Miller v. Abshire

68 So. 2d 143, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 813
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 13, 1953
Docket3747
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 68 So. 2d 143 (Miller v. Abshire) 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
Miller v. Abshire, 68 So. 2d 143, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 813 (La. Ct. App. 1953).

Opinion

68 So.2d 143 (1953)

MILLER et al.
v.
ABSHIRE.

No. 3747.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

November 13, 1953.

*144 Alex L. Pitcher, Jr., Vanue B. Lacour, A. A. Lenoir, Baton Rouge, for appellant.

Huckabay, Seale, Kelton & Hayes, Alex Wall, Baton Rouge, for appellee.

CAVANAUGH, Judge.

This suit is by the plaintiffs against the defendant to recover damages for personal injuries suffered by the plaintiff, Patricia A. Miller, joined by her husband, Kenneth C. Miller, to recover losses allegedly sustained by the community as a result of the accident when plaintiffs' Buick coach, operated by Patricia A. Miller, and a Studebaker automobile, owned and operated by defendant, Billy R. Abshire, were involved in an intersectional collision at Louisiana Highways Nos. 30 and 168 in the Parish of West Baton Rouge on the outskirts of the town of Port Allen.

The plaintiff, Patricia A. Miller, alleges that she was travelling on May 11, 1952, about 6:50 o'clock P.M., in a northerly direction on Highway 168 at or near the intersection with Louisiana Highway 30 at a speed of approximately 25 miles per hour. She further alleges that the defendant wantonly, recklessly and, grossly negligent in the operation of his vehicle and in violation of the law, failed to stop at the stop sign facing him at the intersection; that, without giving any warning signal whatever, defendant drove his automobile into the path of her oncoming car and without observing the stop sign at the intersection; that at the time the defendant reached the intersection she was proceeding in her automobile approximately 50 feet from the intersection and that she was travelling on a right of way road and assumed that the defendant would observe the traffic regulation which required him to stop; that, in disregard of the regulation, he did not stop; that she did all she could do to avoid the accident and that her automobile collided with defendant's vehicle. She alleges the following specific acts of negligence committed by the defendant:

1. Failure to stop according to the regulation of a stop sign, and in direct violation of the statutes of Louisiana and the general law of the road;

2. Failure to yield the right of way to favored traffic;

3. Failure to make and maintain proper lookout according to general rules of the road and highways and in violation of the statutes of the State of Louisiana;

4. Failure to allow favored and right of way traffic to clear the intersection.

She further alleges that she suffered painful and personal injury and describes the nature and character of her injuries in her petition; that, at the time of the accident, she was employed as an instructor in physical education at Southern University at a salary of $324 per month and that, as a result of the injuries, she was incapacitated to perform the duties of her employment for a period of two weeks. Her husband appears as plaintiff in the suit to recover damages caused to the 1950 Buick coach she was driving at the time of the collision, and also to claim as head of the community the salary he claims his wife lost on account of being unable to follow her profession and for the earnings and the amount expended by the community to pay hospital and medical services required by her on account of the injuries suffered in the accident. The plaintiff, Patricia A. Miller's main demand is for damages in the sum of $11,384 and that of her husband is for $921.52, and, alternatively, if it should be *145 decreed that he was the party to assert a claim for future disability and loss of earnings, he asks for judgment in the amount of $3,434.52.

The defendant's answer is a general denial, except admitting that the accident occurred at the intersection, and a special defense is set out that he stopped at the stop sign erected at the intersection and looked to his right and left and saw no oncoming traffic and proceeded to cross the intersection at a slow rate of speed, and, after he had entered the intersection and proceeded more than half way across it, he heard plaintiff's brakes screeching to his right; then he increased his speed in order to clear the intersection, and had practically preempted the intersection with only the rear portion of his car protruding into the highway. He pleads in the alternative that if he was guilty of any negligence in connection with the accident, the plaintiff was guilty of contributory negligence in driving at a dangerous and excessive rate of speed under the circumstances; in failing to keep a proper lookout, or having her car under control and in failing to yield the right of way to defendant's vehicle after it had preempted the intersection, and that plaintiff was driving in a reckless manner without due regard to the safety of others in the immediate vicinity.

At the conclusion of the testimony, the case was argued by plaintiff and defendant, and the Court, for oral reasons, rejected plaintiffs' demand at their cost and dismissed their suit.

The plaintiffs contend here that the judgment should be reversed for the following reasons:

1. That the defendant was negligent for failing to stop at the intersection stop sign, or, if he did stop, in failing to see plaintiff's automobile approaching on a favored highway.

2. That plaintiff was not negligent in operating her automobile on a favored highway in presuming that defendant, on a disfavored secondary road, would stop at the intersection sign and yield the right of way.

3. That defendant's action in entering the intersection and confronting plaintiff with a sudden emergency was the proximate cause of the accident and that in applying her brakes instead of turning to the left under the circumstances would not constitute negligence on her part to preclude recovery.

On the day of the accident, plaintiff was returning from Whitecastle to the City of Baton Rouge and was travelling alone. The defendant and his wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Smith and an uncle of Mr. Smith had left Baton Rouge and travelled across the Mississippi River bridge to where Highway 71 intersects 168, and he had then turned off on Highway 168 going south toward the scene of the accident, but before reaching there left Highway 168, entered a service road for the purpose of coming back to Baton Rouge by the Port Allen ferry. This service road enters Highway 30 a few feet west of the intersection of Highways 30 and 168. In entering Highway 30 from this service road west of the intersection where the collision occurred, the service road comes to a dead end. Defendant was travelling south, and when he came to this dead end, he stopped or hesitated and made a left turn to get on Highway 30 with the intention of crossing the intersection and going east to the ferry.

The plaintiff testified that when she first saw the defendant she was 50 yards from the intersection and that at that time defendant had hesitated or faltered, which caused her to assume that he was granting and yielding her the right of way to proceed, and that she accelerated her speed in order to go on through the intersection. This testimony was given on direct examination. On cross examination, she stated that she was about 30 or 40 feet from the intersection when she realized that defendant was entering the intersection, and she did not know he was not going to stop and come into her lane of traffic until she was 18 or 20 feet from him, and at that time she slammed on her brakes, but it was too late, and the front of her Buick struck the rear left of defendant's car.

*146

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Bluebook (online)
68 So. 2d 143, 1953 La. App. LEXIS 813, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/miller-v-abshire-lactapp-1953.