Labat v. Coleman

154 So. 2d 87, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1731
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 3, 1963
DocketNo. 5831
StatusPublished

This text of 154 So. 2d 87 (Labat v. Coleman) 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
Labat v. Coleman, 154 So. 2d 87, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1731 (La. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

LOTTINGER, Judge.

This is a suit in tort for property and personal damages sustained in an automobile accident. Petitioners are Ramon J. Labat who sues individually for property damages and for and on behalf of his minor daughter, Ramona Ann Labat for physical injuries, and his wife, Mrs. Anna Mae Ledet Labat, who sues for personal injuries sustained in the accident. Also named as a petitioner is Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, the collision insurer of the Labat automobile who sues under a sub-rogation claim for damages to the Labat vehicle. The defendants are Billy W. Coleman, the driver of the vehicle which collided with the Labat automobile, Betty Ann Plebert, the driver, and her father, Scuddy J. Hebert, the owner of a vehicle which was allegedly a cause of the accident and West-chester Fire Insurance Company, the liability insurance carrier on the Hebert vehicle. The Lower Court rendered judgment in favor of petitioners and against all defendants except Billy W. Coleman who did not file answer nor appear at trial on the merits, nor did petitioners take a default judgment against him. However, Billy W. Coleman was held negligent under the written reasons assigned by the Lower Court. From the said judgment the defendants, except Coleman, appealed seeking a reversal, and the petitioners appealed seeking an increase in quantum.

The record discloses that on the late afternoon of August 21, 1959, Mrs. Labat [89]*89was driving her family Pontiac automobile on Louisiana Highway No. 1 between Thibodaux and Raceland, Louisiana in a southerly direction towards Raceland. She was involved in a head-on collision with a Ford automobile traveling in her opposite direction and driven by defendant, Billy W. Coleman. The accident resulted in substantial damage to both automobiles, as well as injuries to Mrs. Labat and her infant daughter, Ramona. Riding as a passenger in the Coleman automobile was Claude Begnaud.

Ramon J. Labat filed a claim on behalf of the community, and for and on behalf of his infant daughter, Ramona Ann Labat. Mrs. Labat filed a suit for her own injuries, and Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company joined as a plaintiff for the recovery of the Labat automobile damages. It was stipulated that the claim of Hartford in the amount of $1,394.42 would be recognized under its subrogation claim and that the deductible amount of $50.00 would be recognized in Mr. Labat’s favor.

Betty Ann Hebert, a defendant, is the daughter of and lives with her father, Scuddy J. Hebert, also the defendant herein. In the brief of defendants, Miss Hebert is stated to be 22 years of age. It was alleged that she was on a mission for her father at the time of the accident, and that she had his permission to use the family Chevrolet automobile which she was driving. She, as a member of the Hebert household, would be an additional insured under the omnibus clause of the Hebert liability policy which covered the Chevrolet and which was issued by Westchester Fire Insurance Company. The limit of that policy was in the amount of $10,000.00 for injuries to any one person and $20,000.00 for any one accident. The property damage portion of the policy is more than sufficient to cover the damages for loss of the plaintiff vehicle. In addition to this policy, however, there was filed into this record another policy issued by Westchester Fire Insurance Company which has the identical coverage as the Chevrolet policy, but it specifically covers a 1956 Buick automobile which was also then owned by Mr. Hebert. In their suit, petitioners claim that both of these policies apply in full to the case at Bar, and that they should, therefore, be “Stacked” so as to provide coverage of $20,000.00 for injuries to any one person, and $40,000.00 for any one accident.

The evidence discloses that, at the scene of the accident, Louisiana State Highway No. 1, which is an asphalt highway running generally in a northerly and southerly direction with a width of 24 feet, there are shoulders on either side of the highway for a width of six to eight feet on each side. The site of the point of impact was at a distance of 125 feet north of the middle line of the Fifteen Oil Company Road which is a private driveway running in a westerly direction from Louisiana Highway No. 1. The impact was in Mrs. Labat’s lane of traffic, which was the western lane of traffic of Louisiana Highway No. 1. We feel, as did the Lower Court, that there is no serious doubt as to the point of impact because of the testimony of the patrolman who investigated the accident, as well as othei witnesses who testified. North of the point of impact Louisiana Highway No. 1 is straight for some distance. Going in a southerly direction from the point of impact, the highway is straight for a distance ■of approximately 500 feet then there is a gradual curve.

At the time of the accident, there were five automobiles in the immediate area. Billy Coleman was proceeding northerly in his Ford, Mrs. Janice Ordoyne was proceeding northerly in her white Chevrolet, and there is a possibility that a pick-up truck owned by Mr. Lynn Arceneaux was present. Also in the area were Mrs. Labat, proceeding southerly in her Pontiac automobile, and Betty Ann Hebert, who was driving her father’s Chevrolet. Just preceding the impact, Miss Hebert approached Louisiana Highway No. 1 from the Fifteen Oil Company Road, and made a left hand turn to proceed northerly, or towards [90]*90Thibodaux, on Highway 1. After she had proceeded to a point in the highway which is situated 125 feet north of the center line of the Fifteen Oil Company Road, the Coleman and Labat vehicles collided in the west, or southern bound lane of the highway. Although there is discrepancy in the testimony as to what caused the impact, we believe that the Lower Court correctly held that the accident was caused by the negligence of both Miss Hebert and Billy Coleman.

The testimony, as a whole, indicates that Billy Coleman was in the process of passing the Ordoyne automobile at a speed of some 70 miles per hour at about the time that the Hebert vehicle pulled into and turned left on Highway 1. Upon noticing the precarious position facing him, that is the Labat vehicle approaching him head-on, and the position of the Hebert vehicle which prevented his safe return to his right hand lane, Mr. Coleman, in attempting to regain his right lane, lost control of his vehicle and collided head-on with the Labat automobile.

The Lower Court held that Betty Hebert was negligent in turning' into the highway in the face of approaching traffic. Although she testified that she looked but did not see any car approaching, the Lower Court held that the cars were present and had she looked she would, or should have, seen.

Mr. Coleman and his passenger, Mr. Begnaud, as well as the petitioners, claim that the Hebert automobile emerged from the Fifteen Oil Company Road into a hazardous traffic condition, with the Ordoyne and Labat automobiles approaching each other, all in plain view and with Coleman attempting to go around Mrs. Ordoyne. Into this traffic situation, from a side road and from a safe position, Miss Hebert drove onto the highway at a slow rate of speed and turned left to go toward Thibodaux. The Lower Court, we believe correctly, held khat Mr. Coleman was negligent in proceedings along the highway at an excessive rate of speed.

The record discloses that both Ramona. Labat and her mother sustained personal injuries as a result of the accident. Ramona, who was the more seriously injured sustained a broken lower jaw, which was broken in three places, at the chin and at. each joint on either side.

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Bluebook (online)
154 So. 2d 87, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1731, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/labat-v-coleman-lactapp-1963.