Marquez v. Le Blanc

143 So. 108
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 27, 1932
DocketNos. 14207, 14208.
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 143 So. 108 (Marquez v. Le Blanc) 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
Marquez v. Le Blanc, 143 So. 108 (La. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

HIGGINS, J.

This litigation involves several actions ex delicto, in which the plaintiffs seek to recover damages for personal injuries, medical expenses, property loss, etc., alleged to have resulted from a collision between two automobiles on the public highway iw the parish of St. James on May 9,1929, at about 11:30 a. m. The cases were consolidated for the purpose of trial and decision.

Mrs. Jennie Marquez, widow of Louis Fred Zeigler, individually and as natural tutrix of her minor daughter, Yvonne Zeigler, sued to recover damages for personal injuries to her minor daughter and also for damages for personal injuries to herself and for medical expenses incurred in treating herself and her daughter from the defendant Joseph E. Le Blanc and his employer, the State Agricultural Credit Corporation, alleging that Le Blanc was solely at fault in causing the collision, in driving at an excessive rate of speed without keeping a proper lookout, and in traveling on the left, or wrong, side of the highway in negotiating a turn in the road.

The State Agricultural Credit Corporation averred in its answer that Joseph E. Le Blanc was not its employee, but was an independent contractor, for whose negligent acts it was not responsible, and, in the alternative, pleaded contributory negligence on the ground that Mrs. Zeigler was operating her car at an excessive rate of speed on the wrong, or left, side of the. road, and without keeping a proper lookout.

Defendant Le Blanc answered denying that he was in any way at fault, and, in the alternative, pleaded .contributory negligence on the same grounds as his codefendant.

Mrs. Hilda Barbier, alleging that she was a guest in the automobile that Mrs. Zeigler was driving, brought suit against Mrs. Jennie Marquez, widow of Louis Fred Zeigler, Joseph E. Le Blanc, and the State Agricultural Credit Corporation, in solido,, to recover damages for physical injuries alleged to have been sustained in the collision, charging that the drivers of both cars were at fault in operating their respective automobiles at an excessive rate of speed, while attempting to negotiate a curve in the road, without keeping a proper lookout and without having their cars under control. She also alleged that L© Blanc was the employee of the Credit Corporation.

*110 Defendant Le Blanc answered and denied that lie was at fault, averring that the accident was caused solely and only through the negligence of Mrs. Zeigler.

Mrs. Zeigler denied that she was at fault in any.way, or that she was guilty of any negligence which contributed proximately to the cause of the accident, and, in the alternative, specially pleaded contributory negligence, and that the automobile trip was a joint venture.

The State Agricultural Credit Corporation denied liability and pleaded that Le Blanc was an independent contractor.

The record álso shows that Mr. Be Blanc sued Mrs. Zeigler to recover property damage to his automobile, alleging that she was at fault in the respects set forth in his answer to Mrs. Zeigler’s suit. Mrs. Zeigler denied liability, averring that'the accident was caused through the negligence of Mr. Be Blanc for the reasons, substantially, as stated in her petition.

It appears that Mrs. Zeigler borrowed the Chevrolet coach that she was driving from Mr. Arthur A. Costley and he sued her in the civil district court in New Orleans to recover $S32 as damages to his automobile. She denied liability. It does not appear from the record whether this ease was ever tried. The three cases previously mentioned were tried before the Twenty-Third judicial district court for the parish of St. James, and the judge dismissed Mr. Be Blanc’s suit against Mrs. Zeigler on the ground that both parties were at fault. From this judginent no appeal was taken. The judge also dismissed Mrs. Zoigler’s case against Mr. Be Blanc on the same ground. The defense of the State Agricultural Credit Corporation that Be Blanc was an independent contractor and not its' employee was sustained, and both Mrs. Zoigler’s and Mrs. Barbier’s suits as against it were dismissed. The judge held that Mrs. Barbier was a guest in the automobile driven by. Mrs. Zeigler, and, as the negligence of the driver could not be imputed to the guest, gave judgment in her favor against Mrs. Zeigler and Be Blanc, in solido, for $1,563, on the ground that the accident happened through their joint and concurrent negligence (Be Blanc’s name being omitted from the judgment itself, as hereinafter explained). The court further held that, as Yvonne Zeigler was a minor, the negligence of her mother could not be imputed to the child, and awarded her the sum of $1,750 against Mr. Be Blanc alone. Mr. Be Blanc and Mrs. Zeigler appealed from these judgments. Neither Mrs. Barbier nor Mrs. Zeigler in behalf of her minor daughter appealed, but they have answered the respective appeals and asked that the respective awards be increased.

