Lewis v. Travelers Insurance Company

247 So. 2d 635, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6005
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 22, 1971
Docket3370
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 247 So. 2d 635 (Lewis v. Travelers Insurance Company) 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
Lewis v. Travelers Insurance Company, 247 So. 2d 635, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6005 (La. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

247 So.2d 635 (1971)

Angie R. LEWIS et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellants.

No. 3370.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Third Circuit.

April 22, 1971.
Rehearings Denied May 26, 1971.
Writs Refused June 24, 28, 1971.

*636 Lunn, Irion, Switzer, Johnson & Salley, by Harry A. Johnson, Jr., Bodenheimer, Jones, Klotz & Simmons by G. M. Bodenheimer, Jr., Shreveport, Thomas A. Self, John S. Pickett, Jr., Many, for defendants-appellants.

Mansour & Lauve by Lewis O. Lauve, Alexandria, for plaintiff-appellee.

Blanchard, Walker, O'Quin & Roberts by Wilton H. Williams, Jr., Shreveport, for plaintiff-appellant.

Stagg, Cady & Beard by Roy L. Beard, Shreveport, for defendant-third party plaintiff-appellant.

Caldwell Roberts, of Mayer & Smith, Shreveport, for defendant-appellee-intervenor.

Before HOOD, MILLER and DOMENGEAUX, JJ.

HOOD, Judge.

This is a wrongful death action arising out of a motor vehicle collision in which Kenneth R. Lewis, Sr., was fatally injured. *637 The suit was instituted by Mrs. Angie R. Lewis, widow of the decedent, individually and as natural tutrix of her two minor children. The defendants are: Dr. and Mrs. Leonard O. Tackett, and their alleged insurer, Travelers Insurance Company; Ford Motor Company; Wray Lincoln-Mercury, Inc.; and Many Motors Company, Inc., and its insurer, Universal Underwriters Insurance Company.

An intervention was filed by Continental Casualty Company, claiming reimbursement for payments made under the Louisiana Workmen's Compensation Act. And, third party petitions were filed by Dr. and Mrs. Tackett, Wray Lincoln-Mercury, Many Motors and Universal Underwriters.

The case was tried by jury, and it resulted in a verdict consisting of several special findings. Pursuant to that verdict, judgment was rendered by the trial court as follows: (1) In favor of plaintiff, Mrs. Angie R. Lewis, individually and in behalf of her minor children, against Dr. and Mrs. Tackett, for the aggregate sum of $125,000.00; (2) in favor of third party plaintiffs, Dr. and Mrs. Tackett, and against Ford Motor Company, Wray Lincoln-Mercury and Many Motors Company, for $115,000.00; (3) in favor of third party plaintiffs, Wray Lincoln-Mercury, Many Motors Company and Universal Underwriters, and against Ford Motor Company, for $25,000.00; and (4) decreeing that intervenor, Continental Casualty Company, be paid $6,265.00 out of any sums awarded to plaintiff, representing reimbursement of compensation benefits paid by that company. Appeals from that judgment were taken by plaintiff, and by defendants, Dr. and Mrs. Tackett, Ford Motor Company, Wray Lincoln-Mercury and Many Motors Company.

It apparently was determined at the trial that the wrong company in the Travelers Group had been named as a defendant, so judgment was not rendered against that company. No issue is raised here as to the release of that insurer from liability.

A number of issues are presented. We direct our attention first, however, to the question of whether the brakes on the Lincoln automobile being driven by defendant, Mrs. Tackett, were defective, and if so, whether the defective condition of those brakes was a proximate cause of the accident.

The accident occurred about 9:15 A. M. on March 20, 1967, on U.S. Highway 171, near Converse, Louisiana. The highway at that point is a wide, two lane, blacktopped road, running generally north and south. There is a wide, gentle curve in the road at the place where the collision occurred, but the highway is level and a motorist can see another vehicle a substantial distance ahead of him on the highway while negotiating this curve. It was raining and the road surface was wet when the accident happened, but visibility was fair. The legal speed limit on the highway was 60 miles per hour.

Immediately before the collision occurred, Mrs. Tackett was driving her 1965 Lincoln automobile north on Highway 171 at a speed of approximately 55 to 60 miles per hour. When she turned slightly to her left to begin negotiating the above described curve, her automobile began to "fishtail" or to slide on the pavement. She lost control of her car, and it proceeded to cross the southbound or west lane of traffic and to travel in a northwesterly direction across the shoulder of the highway into the ditch on the west side of the road. While traversing that ditch, the front part of her car struck the left side of a Chevrolet stationwagon which was being driven by Kenneth R. Lewis, Sr.

Mr. Lewis was driving south on the highway immediately before the collision occurred. When Mrs. Tackett lost control of her car, he turned his Chevrolet stationwagon to his right, onto the west shoulder of the highway, and he continued into the west ditch in an unsuccessful attempt to avoid a collision. The collision occurred in the ditch, at a point about five feet west of *638 the edge of the west shoulder of the highway. Mr. Lewis was killed almost instantly as a result of that accident.

The Lincoln automobile which was being driven by Mr. Tackett had been purchased by her husband from Wray Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., of Shreveport, on August 10, 1965. It thus was almost 20 months old when the accident occurred, and it had been driven 31,568 miles. The automobile had been manufactured by Ford Motor Company, and had been sold under a 24 month or 24,000 mile warranty, whichever came first. The warranty, of course, had expired by the time the accident occurred, since the car had been driven more than 24,000 miles.

Shortly after the automobile had been purchased, Dr. Tackett complained about the "rear wheels skidding upon application of the brakes." And, at his request the car was examined and worked on several times by representatives or employees of Ford Motor Company, of Wray Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., and of Many Motors Company, Inc. The last time any work was performed on the brakes, however, was on May 11, 1966, and at that time the Lincoln automobile had been driven 13,067 miles. This accident occurred ten months after the last work was performed on the brakes, and it was driven 18,501 miles in that ten month period. The record indicates that no complaints were made by Dr. or Mrs. Tackett as to the condition of the brakes, and no effort was made by them to have the brakes repaired by anyone, during that ten month period. The evidence shows that the car was taken to Many Motors on June 2, 1966, and to Wray Lincoln-Mercury on July 20, 1966, for unrelated repairs, but that the Tacketts made no complaints as to the brakes on either of those occasions.

The voluminous record shows that the 1965 Lincoln automobile was equipped with a dual hydraulic brake system, consisting of disc type brakes on the front wheels and conventional drum type brakes, with mechanical brake shoes, on the rear wheels. Both types of brakes were operated by a single master cylinder, which generated equal or uniform hydraulic pressure to all wheels under brake pedal application. A metering valve and a proportioning valve were incorporated into the system to insure uniform braking action to the front and back wheels.

The metering valve was located between the master cylinder and the front disc brakes. Its function was to prevent or delay the transmission of hydraulic pressure to the front disc brakes until the level of 100-125 P.S.I. (pounds per square inch) was reached, that being the level required to overcome the spring tension which retained the rear brake shoes away from the wheel drums.

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Bluebook (online)
247 So. 2d 635, 1971 La. App. LEXIS 6005, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lewis-v-travelers-insurance-company-lactapp-1971.