this 12 second interval, then southbound Scenic Highway traffic had a green light which continued simultaneously with the green light for northbound Scenic Highway traffic for approximately 20 seconds. When the light for southbound Scenic Highway traffic turned red, then the light of traffic on the Gulf States Road turned green. It was estimated by Mr. Joe Chron-ister, the traffic engineer for the City-Parish, that the caution period for traffic traveling south on Scenic Highway from the Far-rar Street intersection across the intersection with Gulf States Road was approximately seconds. It was timed in such a manner that vehicles entering the Far-rar Street intersection just as the caution light came on had time to pass through the intersection of Gulf States Road and Scenic Highway before the light turned green for traffic proceeding east on the Gulf States Road.

The above detailed description of the signal light system is given for the purpose of showing that at no time could the plaintiff, who was traveling east on Gulf States Road and the defendant’s truck which was traveling south on Scenic Highway, have had a green signal light at the same time. The sole issue in this case is whether the plaintiff or defendant’s truck had a green light.

The plaintiff, a 34 year old colored female who had been working at the Ethyl Corporation for a period of 13 years as an attendant in the cafeteria, testified that she left her place of employment about 7:05 P.M. and took her customary route home via Gulf States Road. It was dark and raining and she drove slowly with her headlights on. She testified that when she reached the intersection of Gulf States Road and Scenic Highway, the light changed from caution to red and she came to a full stop, waited until the light turned green, (which was a period of 12 seconds, according to the testimony of Mr. Chronis-ter, the traffic expert) then looked to the north, which was the direction from which the Howard vehicle was coming and did not see any traffic coming, then looked to the south and saw a car headed north on Scenic Highway had stopped, and then she pulled out into the intersection. When the front end of her automobile had gone approximately 2 feet past the center ridge in Scenic Highway, she heard a crash and knew she was hit. At no time did the plaintiff see the defendant’s car coming before the collision. The plaintiff was planning to turn left and go north on Scenic Highway. Plaintiff testified that defendant’s vehicle struck the left side of her automobile at about the left front fender and then slid down the left side of her car. The defendant’s vehicle came to rest with its front one-half in the west bound lane of Gulf States Road. Plaintiff’s vehicle came to rest diagonally across the center of Scenic Highway and heading north. Neither vehicle traveled but a few feet after the collision.

The plaintiff testified further that immediately after the accident she got out of her car and saw Leon Shows, a fellow employee at Ethyl Corporation, who was a passenger in an automobile -being driven by Oscar Stewart following along behind plaintiff on Gulf States Road. Plaintiff first testified that immediately after the accident, Stewart parked his vehicle on Gulf States Road, a short distance from Scenic Highway, but on cross-examination she admitted that she was not sure where the Stewart vehicle had been parked.

The plaintiff’s witness, Oscar Stewart, also one of the plaintiff’s fellow employees [202]*202at Ethyl Corporation, first testified under direct examination that he had been following along behind plaintiff on Gulf States Road at a distance of six or seven car lengths behind her, and that he saw plaintiff stop at the light which was red. Stewart testified that as he moved on up to a distance of three or four car lengths behind plaintiff and stopped, the light turned green and she pulled off into the intersection and was hit by the truck. However, under cross-examination, Stewart changed his testimony and stated that he was not sure whether the plaintiff stopped for the red light or just slowed down, and further changed his testimony by stating that he did not stop until after the collision, at which time he hit his brakes, flooded out his motor and came to rest with approximately the front one-half of his car out in the southbound lane of Scenic Highway. This change in Stewart’s testimony was made after counsel for the defendant brought to his attention a written statement which he had made previous to trial in which Stewart said that the plaintiff did not stop at the signal light.

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Related

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189 So. 301 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1939)

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Bluebook (online)
116 So. 2d 199, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1071, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/johnson-v-howard-lactapp-1959.