McKay v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Company

123 So. 2d 658, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1099
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 6, 1960
Docket4986, 5091
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 123 So. 2d 658 (McKay v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty 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
McKay v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Company, 123 So. 2d 658, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1099 (La. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

123 So.2d 658 (1960)

Dolphus McKAY, Sr.
v.
SOUTHERN FARM BUREAU CASUALTY COMPANY et al.

Nos. 4986, 5091.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 21, 1960.
On Application for Rehearing May 31, 1960.
On Rehearing October 6, 1960.
Rehearing Denied November 2, 1960.
Certiorari Denied January 9, 1961.

*659 Palmer & Palmer, Amite, for appellant.

H. H. Richardson, William C. Bradley, Bogalusa, for appellees.

Before LOTTINGER, TATE, FRUGE, LANDRY and PUGH, JJ.

PUGH, Judge ad hoc.

On December 10, 1956, Dolphus McKay filed this suit against H. E. Bankston and his liability insurance carrier, Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Co., for injuries he allegedly sustained as the result of an automobile collision which occurred December 13, 1955. On June 21, 1957, after issue was joined but before trial, Dolphus McKay died of cancer. His wife had predeceased him, and those of his children who were minors at the time of his death were substituted as parties plaintiff. The substituted plaintiffs are Dolphus McKay, Jr., and Mattie May McKay (both of whom are represented by duly appointed tutors) and Austin McKay (who was a minor at the time of his father's death, but who had attained majority at the time the motion for substitution was filed). In their brief filed in this Court, it is conceded by plaintiff's counsel that, according to the medical testimony in the record, the cause of Dolphus McKay's death was unrelated to injuries he allegedly sustained in the automobile collision. It should be noted at the outset that the substituted plaintiffs are asserting the father's alleged cause of action, and that there is no claim by the children for injuries they sustained as a result of their father's death.

From the decision of the lower court awarding the substituted plaintiffs $3,971 ($1,764 for loss of wages sustained by Dolphus McKay, $2,000 for pain and suffering sustained by him, and $207 for his medical expenses), the plaintiffs have appealed, praying that the amount awarded be substantially increased. Defendants have answered the appeal, praying that the judgment appealed from be reversed and the claim disallowed.

The accident in question occurred at approximately 5:00 p.m., December 13, 1955, within the corporate limits of the Town of Tangipahoa, Parish of Tangipahoa, at the intersection of U. S. Highway 51 (a paved road) and State Highway 149 (a blacktopped road). Dolphus McKay *660 was riding in the back seat of an automobile driven by Melvin E. Holden. There were two other passengers in the Holden vehicle, Otis Blunt and George Hughes, both of whom were riding in the front seat with Holden. The Holden vehicle was proceeding north on U. S. Highway 51, and the vehicle owned and operated by defendant H. E. Bankston, in which defendant's wife was riding as the sole passenger, was proceeding south on the same road. The collision occurred when Bankston attempted to execute a left turn into the intersecting state highway. The district court found that the collision in question was caused by the negligence of Bankston, and we are convinced that the lower court's finding in this regard is clearly correct.

U. S. Highway 51 and State Highway 149 intersect each other at right angles. Visibility was good and there were no curves impairing the vision of either driver. Both Bankston and his wife saw the Holden car approaching, and from a study of the record, it is clear that the defendant Bankston was negligent in attempting a left turn in the way that he did in the face of the clearly visible oncoming vehicle.[1]

The facts of this case are certainly distinguishable from those presented in Massicot v. Nolan, La.App.1953, 65 So.2d 648, which is relied upon heavily by the defendants. In the Massicot case, the driver attempting to make a left turn had almost completed it when the impact occurred a short distance from the curb. Here Bankston himself testified that the impact occurred in Holden's lane of traffic, just as Bankston began to make the turn. It is true that here, as in the Massicot case, the oncoming vehicle (the Holden car) may have been travelling at an excessive speed, but this did not relieve Bankston of the duty *661 to ascertain that the left turn could be executed with safety. In the recent case of Washington Fire & Marine Insurance Company v. Firemen's Insurance Company, 1957, 232 La. 379, 384, 94 So.2d 295, 296-297, the Supreme Court stated:

"The cases are legion which hold that before making a left turn the driver of an automobile must ascertain that he may do so safely; not only is this cardinal rule of the road founded on common sense, but in our State is a positive enactment, incorporated in the Revised Statutes as R.S. 32:235, by the terms of which it is the mandatory duty of the driver of any vehicle on the highways of this State to ascertain, before turning upon any highway, that there is no traffic, vehicular or pedestrian approaching from either direction which will be unduly delayed; and said driver "shall yield right-of-way to such approaching traffic and shall not attempt to make a turn unless the way is clear.' (Emphasis ours.) Among pertinent cases are Lane v. Bourgeois, La.App., 28 So.2d 91; Home Insurance Co. v. Warren, La.App., 29 So.2d 551; Michelli v. Rheem Mfg. Co., La.App., 34 So.2d 264; Malone v. Fletcher, La.App., 44 So.2d 352; Zurich Fire Ins. Co. of New York v. Thomas, La.App., 49 So.2d 460, and Codifer v. Occhipinti, Codifer v. Occhipinti, La.App., 57 So.2d 697. In the last cited case the Court of Appeal for the Parish of Orleans aptly stated that `When such a left-hand turn is being made and an accident occurs, the burden rests heavily on the driver who is making the left-hand turn to explain how the accident occurred and to show that he was free from negligence.' 57 So.2d at page 699."

It is quite clear from the record that the accident was caused by Bankston's negligence in attempting a leisurely left turn in the face of the clearly visible oncoming Holden vehicle.

The defendants contend that Melvin E. Holden, the driver of the Holden vehicle, was contributorily negligent, and that his alleged contributory negligence is attributable to Dolphus McKay, for it is claimed that Dolphus McKay and Melvin Holden were engaged in a joint venture. This contention is without merit. Although there is evidence in the record that the three passengers were paying Holden to ride with him, it is clear from the jurisprudence that in order for occupants of a vehicle to be considered joint venturers, they must have an equal right, express or implied, to direct and control the conduct of each other in the operation of the vehicle. See Squyres v. Baldwin, 1938, 191 La. 249, 185 So. 14, and the recent decision in Pierson v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Company, La.App.1959, 107 So.2d 465. There is certainly no evidence in the record that such a right existed here. Since there is no showing that Dolphus McKay was himself guilty of negligence, or that he was engaged in a joint venture with Melvin Holden, it is irrelevant to our decision in this case whether Holden was or was not guilty of contributory negligence.

It is clear from the record that the trial court was correct in its finding that Dolphus McKay sustained injuries in the collision. Whether the court was correct in fixing damages, however, is another question. There is no evidence that prior to the collision he complained of neck pain or incapacity.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
123 So. 2d 658, 1960 La. App. LEXIS 1099, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mckay-v-southern-farm-bureau-casualty-company-lactapp-1960.