Phillips v. Garden

211 So. 2d 735
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 4, 1968
Docket11020
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 211 So. 2d 735 (Phillips v. Garden) 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
Phillips v. Garden, 211 So. 2d 735 (La. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

211 So.2d 735 (1968)

Robert Lynn PHILLIPS, Sr. and Mrs. Dewanna Ann Whittington Phillips, Plaintiffs-Appellees and Appellants,
v.
Jerry GARDEN and Stonewall Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 11020.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.

June 4, 1968.
Rehearing Denied July 1, 1968.

*736 McKeithen & Mouser, Columbia, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Theus, Grisham, Davis, Leigh & Brown, Monroe, for defendants-appellants.

Irwin R. Sanders, New Orleans, for appellant-intervenor.

Leonard, Wootan & Lemoine, New Orleans, for defendant-appellee.

Before AYRES, BOLIN and WILLIAMS, JJ.

BOLIN, Judge.

This is one of five consolidated tort cases arising out of a collision between a 1960 Ford automobile owned by Lillie Mae Walker, driven by Jerry Garden, and a 1963 Dodge owned by Robert Glynn Phillips, driven by his wife, Dewanna Ann Phillips. At the time of the accident there were guest passengers in both vehicles. Mr. George D. Robinson had parked his vehicle near the scene prior to the accident. All occupants of the Ford and Dodge automobiles, as well as Robinson, were injured; the Phillips baby was killed and the two cars damaged. By appropriate pleadings, third-party demands, petition for declaratory judgment, an intervention, etc., multiple questions were put at issue. Separate judgments were rendered and the aggrieved parties appeal.

Since the lower court assigned no written reasons for its judgments we shall set forth our findings of fact. The accident occurred on Louisiana Highway #15 in Franklin Parish about 7:20 o'clock P.M. on January 1, 1966. The blacktop highway *737 runs in a north and south direction and is approximately 24 feet wide. It had been raining and a slight drizzle was falling when the collision occurred. Immediately prior to the accident Mrs. Phillips was driving a community-owned automobile south. She was accompanied by her mother, Mrs. Minace Whittington, who was sitting on the front seat of the car holding the 13-month-old child of Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. While Mrs. Phillips was driving her automobile at a reasonable rate of speed, with all lights burning properly, she was forced from the hard-surfaced portion of the highway by an unidentified northbound vehicle. In her effort to prevent a head-on collision she veered to the right onto the shoulder of the road losing control of her car. Her vehicle finally came to rest crossways of the highway, partially blocking both lanes of traffic, where the motor stopped and she was unable to start it. George D. Robinson, who was driving his car north on the same highway, observed the stalled vehicle in the highway. He drove his car partially onto the right shoulder around the Phillips car and parked off the road, leaving his lights on dim. He then returned to render aid to Mrs. Phillips. Being unable to start her car Mrs. Phillips alighted and Robinson entered the Phillips car to try to start it. While the Phillips car was thus stalled across the highway it was struck by the southbound Ford automobile driven by Jerry Garden. Woodrow Bell and Curtis Grimble were guests in the Garden vehicle.

At the time of the accident the Phillips car was insured by Stonewall Insurance Company under a policy containing family automobile liability and uninsured motorist coverage with exposure under the uninsured provision being limited to $10,000 for each person, $20,000 each accident for bodily injuries and $5,000 for property damage in each accident. There was no liability insurance in force on the Ford driven by Jerry Garden.

In the present case Mr. and Mrs. Phillips sued Garden and Stonewall to recover damages for personal injuries to Mrs. Phillips and for the wrongful death of the infant child. The original petition filed on June 27, 1966, made no claim for property damage although article 11 thereof avers the automobile was totally destroyed and that Mr. Phillips sustained damages in the amount of $1,100. The Phillipses alleged the accident was due solely to the negligence of Garden entitling them to recover against Stonewall under the uninsured motorist coverage. Stonewall having previously filed an action for a declaratory judgment filed preliminary motions of lis pendens. Garden denied liability and, alternatively, alleged contributory negligence against Mrs. Phillips. On January 3, 1967, Calvert Fire Insurance Company, as subrogee, filed a petition of intervention, without leave of court, seeking reimbursement for its payment to Phillips of damage to his automobile under a policy of collision insurance issued by it covering this car. To the petition of intervention Stonewall filed a motion to dismiss alleging intervenor had not obtained leave of court, as required by Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure article 1033, and, further, that Calvert had no cause and no right of action against defendant under C.C.P. 1091. Garden and Lillie Mae Walker filed similar exceptions to the petition and subsequently filed answers. On March 23, 1967, plaintiffs filed a supplemental and amending petition asking for an additional sum of $1,100 for damage to their vehicle. Defendants objected and the pleadings were allowed subject to such objections. Defendants filed pleas of prescription to the amended petition and to the petition of intervention of Calvert Insurance Company and answers to plaintiffs' amended petition, and the intervention of Calvert. Similar pleadings were filed on behalf of Garden.

Mr. Phillips was awarded judgment in solido against Garden and Stonewall for $4,757.12 and additional judgment against Garden for $1,347.38. Mrs. Phillips was awarded judgment against Garden and Stonewall in solido for $3,896.41 and, additionally, against Garden for $1,103.59.

*738 The pleas of prescription to the property damage claim of Phillips and subrogation claim of Calvert were sustained. From this judgment Stonewall, Phillips and Calvert appeal.

In suit #11,021, Mrs. Minace Whittington v. Jerry Garden and Stonewall Insurance Company, La.App., 211 So.2d 741, plaintiff sued defendants for personal injuries and property damage alleging the accident was due solely to the negligence of Garden, which rendered Stonewall liable in solido for its policy limits under the uninsured motorist coverage. Mrs. Whittington was awarded judgment in solido against defendants for $1,591.47, the sum of $245 being specified as property damage. Plaintiff was awarded an additional judgment against Garden for $441.36, and Stonewall appeals.

In suit #11,022, Jerry Garden and Lillie M. Walker v. Robert L. Phillips et al., La. App., 211 So.2d 741, plaintiffs sued Mr. and Mrs. Phillips, Stonewall, Robinson and his liability insurer, Employers Insurance Company, seeking to recover damages for Garden's personal injuries and for property damage to Lillie Mae Walker's Ford automobile. From judgment rejecting plaintiffs' demands, they appeal.

In suit #11,023, Woodrow Bell and Curtis Grimble v. Robert L. Phillips et al., La. App., 211 So.2d 742, plaintiffs sued the same defendants named in suit #11,022 alleging the accident was due to the joint negligence of Mrs. Phillips and Mr. Robinson. From judgment rejecting plaintiffs' demands, they appeal.

In suit #11,024, George D. Robinson v. Jerry Garden et al., La.App., 211 So.2d 742, plaintiff sued Garden and Stonewall alleging the accident was due solely to Garden's negligence which rendered Stonewall liable under the uninsured motorist provision of its policy.

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Bluebook (online)
211 So. 2d 735, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phillips-v-garden-lactapp-1968.