Smart v. Calhoun

174 So. 3d 168, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1456, 2015 WL 4549464
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 29, 2015
DocketNo. 49,943-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 174 So. 3d 168 (Smart v. Calhoun) 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
Smart v. Calhoun, 174 So. 3d 168, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1456, 2015 WL 4549464 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

STEWART, J.

hThe plaintiffs filed suit for damages after their daughters were involved in an automobile accident while driving to school. While making a right turn, they collided with the defendant’s vehicle, which had made a left turn at the intersection. The trial court denied both parties’ motions for summary judgment. After a bench trial, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant upon concluding that she had completed her left turn and was operating her vehicle within her lawful lane of travel when the accident occurred. The plaintiffs now appeal both the denial of their motion for summary judgment and the trial court’s judgment in favor of the defendant. While we find that summary judgment was properly denied, we also find that the trial court erred in concluding that the plaintiff driver was solely at fault in causing the accident.' Based on our review of the record, we cast each driver with 50 percent of the fault and award damages as set forth below.

FACTS

On the morning of May 10, 2012, Rita Calhoun (“Rita”), age 69, and Courtney Smart (“Courtney”), a minor who had gotten her driver’s license on February 2, 2012, were involved in an automobile accident on Highway 165 South (“the highway”), also referred to as Sterlington Road, just beyond its intersection with Garden Lane and Medical Park Drive in Monroe, Louisiana. On a green light, Rita had taken a left turn onto the highway from Medical Park Drive, and Courtney had taken a right onto the highway from Garden Lane. Medical Park Drive is to the east of the highway, and Garden Lane is opposite on the west side of the highway. Courtney and her |2passenger, Michele Holman (“Michele”), were on their way to school, and Rita was on her way to work after having just left her son’s medical office. The collision damaged the driver’s side rear quarter panel of the Hyundai Elantra that Courtney was driving and the passenger side front lower corner of Rita’s Toyota Avalon.

Courtney’s parents, Lisa and Roosevelt Smart, along with Michele’s father, Mikel Holman, filed suit against Rita and her insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. They claimed that [171]*171Courtney had turned right from Garden Lane onto the highway when Rita made a left turn without yielding the right of way at the intersection and hit Courtney’s vehicle. In her answer, Rita denied the allegations of the petition, and she filed an amended answer in which she alleged Courtney’s fault in causing in the accident by turning into her path.

The plaintiffs filed a motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of Rita’s liability. They alleged that, as the left-turning motorist, Rita was solely at fault in causing the accident. Thereafter, Rita filed a motion for summary judgment seeking dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims. Rita asserted that she had completed her left turn and was heading south on the left lane of the highway when Courtney made a right turn from Garden Lane into the left lane of the highway and collided with her. Finding there to be genuine issues of material fact as to how the accident occurred, the trial court denied both parties’ motions, and the matter proceeded to a bench trial.

I aRita testified that she traveled on Medical Park Drive to the intersection with the highway, where she stopped at the red traffic light before taking a left onto the highway. She recalled a truck at the intersection opposite her with its blinker on, indicating that it was turning right. She stated that there was no other vehicle behind the truck. When the light turned green, Rita waited for the truck to turn before she made a left turn into the lane nearest the median, namely, the inside lane, of the highway. Even though cross-examination exposed some discrepancies between Rita’s testimony and statements made during her deposition and in discovery, Rita remained adamant that she was fully in the inside lane and headed south when Courtney came across into her lane ahead of her. However, Rita gave conflicting testimony as to whether she saw Courtney’s vehicle before the accident. Rita described the collision as “just a jolt” and noted that her air bag did not deploy. Rita denied sustaining any injuries, but plaintiffs’ counsel impeached her with a release signed by her and her husband purporting to settle her personal injury claim and his property damage claim against the Smarts. The release indicated that GEICO, the Smarts’ insurer, settled Rita’s claim for $3,200, when the cost of repairs to her vehicle was $1,620. Rita maintained that the release was wrong and that she did not get a check for $3,200.

Courtney testified that she was at the intersection waiting to turn right from Garden Lane onto the highway. She stated that she activated her blinker to signal her intent to turn right. When the light turned green, she turned right heading into the left, inside lane of the highway. Courtney |4explained that she needed to take a left turn one or two miles up the highway, so she turned into the left lane. She stated that the collision occurred as she was turning and that her vehicle was about halfway inside the left lane of the highway. Courtney testified that she did not see Rita’s vehicle prior to the impact.

Courtney’s passenger, Michele, testified that she was' looking down at her phone. Therefore, her testimony did not shed much light on what occurred. According to Michele, Courtney took a right turn into the left lane of the highway, and the impact occurred before the turn was completed.

Corporal Carrie Hatcher of the Monroe Police Department responded to the accident scene. Hatcher estimated that the collision occurred about 50 feet south of the intersection. She stated that debris from the accident was located in the inside lane of the highway and that the damage to the vehicles was indicative of a side [172]*172impact. According to Hatcher, both drivers gave conflicting versions of what occurred.

The trial court denied the plaintiffs’ motion for a directed verdict and took the matter under advisement. On July 31, 2014, the trial court rendered a judgment dismissing the plaintiffs’ claims. The trial court ruled in favor of Rita even while expressing some concern regarding her testimony about the settlement of her claim and while praising Courtney and Michele as “exceptional individuals” because they were among the valedictorians in them high school graduating class. The trial court concluded that the accident occurred in the left lane closest to the median, that Rita was lawfully operating her vehicle in that lane after having completed her leftjjturn, and that Courtney caused the accident because she did not turn into the right lane when making her right turn or she moved into the left lane soon after turning. The trial court’s ruling was based, in part, on its appreciation of the damage, as follows:

Considering that the back of the Plaintiffs’ vehicle was not damaged in any way and only the back quarter panel . portion of the Plaintiffs’ car was damaged, the Court must conclude that [Courtney] ran into [Rita], The Court believes that if [Rita] were to have caused the accident, then damage would be associated with the back of the Smart vehicle.

The plaintiffs now appeal the denial of their motion for partial summary judgment and the judgment in favor of the defendants.

DISCUSSION

Denial of Motion for Summary Judgment

The plaintiffs assert that the trial court erred as a matter of law in denying their motion for partial summary judgment on the issue of the defendant’s fault.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Port City Glass & Paint Inc. v. Simmie Brooks
266 So. 3d 516 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019)
Brown v. Affirmative Cas. Ins. Co.
263 So. 3d 636 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2019)
Bouquet v. Williams
206 So. 3d 232 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
Ellis v. Brown
196 So. 3d 665 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)
Mosley v. Griffin
191 So. 3d 16 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 2016)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
174 So. 3d 168, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1456, 2015 WL 4549464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smart-v-calhoun-lactapp-2015.