Keller v. Sledge

136 So. 2d 780, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1509
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 2, 1962
DocketNo. 201
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 136 So. 2d 780 (Keller v. Sledge) 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
Keller v. Sledge, 136 So. 2d 780, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1509 (La. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinion

YARRUT, Judge.

Defendants appeal from an adverse judgment awarding Plaintiff $10,459.46, interest, etc., damages for personal injuries sustained at an intersectional collision between a Ford pick-up truck he was driving, and a Ford station wagon Defendant-Sledge was driving, on November 3, 1957, at about 10:00 A.M., at the intersection of U. S. Highway 90 and Bayou Gauche Road, in St. Charles Parish. The weather was clear and the road dry.

Plaintiff alleged that, on the date of the accident, he was driving a pick-up truck on Bayou Gauche Road and, when he came to the intersection of that road and U. S, Highway 90, he came to a full stop off the Highway; that Defendant-Sledge, approaching from his left at an excessive rate of speed, drove his station wagon off the highway onto the shoulder, striking Plaintiff’s pick-up truck, knocked it into a nearby canal, and caused him serious personal injuries.

Defendants’ answer denies any negligence whatsoever on the part of Defendant-Sledge, contending that the collision occurred on Highway 90 proper, that Defendant-Sledge had the right-of-way, and that the collision was caused exclusively by the negligence of Plaintiff, in suddenly pulling onto Highway 90 from a position of safety on the inferior connecting Bayou Gauche Road, at a time when it was unsafe to do so; that Plaintiff failed to maintain a proper lookout, keep his vehicle under proper control, failed to yield the right-of-way to traffic on Highway 90, until it was safe to enter Highway 90.

In the alternative, contributory negligence on the part of Plaintiff was pleaded, [782]*782his contributory ' negligence consisting of the acts and omissions set out in the preceding paragraph.

In his reasons for judgment the district judge concluded that all the witnesses to the accident, including the State Trooper who investigated it, established the following facts with legal certainty:

1. The so-called intersection is actually a black-topped triangle lying east of Highway 90, with its base extending along the east side of Highway 90, and to the north and south of the Bayou Gauche Road, for a quarter mile in each direction, and the tip of the triangle goes into the mouth of the Bayou Gauche Road.
2. A white line extends along the base of this triangle and marks the eastern edge of the Highway 90 traffic lanes.
3. Defendant was travelling at a high rate of speed on Highway 90 in a northerly direction and had a clear view of Plaintiff at least 600 feet before the accident. '
4. Plaintiff had stopped immediately east of the Highway 90 traffic lane for at least one minute before the accident.
5. The collision occurred in the very near proximity of the white line marking the eastern edge, of Highway 90 traffic lanes.

Predicated on these findings, the judge made the following conclusions of fact and law with respect to the question of liability :

“Plaintiff was either stopped at the edge of U. S. 90 traffic lane or had barely encroached upon the eastern edge of the traffic lane. His negligence, if any, is negated by the fact that his stopped or slow-moving vehicle was in such a position that plaintiff could do nothing to avoid the impending collision. Defendant, on the other hand, travelling at a high rate of speed, with clear view of plaintiff from a long-distance before the collision, and full width of a traffic lane to pass around plaintiff, made no effort to avoid the collision and he so testified. The proximate cause of the accident was the negligence of defendant. Paternostro v. Hartmann, [La.App.] 67 So.2d 497; Garrett v. Toye Bros.'Yellow Cab Co., [La.App.] 58 So.2d 418; Catalano v. Pritchard, [19 La.App. 262] 140 So. 100.”

We observe immediately that the trial judge predicated his judgment for Plaintiff on the doctrine of the last clear chance, or discovered peril. At the outset, there is no dispute that Highway 90 was a right-of-way thoroughfare, and that Bayou Gauche Road was the inferior roadway, controlled by a “stop” sign at the intersection.

The only eye witnesses to the accident were Plaintiff and Defendant-Sledge, as the drivers of the respective vehicles; Marshall Robinson, for Plaintiff, and Harry Levy, for Defendants, as non-occupant eye witnesses.

Plaintiff, after the accident, gave two written statements; one dated November 25, 1957 (two weeks after the accident) at. Boutte, La., witnessed by one R. Patin; and another dated August 27, 1958, at Hahnville, La., witnessed by his son, Earl J. Keller, Jr., and W. J. McAnelly. In both statements, and on the witness stand, Plaintiff was confused, indefinite and con-' tradictory. He was not sure whether he made or had signed, the statements, or that the facts were clear in his mind on both dates. His doctor testified that he could have been suffering from amnesia. Preter-mitting any discussion of Plaintiff’s primary interest, which might have affected his testimony, we promptly dismiss his testimony regarding the events immediately preceding the collision, because of its confusion and contradictions.

The other eye witness for Plaintiff, Marshall Robinson, who knew Plaintiff and had done business with him, testified that he was on Bayou Gauche Road north of Highway [783]*78390, or on the opposite side of the road, about 300 feet from the intersection, and saw Plaintiff stopped at the intersection; and observed Defendant coming down the Highway at 70 miles an hour, and crash into Plaintiff. He went to the scene, saw and recognized his injured friend, Plaintiff, but when the doctors and others arrived he decided it was a “white fellows’ affair” and left. From the date of the accident until three weeks before the trial (held two and a half years later), he did not make known to anybody that he had seen the accident. We will not question the good faith of this colored man, except to say that from his position across Highway 90, and because of the continuous stream of traffic on the Highway, almost up until the time of the collision, his vision had to be obscured or screened. Hence, we cannot give too much credence to his testimony; particularly in view of the testimony of the witness Levy, who was stopped only five feet behind Plaintiff, as explained later.

For the Defendants, the two eye witnesses were Defendant-Sledge and Harry Levy. Mr. Sledge testified he was travel-ling about 55 or 60 miles an hour, saw Plaintiff’s car stop at the intersection to permit traffic on the Highway to go> by and, believing that Plaintiff would remain there, he continued on until Plaintiff suddenly entered the Highway when he (Sledge) reached Bayou Gauche Road.

Mr. Levy, a travelling salesman for a New Orleans concern, testified that he was travelling on Bayou Gauche Road, returning from a duck hunt, with his son, just as Plaintiff was returning from a duck hunt; that he followed behind Plaintiff and when Plaintiff stopped at Highway 90, to let traffic go by, he stopped five feet behind him; that most of the traffic was coming from their right and some from the left. He noticed that Plaintiff was principally observing traffic from their right and was paying little or no attention to the traffic from their left, from which direction Sledge was approaching. Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

McQuillin v. Travelers Indemnity Co.
171 So. 2d 691 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1964)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
136 So. 2d 780, 1962 La. App. LEXIS 1509, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keller-v-sledge-lactapp-1962.