We shall, first take up the primary, question involved, that is, who was at fault and what was the proximate cause of the accident?

The record shows that Mrs. Barbier’s sister lived at Donaldsonville, and, as Mrs! Zeig-ler had never been there, they planned to take an automobile trip there to pay a visit. Mrs. Zeigler, a widow, borrowed Mr. Costley’s Chevrolet coach automobile. They started from New Orleans on Thursday, May 9th, about 7 o’clock in the morning. Mrs. Zeigler was driving the car, and, seated in the front by her, was Mr. Rivet, Mrs. Barbier’s father, who had both his arms in plaster casts as a result of having them broken in an accident previous to that time. Mrs. Barbier was-seated on the rear seat on the left side, Yvonne Zeigler, age 9 years, next to her, and Mrs. Zeigler’s minor son to the right of his older sister. The weather was clear and the road dry. The party was proceeding on the-graveled public highway, which was 35 feet in width, on the west bank of the river going in the direction of Donaldsonville. Mr. Re-Blanc was driving his Dodge coupS ear on, the same road, going in the opposite direction, or toward New Orleans. Due to -the-fact that on the highway adjacent to the Mississippi river there were curves in the roadway, as both cars reached the neighborhood of Reagan’s post office, and the Zeigler car-was about to complete a curve in the road and the Be Blanc automobile about to enter it, the left sides of the automobiles collided, resulting in extensive damages to -both, and Mrs. Zeigler, Yvonne Zeigler, and Mrs. Barbier-. were thrown violently into the roadway, rendered unconscious and seriously injured. Mr. Rivet and the Zeigler boy miraculously escaped injury. Mr. Be Blanc was slightly injured. The automobiles were removed from the road, and the injured parties, sutured and given first-aid treatment, and those severely injured were then brought to the Charity Hospital in New Orleans.

The only witnesses to the accident were.the occupants of the automobiles, except a Mr. Davis. Yvonne Zeigler and the Zeigler boy, on account of their youth, were not placed upon the stand. Mrs. Barbier, as a witness in her own behalf, testified that Mrs. Zeigler had been driving the Chevrolet automobile carefully on the right side of the road and at a slow rate of speed just prior to the collision, but, due to the fact that the accident happened very suddenly and she was rendered unconscious, she was unable to give any details concerning the respective positions-of the ears and their respective speeds at the-time the impact took place.

Mr.

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

Related

Harris v. Hymel Store Co.
200 So. 2d 84 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1967)
Wills v. Correge
148 So. 2d 822 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1963)
O'BRIEN v. Traders and General Insurance Company
136 So. 2d 852 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)
Scott v. Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Co.
134 So. 2d 553 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1961)
La Borde v. McBride
112 So. 2d 319 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1959)
Alexander v. Frost Lumber Industries, Inc.
88 F. Supp. 516 (W.D. Louisiana, 1950)
Allgood v. Loeb
22 So. 2d 568 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1945)
Buettner v. Polar Bar Ice Cream Co.
17 So. 2d 486 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1944)
Kruckeberg v. Great Atlantic Pacific Tea Co.
13 So. 2d 747 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1943)
Great American Indemnity Co. v. Fleniken
134 F.2d 208 (Fifth Circuit, 1943)
McAllister v. Jackson Brewing Co.
6 So. 2d 179 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1942)
Hardware Mut. Casualty Co. v. Standard Coffee Co.
2 So. 2d 89 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1941)
Gallaher v. Ricketts
191 So. 713 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1939)
Balsamo v. Hall
170 So. 402 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1936)
Ravare v. McCormick & Co.
166 So. 183 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1936)
Jones v. Shehee Ford Wagon & Harness Co.
157 So. 309 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1934)
Leiser v. Thomas
150 So. 81 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1933)
Stockwell v. Morris
22 P.2d 189 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 So. 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/marquez-v-le-blanc-lactapp-1932.