Lemon v. Houston Fire & Casualty Insurance

162 So. 2d 127, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1438
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 2, 1964
DocketNo. 6078
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 162 So. 2d 127 (Lemon v. Houston Fire & Casualty Insurance) 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
Lemon v. Houston Fire & Casualty Insurance, 162 So. 2d 127, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1438 (La. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinions

REID, Judge.

Plaintiff, Lula Bell Lemon, a guest passenger in a vehicle driven by her employer, Mrs. Albia T. Barksdale, involved in a collision with an automobile driven by Murray D. Stafford, sued the insurers of the two drivers for medical expenses and personal injuries sustained when the two vehicles collided. Defendant Houston Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, Mrs. Barksdale’s insurer, filed a third party petition against Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, Murray Stafford’s insurer, praying for a judgment condemning Connecticut Fire to pay one-half of any award rendered against Houston Fire. Connecticut Fire reconvened for the same relief against Plouston Fire.

In a separate suit Houston Fire and Casualty Insurance Company sued Connecticut Fire Insurance Company for damages to its insured’s vehicle, seeking to recover its loss as collision insurer of the Barksdale vehicle. Connecticut Fire reconvened seeking to recover its loss as collision insurer of Mr. Stafford’s vehicle.

The Trial Court awarded judgment in favor of the plaintiff in the amount of $4,-799.21 denying the demands of Houston Fire and Casualty Insurance Company against Connecticut Fire Insurance Company and the reconventional demand of Connecticut Fire Insurance Company against Houston Fire and Casualty Insurance company be denied. The defendants appealed from the judgment awarded the plaintiff and plaintiff answered the appeal asking that the judgment be increased to $10,000.00.

Counsel for Houston Fire and Casualty Insurance Company contends the Trial Court erred (a) in ruling statements made by the plaintiff herself are inadmissible when such statements are recognized as admissions against interest and are exceptions to the hearsay rule, (b) in failing to find that Mrs. Barksdale had a right to assume her right-of-way would be respected, (c) in finding Mrs. Barksdale negligent in view of her right to assume that Stafford would not attempt to enter the intersection in the path of oncoming traffic, even had Murray Stafford stopped at the stop sign, and (d) in assessing damages sustained by plaintiff.

Defendant Connecticut Fire Insurance Company alleges that the District Court erred (a) in failing to find that Mrs. Albia Barksdale did not see what she should have seen and did not take proper steps to avoid the accident, (b) in failing to hold Mrs. Barksdale negligent in her failure to exer[129]*129cise the last clear chance to avoid the accident, and (c) in assessing excessive damages.

The record shows that on May 5, 1962 at about 3 :30 P.M., Murray Stafford was driving his 1958 DeSoto Sedan in an easterly direction on East Charles Street in the City of Hammond. At the same time Mrs. Barksdale was driving her 1960 Vauxhal in a northerly direction on North Cherry Street. The two vehicles collided at the intersection of North Cherry Street and East Charles Street. The record shows that there is a stop sign at said intersection facing East Charles Street, that North Cherry Street is the favored street, and that Mrs. Barksdale had the right of way. The plaintiff was riding as a guest passenger in the Barksdale vehicle.

Mr. Stafford testified when he approached the stop sign at the corner of East Charles and North Cherry Streets he stopped and let two cars go by which were traveling in a southerly direction. He stated he then looked both ways, saw nothing coming and proceeded to cross the intersection, but while in the intersection he saw a small car approaching approximately half a block away and that the car hit him just before he cleared the intersection. He further testified he could see at least 150 feet down the block, that his view was not obstructed by the two cars going south, and he estimated Mrs. Barksdale’s speed at approximately 25 to 30 miles per hour.

Mrs. Barksdale testified she was driving north on North Cherry Street, had stopped at a red light on East Thomas Street, one block before East Charles Street, and at the time of the collision she was driving approximately 15 to 20 miles an hour. She further testified while she was approximately a quarter of a block from the intersection she saw the Stafford vehicle approximately half a block from the intersection and expecting him to stop at the stop sign she proceeded into the intersection. She said Stafford did not stop at the stop sign and she did not realize this until they were in the intersection and collided. She estimated Stafford’s speed at approximately 30 to 35 miles an hour.

Lula Bell Lemon testified she was riding on the right hand side of the Barksdale vehicle at the time of the collision. On direct examination she testified she could remember nothing that happened after the accident for a period of 3 or 4 days, during which time she was in the hospital. She testified on cross examination that she did not notice Mr. Stafford’s car until the two automobiles collided, but on further cross examination she did admit she saw the Stafford car just when it got into the intersection. She further testified on cross examination by counsel for Connecticut Fire that Mrs. Barksdale swerved her automobile in an attempt to avoid the collision. She stated Mrs. Barksdale was going at a normal rate of speed, that she was driving carefully and was watching the road. On cross examination by counsel for Houston Fire she stated Mrs. Barksdale “was talking with her hands” but was looking straight ahead. She said she did not at any time remember stating that Mr. Stafford had run a stop sign, although Mr. Barksdale, husband of the driver, testified that after the accident Lula Bell returned to their dry cleaning establishment and told him a man ran a stop sign and when he asked her who it was she indicated Mr. Stafford.

The Trial Judge held both drivers negligent. There is no question Mr. Stafford was guilty of negligence in failing to perform the duties required of the driver approaching an intersection from a less favored street, that is, bringing his car to a complete stop and not entering the intersection unless it is safe to do so. It is clear that Mr. Stafford either failed to stop at the intersection as he stated he did, or he did not see what he should have seen, or he failed to heed what he saw. An examination of Mr. Stafford’s testimony clearly shows that if the accident occurred as he testified, the latter statement would have been the case. According to his own testi[130]*130mony lie stopped at the intersection, the intersection was clear, he could see half way down the block, and when he had proceeded into the intersection he saw the Barksdale car for the first time approximately 150 feet away moving approximately 25 to 30 miles an hour, and yet he would have the Court believe that under these circumstances he was unable to timely clear the intersection. He testified he was traveling between 15 and 20 miles per hour and she was traveling between 25 and 30 miles an hour. She had to travel 150 feet while he traveled less than half the width of the intersection.

There is no evidence in the record to indicate Mrs. Barksdale was traveling at an excessive rate of speed. It should be pointed out that she had just pulled away from an intersection one block to the south where she had come to a complete stop for a red light. Even if Mrs. Barksdale had been traveling at a slightly excessive rate of speed, Louisiana courts have held that an excessive speed that had no causal connection with the accident in question does not constitute contributory negligence. Bergeron v. Hetherwick, La.App., 140 So.2d 440.

If Mrs.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
162 So. 2d 127, 1964 La. App. LEXIS 1438, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lemon-v-houston-fire-casualty-insurance-lactapp-1964.