McMullan v. Travelers Insurance Co.

311 So. 2d 902
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedApril 1, 1975
DocketNos. 12557, 12558
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 311 So. 2d 902 (McMullan v. Travelers Insurance Co.) 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
McMullan v. Travelers Insurance Co., 311 So. 2d 902 (La. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

DENNIS, Judge.

On November 3, 1967 an automobile driven by Wilson Q. McMullan collided with a vehicle operated by Bruce P. Thompson at the intersection of Ockley Drive and An-niston Street in the City of Shreveport. Bruce P. Thompson, an 18 year old residing with his father, was driving an automobile belonging to his father’s employer. James McMullan, 7 year old son of Wilson Q. McMullan, was riding with his father. Following the accident young McMullan had several epileptic convulsions over a period of about four years and died on December 27, 1971.

Two law suits were filed because of these events. Wilson Q. McMullan sued E. C. Thompson, Jr., individually and as administrator of the estate of his son, Bruce P. Thompson, and his insurer, The Travelers Insurance Company, to recover for McMullan’s own property loss and personal injuries and for those sustained by James McMullan. Travelers and Thompson reconvened against Wilson Q. Mc-Mullan claiming he was liable in contribution for one-half of any award made to James McMullan. After the death of James McMullan, a supplemental and amended petition was filed by Wilson Q. McMullan and Anna McGowan McMullan, his parents, to recover damages for his wrongful death. Travelers again reconvened against Wilson Q. McMullan for contribution.

Motors Securities Company, Inc., owner of the car driven by Bruce P. Thompson, and its insurer, American Employers’ Insurance Company, sued McMullan to recover for damage to the vehicle. Later, by amended petition, E. C. Thompson, Jr., joined as co-plaintiff asserting a claim against McMullan for personal injuries to his son, Bruce P. Thompson. McMullan filed a third party petition against Thompson and Travelers for contribution of one-half of any amounts awarded.

After the cases were consolidated and tried, the trial judge, without written reasons, rendered judgment rejecting all demands of the McMullans. In the other suit judgment was rendered for the plaintiffs against Wilson McMullan as follows: For American Employers in the sum of $738; for Motors Securities Company, Inc. in the sum of $50; and for E. C. Thompson in the sum of $56. Wilson and Anna McGowan McMullan appealed from the judgments in both cases.

Ockley Drive is a two-lane thoroughfare approximately 35 feet in width running east and west, and Anniston Street is a two-lane street about 25 feet wide extending north and south. An electric semaphore light is stationed over the intersection for the purpose of regulating two-way traffic on both streets.

Wilson McMullan testified that after dark on the evening of the accident he was driving his 1962 Chevrolet station wagon east on Ockley at a speed of 30 to 35 miles per hour. As he approached the intersection of Ockley and Anniston, the traffic light facing him was green. When he got to the pedestrian cross walk at the intersection the light changed to yellow. McMullan stated that because of the position of his vehicle at the time the light changed he could not have stopped short of the intersection. He said his car would have stopped in the middle of the intersection had he tried. Therefore, he did not apply his brakes but attempted to drive across Anniston. As he reached the middle of the intersection he noticed to his left [905]*905an automobile coming toward his car in the center of Anniston Street. McMullan accelerated and swerved to his right but the vehicles collided in the southeast quadrant of the intersection.

Bruce P. Thompson testified that before the accident he had been traveling south on Anniston in a 1965 Chevrolet owned by his father’s employer. He was on his way to his girl friend’s house. He stopped at a stop sign one block away from the intersection and observed that the traffic light at Ockley was red. Trees canopied Anniston Street covering his approach. After making the stop, he accelerated to 25 miles per hour but then slowed in order to reach the intersection at the same time the light changed. Thompson testified that he saw the reflection of the lights on the Ockley side of the traffic signal and gauged his approach so that he entered the intersection at a speed of about 15 miles per hour just after the light changed to green on his side. According to Thompson, his car ran broadside into the Mc-Mullan vehicle in the southbound lane of Anniston Street. He admitted that he did not look to his left or right before entering the intersection and that he saw the other vehicle only an instant before the impact.

The undisputed physical evidence indicates that McMullan’s version of where the collision occurred is the more correct one. The drivers agreed that both vehicles came to rest in or near Anniston some distance east of the intersection. The photographs of the vehicles taken after the accident show that the McMullan vehicle sustained heavy damage at the front door on the driver’s side and that the Thompson vehicle was damaged severely by an oblique blow which occurred at the extreme right end of the front bumper. The McMullan vehicle was declared a total loss and sold for salvage.

Considering the testimony of the drivers, which differed only as to the point of impact, as well as the physical evidence, we find that Thompson entered the intersection at a rate of speed substantially greater than 15 miles per hour almost simultaneously with the change of signals, swerved to his left, collided at an angle with the McMullan vehicle in the southeast quarter of the intersection, and continued east in Anniston before coming to a stop. We also conclude that the signal changed to yellow on McMullan’s side when he was too near to safely stop his vehicle short of the intersection.

The law is well settled that where traffic is controlled by an electric semaphore light a motorist is guilty of negligence if he proceeds into an intersection after a red light turns to green without allowing sufficient time for those in the intersection to clear it. Harris v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 287 So.2d 560 (La.App., 2d Cir. 1974); Martin v. Slocum, 147 So.2d 454 (La.App., 2d Cir. 1962); Schindler v. Gage, 59 So.2d 215 (Orl.La.App., 1952); Blue Ribbon Cleaners v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Company, 125 So.2d 613 (La.App., 4th Cir. 1961); Potts v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, 135 So.2d 77 (La. App., 2d Cir. 1961).

The duty of a motorist who is faced with a traffic light which has changed to yellow as he approaches an intersection has been fully considered and delineated by this court. In Harris v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 287 So.2d 560 (La.App., 2d Cir. 1973) we stated:

“ * * * While it is true that Louisiana Revised Statutes 32:232(2) (a) [relating to an amber light] provides that, ‘Vehicular traffic facing the signal is thereby warned that the red or “Stop” signal will be exhibited immediately thereafter and such vehicular traffic shall not enter or be crossing the intersection when the red or “Stop” signal is exhibited’, this provision must be interpreted with the emphasis on ‘warned’. The provision that ‘such vehicular traffic shall not enter or be crossing the in[906]*906tersection when the red or “Stop” signal is exhibited’ means that the entrance should not be made on a caution light if by reasonable diligence it can be avoided. If the driver is in the process of entering as the light changes he has pre-empt-ed the intersection and is committed to move on in order to clear the passage for traffic travelling perpendicular to him.

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311 So. 2d 902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcmullan-v-travelers-insurance-co-lactapp-1975.