Lawrence ex rel. Brown v. Groan

973 So. 2d 959, 2008 WL 80366
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 9, 2008
DocketNos. 42,842-CA, 42,843-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 973 So. 2d 959 (Lawrence ex rel. Brown v. Groan) 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
Lawrence ex rel. Brown v. Groan, 973 So. 2d 959, 2008 WL 80366 (La. Ct. App. 2008).

Opinion

CARAWAY, J.

|! This automobile accident occurred in a private parking lot as the defendant backed her vehicle out of a marked parking space. The plaintiffs’ vehicle was proceeding through the lot in the travel lane running directly behind and perpendicular to the parking space where defendant’s vehicle was exiting. Neither driver saw the other and a collision occurred. After trial, the trial court found the plaintiff driver totally at fault. This appeal resulted. Plaintiffs argue that at least a minimal portion of fault must be assessed to defendant for the accident. Finding no manifest error in the ruling of the trial court, we affirm.

Facts

The plaintiffs in these consolidated actions are Quarynecha Lawrence (“Lawrence”), individually and as the natural tutrix of the minor, Jy’Quarrius Brown (“JQB”), and Deworange Brown (“Brown”). Brown was driving the vehicle owned by Lawrence and JQB occupied the back passenger seat. The accident occurred during daylight hours in the parking lot of a credit union. The front end of the plaintiffs’ vehicle was allegedly damaged when an SUV driven by defendant, Leslie Groan (“Groan”), backed out of a [961]*961parking spot. JQB was restrained in a child safety seat in the back seat and apparently slept through the accident.

The front of Lawrence’s Dodge Intrepid was damaged when it went under the bumper of the SUV. Brown had just stopped at the ATM in the lot. Groan testified that she did not see or hear the plaintiffs’ vehicle as it |2was moving through the parking lot. Groan’s SUV had about $1,800 worth of damage on the rear passenger side, mostly around the steel bumper.

Brown obtained treatment with a chiropractor for mid-back pain and continued chiropractic therapy from March until June 2006. He claimed special damages for this treatment totaling $2,969. The chiropractor also treated JQB a couple of times.

Groan’s insurer appraised the property damage to Lawrence’s vehicle at $6,400 and had it towed for repair. By the time of trial, the vehicle had not been repaired. Apparently, the vehicle had some pre-ex-isting collision damage from another prior accident.

Plaintiffs’ suits claimed damages for personal injury and the property loss to the vehicle. After a one-day trial, the trial court took the matter under advisement and post-trial briefs were submitted with proposed judgments. By written ruling adopting defendants’ proposed findings of fact, the trial court dismissed plaintiffs’ consolidated actions.

Discussion

In negligence cases, we use a duty-risk analysis to determine whether liability exists under the facts of a particular case. Under this analysis, a plaintiff must prove that the conduct in question was a cause-in-fact of the resulting harm, the defendant owed a duty of care to the plaintiff, the requisite duty was breached by the defendant, and the risk of harm was within the scope of protection afforded by the duty breached. LeJeune v. Union Pacific Railroad, 97-1843 (La.4/14/98), 712 So.2d 491. The element of duty is a question of law. Century Ready Mix Corp. v. Boyte, 2,634 (La.App.2d Cir.10/24/07), 968 So.2d 893. The inquiry is whether a plaintiff has any law-statutory, jurisprudential, or arising from general principles of fault-to support his or her claim. Hardy v. Bowie, 98-2821 (La.9/8/99), 744 So,2d 606; Manno v. Gutierrez, 05-0476 (La. App. 1st Cir.3/29/06), 934 So.2d 112.

Where there are concurrent causes of an accident, the proper inquiry is whether the conduct in question was a substantial factor in bringing about the accident. Manno, supra. Whether the defendant’s conduct was a substantial factor in bringing about the harm, and thus, a cause-in-fact of the injuries, is a factual question to be determined by the fact finder. Bonin v. Ferrellgas, Inc., 03-3024 (La.7/2/04), 877 So.2d 89, 94.

A court of appeal may not set aside a trial court’s finding of fact in the absence of manifest error or unless it is clearly wrong. Stobart v. State through Dept. of Transp. and Devel., 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993). If the findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, an appellate court may not reverse even though convinced that, had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989). When factual findings are based on determinations regarding the credibility of witnesses, the manifest error standard demands great deference to the trier of fact’s findings. Id. Where there are two permissible views of the evidence, the fact finder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978); Watson [962]*962v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Ins. Co., 469 So.2d 967 (La.1985). Furthermore, where there is a |4conflict in testimony, evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed, even though the appellate court may feel that its own evaluations and inferences are as reasonable. Daye v. General Motors Corp., 97-1653 (La.9/9/98), 720 So.2d 654.

In a case involving a two-car collision in a private parking lot, this court noted in Stephens v. Fuller, 39,918 (La.App.2d Cir.6/29/05), 907 So.2d 917, that a motor vehicle rule under the Louisiana Highway Regulatory Act (the “Act”) governing standards of care in highway driving did not strictly govern the duty of one of the drivers. Acknowledging this, plaintiffs nevertheless argue that the provisions of the Act, La. R.S. 32:103 (moving parked vehicles) and La. R.S. 32:281(A) (limitations on backing), are generally instructive for Groan’s duty of care in this case. These two statutes provide as follows:

La. R.S. 32:103. No person shall move a vehicle which is stopped, standing, or parked unless and until such movement can be made with reasonable safety.
La. R.S. 32:281(A). The driver of a vehicle shall not back the same unless such movement can be made with reasonable safety and without interfering with other traffic.

Considering these provisions, we find that the reasonably expected speed and movement of vehicles in a parking lot and the utility of closely configuring the parking spaces make the duty of the driver of the parked vehicle something less than these statutory duties imposed for highway traffic. Parked vehicles of varying shapes and sizes are closely aligned in a parking lot. The field of vision of the driver backing out of the parking space is expected to be impeded or even blocked altogether as initial | ¡^movement of the vehicle begins. The vehicle’s brake and backup lights serve as reasonable notice to oncoming traffic so long as the driver backs out very slowly and occasionally stops so that the lights and minor movement can be readily observed. On the other hand, drivers moving through the parking lot have the paramount duty of attentiveness and maintaining a low vehicle speed because of other cars and pedestrians. In contrast to the highway driver with the right-of-way, one expects that vehicles in a parking lot will be backing up slowly into the travel lane with visibility somewhat impaired for the driver. This action is expected to cause minor interference with the movement of the oncoming traffic.

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