Robertson v. DiGerolamo

224 So. 2d 118, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 6037
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 2, 1969
DocketNo. 3526
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 224 So. 2d 118 (Robertson v. DiGerolamo) 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
Robertson v. DiGerolamo, 224 So. 2d 118, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 6037 (La. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

YARRUT, Judge.

Plaintiff has appealed a judgment dismissing his suit for damages resulting from a pedestrian-automobile accident that occurred at 10:30 p.m. on March 17, 1966. As Plaintiff attempted to walk across Franklin Avenue, he was struck by an automobile driven by Defendant’s minor son, Nicholas DiGerolamo.

The accident happened near the intersection of North Galvez Street. At this point Franklin is a boulevard divided by a neutral ground. Traffic on one side of the neutral ground moves in a northerly or lakeward direction, while that on the opposite side moves southward or toward the river. Both roadways have three traffic lanes, one for parked cars and two for moving traffic. The width of the roadway in which Plaintiff was hit measures 34 feet-from curb to curb, according to a police report. At the intersection of Franklin and Galvez a semaphore light regulates the traffic.

Minutes before the accident Plaintiff, in a highly intoxicated condition, was walking eastward on Galvez Street. He successfully crossed the southbound lanes of Franklin Avenue to the neutral ground. When he reached the other side of the neutral ground bordering the northbound roadway, he stopped and waited near a flourescent street light standard. At this time the traffic signal was green to Franklin Avenue traffic, and red to Galvez Street traffic. Without warning, Plaintiff walked against the traffic light into the path of the oncoming DiGerolamo car, which was proceeding lakeward in the lane nearest the neutral ground. Defendant-driver was endeavoring to stop his car when the right front fender struck Plaintiff. Plaintiff fell over the right headlight onto the hood of the car, was carried forward by the momentum, and finally thrown into the right lane of moving traffic, or the middle lane [120]*120of the roadway. The car stopped approximately 44 feet past the intersection of Gal-vez. In stopping it made 35 feet of skid marks, but the record fails to indicate where the skid marks begin or end.

Plaintiff’s sobriety at the time the accident occurred was disputed in the lower court, but now the litigants all agree he was intoxicated. Having conceded this fact, Appellant now resorts to the last clear chance doctrine to obviate his own negligence as a bar to his recovery.

The question before us is this: Did young DiGerolamo breach a duty of care owed to Plaintiff in failing to observe his position of peril in sufficient time to avoid striking him?

Plaintiff argues the physical evidence establishes Plaintiff’s danger should have been observed by DiGerolamo in time to avoid hitting him. He urges these propositions :

1. Plaintiff, crossing the street from left to right, was hit by the right front fender of the DiGerolamo car. In the amount of time consumed between Plaintiff’s stepping from the neutral ground and walking to the point of impact, the automobile had travelled a distance that would have afforded a prudent driver time to prevent the accident had he been proceeding at a legal rate of speed.

2. Mathematical computations of time, speed and distance establish Plaintiff left the curb at a point in time when the Defendant car, properly driven, should not have struck him. Further, Plaintiff contends the computations destroy the credibility of the defense witnesses, leaving unexplained the reason young DiGerolamo hit Plaintiff.

Considering the first proposition urged by Appellant we observe, at the outset, that under the circumstances before us we cannot assume Defendant had sufficient time to prevent the accident simply because Plaintiff was struck by the right front of the automobile. Appellant has submitted several cases as authority for the proposition that, if the injured pedestrian crossed the path of the car before being hit, our courts found the driver negligent under the last clear chance doctrine. The cases are distinguishable. In Waagen v. Indiana Lumbermens Mutual Insurance Co., La.App., 136 So.2d 831, a pedestrian was struck when he had walked more than 26 feet from the curbing into the roadway. The driver swerved too late to the right and struck plaintiff with his left front headlight. Plaintiff was crossing from left to right. As we understand this decision the doctrine of last clear chance was applied, not because of the physical damage to the car, but because the defendant honestly had admitted his attention had been diverted from the roadway by the quarrel-ling of his children in the back seat of the car.

Moore v. Nola Cabs, La.App., 70 So.2d 404, involved a pedestrian-taxicab accident, where the pedestrian was struck by the left front of the taxicab. That case is distinguishable because: (1) the motorist had some warning that the plaintiff might cross the street since he approached and was moving from the left hand side of the street into the street, and his actions could have been observed by the taxicab driver; and (2), when the defendant-driver applied his brakes, he skidded diagonally from the right lane, in which he was driving, into the left lane where he struck the plaintiff. We find nothing in the opinion to indicate damage to the left front fender was a persuasive factor in finding the driver was negligent.

Appellant relies heavily on the case of Jones v. American Mut. Liability Ins. Co., La-App., 189 So. 169, wherein the court rejected a plea of last clear chance, and exonerated the driver of an automobile who struck a drunken pedestrian. In that opinion, the court did stress the fact that a pedestrian was hit by the left front fender of a car as he stepped from the neutral ground. This does not have the effect of holding that, once a pedestrian almost [121]*121crosses the path of an oncoming automobile before being struck, the driver becomes automatically liable under the doctrine of last chance. The driver in the Jones case defended on the ground that, without warning, the pedestrian stepped into his path. The court stated the fact that he was struck by the left headlight of a car, travelling three feet from the neutral ground, corroborated his testimony.

Thus, we conclude that the physical damage to the right headlight does not justify our finding, as a fact, that Plaintiff stepped from his position of safety when the DiGerolamo vehicle was still far enough away to allow its driver time to miss him.

The other proposition upon which Appellant relies is that the defense’s explanation of the accident is mathematically impossible. He argues that not only does application of basic computations of time, speed and distance refute all defense testimony, but also affirmatively establishes Defendant should have seen Plaintiff stepping into the street in sufficient time to avoid the accident.

At this point we will briefly summarize the credible eyewitness testimony. We discount Plaintiff’s testimony for two reasons: (1) he was too intoxicated at the time to know what went on; and (2), even if he were aware enough to witness and recount facts, the record leaves his credibility in serious doubt. His testimony is hopelessly in conflict with his deposition taken some time prior to the trial.

Young DiGerolamo testified he and his “date” were driving northward on Franklin Avenue immediately before the accident. At the time they were returning from a high school band concert where no alcoholic beverages were served. The driver said when he was approximately one block away from the intersection of North Gal-vez, he noticed the traffic signal for Franklin Avenue traffic was green.

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Bluebook (online)
224 So. 2d 118, 1969 La. App. LEXIS 6037, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/robertson-v-digerolamo-lactapp-1969.