Sittig v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.

149 So. 2d 424, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1278
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 28, 1963
DocketNo. 764
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 149 So. 2d 424 (Sittig v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty 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
Sittig v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co., 149 So. 2d 424, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1278 (La. Ct. App. 1963).

Opinion

SAVOY, Judge.

The instant case, together with cases No. 765, Jeffers v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company and Allstate Insurance Company, La.App., 149 So.2d 428; and No. 766, Jeffers v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, La.App., 149 So.2d 429, were consolidated for purposes of trial in the district court and were argued in this Court as consolidated cases. Separate judgments were rendered in each case in the district court and separate decrees are being handed down this date by this Court in the three (3) cases.

The instant case and cases Nos. 765 and 766 are actions in tort resulting from an [425]*425intersectional collision which occurred at approximately 2:00 P.M. on February 20, 1961, at the northeast corner of the intersection of Kirkman and Seventh Streets in the City of Lake Charles, Louisiana, which was controlled by a semaphore light (traffic light). Kirkman Street runs north and south, and Seventh Street runs east and west. Shortly prior to the accident, Andrew Jeffers was driving his car in a northerly direction on Kirkman Street and had as occupants with him in his car, his wife, Mrs. Betty Bobbett Jeffers, who was seated next to him; and Miss Sittig, a minor, seated to the right of Mrs. Jeffers. At the time Jeffers was driving his vehicle, Fred G. Bostwick was driving a car owned by Commercial Finance Company in a westerly direction on Seventh Street.

As a result of the accident, Jeffers, his wife and Miss Sittig, received personal injuries, and both vehicles driven by Jeffers and Bostwick were damaged.

In suit No. 764, Robert Sittig, the father of the minor child, Shirley Sittig, sued, in his individual capacity and as administrator of the estate of his minor daughter, Allstate Insurance Company and United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company for expenses he had incurred because of the accident and for physical injuries suffered by his daughter.

In suit No. 765, Mrs. Jeffers sued the insurer of her husband’s car, Allstate Insurance Company, and the insurer of the car owned by Commercial Finance Company and driven by Bostwick, namely, United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, for personal injuries sustained by her.

In suit No. 766, Jeffers sued United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company for personal injuries, property damages and expenses incurred as head of the community on behalf of his wife as a result of the aforesaid accident.

After a trial on the merits in the three (3) cases, the district judge found the drivers of the Jeffers and Bostwick cars both negligent.

Each driver had contended in his pleadings filed in the district court that when he had entered the intersection, the traffic light was green for him. The district judge did not make a determination in his written opinion which of the drivers had entered the intersection when the traffic light was green. The district judge concluded that the change of the signal light occurred at' a time when neither driver could rely upon the traffic signal to give him the right-of-way regardless of other traffic approaching or in the intersection. In line with his holding, the judge, in suit No. 764, rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff and against defendants, Allstate Insurance Company and United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, in solido, in the sum of $2,635.85 with interest from judicial demand.

In suit No. 765, the trial judge rendered judgment in favor of Mrs. Jeffers against Allstate Insurance Company and United States Fidelity and Guaranty Company, in solido, in the sum of $7,500.00 with interest from judicial demand.

In suit No. 766, the trial judge rejected the demands of Jeffers and dismissed his suit at his costs.

In suit No. 764, both insurance companies appealed from the judgment of the district court.

In suit No. 765, both insurance companies appealed from the judgment of the district court.

In suit No. 766, plaintiff appealed from the judgment of the district court rejecting his demands and dismissing his suit.

At the time of the accident, in addition to the vehicles and persons already mentioned, one Clifford Kennerson was operating his car and it was in a stationary position on Seventh Street facing east, he being at the southwest corner of the intersection of Seventh and Kirkman Streets.

[426]*426All of the plaintiffs testified positively that the traffic light was green prior to and at the time the Jeffers car entered the intersection. Bostwick and Kennerson testified that the traffic light was red when the Jef-fers vehicle entered the intersection.

Bostwick testified he first saw the Jeffers car when it was approximately 100 to ISO feet from the intersection, and that at the time his car was approximately the same distance from the intersection. He also testified that at the time, he was traveling at about 15 to 20 miles per hour.

Jeffers estimated his speed at about 35 miles per hour prior to the impact and 30 miles per hour at the time of the impact.

It had been raining on the day of the accident, and the yellow or caution light on Kirkman Street was not working at the time of the accident. While Kennerson testified that the light was red when Jeffers entered the intersection, in a statement signed by him accompanied by a diagram of the intersection and the position of the respective cars, he stated the Jeffers car had already entered the intersection when the traffic light turned green for him (Kennerson). This statement, with the diagram of the street and vehicles, is in the record in suit No. 764.

This testimony together with the positive testimony of the three (3) plaintiffs that the light was green prior to and at the time that Jeffers entered the intersection, convinces this Court that when Jef-fers entered the intersection, he did so on a green light. At the time of the impact Kennerson had made no effort to cross the intersection, which fortifies the opinion of this Court that the light' was green when Jeffers entered the intersection.

We find certain statements made by Bost-wick to be inconsistent. If, shortly before the accident, the cars were of equal distance from the intersection as Bostwick testified, the Jeffers car would have completed the intersection before Bostwick would have reached it for Bostwick testified he was traveling 15 to 20 miles per hour whereas Jeffers testified he was traveling 35 miles per hour. Bostwick also admitted that he had given a statement after the accident that the traffic light changed from red to amber to green, but after returning to the scene of the accident, he discovered that he was in error and changed his testimony on this phase of the case.

The City policeman who investigated the accident was of the opinion that a speed of 35 miles an hour at the intersection of the accident was not excessive.

In the case of Potts v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Company, (La.App. 2 Cir., 1961), 135 So.2d 77, the court said:

“The rule is that a motorist must not enter an intersection after a ‘red’ light turns to ‘green’ until sufficient time is allowed for cross traffic already in the intersection to clear. Schindler v. Gage, La.App.Orleans, 1952, 59 So.2d 215; Blue Ribbon Cleaners v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., La.App. 4th Cir., 1961, 125 So.2d 613.”

The Supreme Court, in the case of Bryant v. Ouachita Coca-Cola Bottling Company, 239 La. 83, 117 So.2d 919, said:

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Related

Jeffers v. United States Fidelity & Guaranty Co.
149 So. 2d 428 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1963)

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149 So. 2d 424, 1963 La. App. LEXIS 1278, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sittig-v-united-states-fidelity-guaranty-co-lactapp-1963.