Solomon v. American National Property & Casualty Co.

175 So. 3d 1024, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1641, 2015 WL 5175022
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 4, 2015
DocketNo. 49,981-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 175 So. 3d 1024 (Solomon v. American National Property & Casualty 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
Solomon v. American National Property & Casualty Co., 175 So. 3d 1024, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1641, 2015 WL 5175022 (La. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinions

STEWART, J.

.|,The defendants, Sarah Tugwell (“Tug-well”) and her insurer, American National General Insurance Company, appeal a judgment finding them liable for damages to the plaintiffs, Joseph Solomon (“Solomon”)' and Betty Blount (“Blount”), stemming from an automobile accident. Blount entered the intersection from a stop sign after being beckoned by a phantom driver stopped in traffic. Tugwell, who was. traveling on the favored roadway, collided into the.vehicle driven by Blount. The trial court assigned 80 percent of the fault to Tugwell. and 20 percent to Blount. Finding no basis for the trial court’s finding of any fault on the part of Tugwell, we reverse the trial court’s judgment.

FACTS

The vehicular accident occurred on January 23, 2013, in Monroe at the intersection of North 8th Street, which is controlled by a stop sign, and Louisville Avenue, the favored four-lane, east-west thoroughfare. The plaintiffs were traveling on North 8th Street, with Blount driving a Hyundai Elantra owned by Solomon, who Was in the front passenger seat. Tugwell was traveling west on [1026]*1026Louisville and was driving a Chevrolet Tahoe.

Blount and Solomon testified that, when they came to the stop sign at the intersection, the traffic in the outside westbound lane of Louisville was backed up due to an accident further up the roadway at the intersection of Louisville and North 6th Street. After waiting at the stop sign for five to ten minutes, the driver of a vehicle stopped at the intersection in the westbound lane of traffic waved them through. Both Blount and Solomon testified that they had noticed the Tahoe sitting in the westbound lane of traffic a few | ¿vehicles behind the vehicle of the driver who waved them through. They testified that as Blount entered the intersection, the Tahoe darted into the inside westbound lane of Louisville and then collided into the driver’s side of the Elantra in the inside westbound lane of Louisville.

Tugwell testified that she had turned onto Louisville from Sleepy Hollow, which was about one or two blocks before the intersection where the accident occurred. She claimed that she entered and remained traveling in the inside westbound lane. She testified that traffic on Louisville was congested, but moving. She did not notice that any traffic was stopped or that there was an accident ahead at Louisville and North 6th Street. As she approached the intersection at North 8th Street, Tugwell glimpsed a car that appeared to be running the stop sign. She was unable to avoid the collision. She testified that she was not speeding, and she was not ticketed by the police.

Corporal L. Quillar of the Monroe Police Department arrived at the accident scene within minutes. The vehicles were still on the roadway where the accident had occurred. Quillar spoke to both drivers and Solomon. According to Quillar, Tugwell reported that she swerved to avoid the car as it pulled out in front of her from the stop sign. Quillar testified that the damage to the Tahoe’s right front quarter panel was consistent with what Tugwell reported. Quillar testified that Blount reported that another driver waved her through the intersection and that she did not see the Tahoe approaching in the inside lane. Quillar ticketed Blount for failure to yield at the stop sign. Quillar indicated that Blount would have been unable to see Istraffic approaching in the inside lane and that it was not safe driving for her to proceed across just because another driver waved her through.

The plaintiffs also presented testimony from the. officer who worked the accident at Louisville and North 6th Street. That officer indicated that the flasher lights on his vehicle would have been activated so as to alert motorists to drive with caution due to the emergency situation. He also testified that an ambulance and the fire department also responded to the accident. He did not indicate whether the lights on those vehicles were also activated.

In a written ruling, the trial court found that traffic on Louisville was congested and backed up due to the prior accident at the North 6th Street intersection. The trial court also found that an unknown motorist beckoned Blount to proceed from the stop sign and that the Elantra was then struck by the Tahoe in the inside westbound lane of Louisville. The trial court believed Blount’s and Solomon’s claim that Tugwell moved from the outside lane to the inside lane and found that Tugwell’s failure to notice the emergency vehicles and flashing lights from the prior accident ahead indicated her “obliviousness to her surroundings.” Though recognizing that a motorist at a stop sign must yield to favored traffic, the trial court found that “Blount had sufficiently established herself in the traffic flow crossing Louisville to the [1027]*1027extent that oncoming traffic on Louisville had an obligation to exercise due care to avoid a collision.” The trial court assigned 20 percent of the fault to Blount and 80 percent to Tugwell. Accordingly, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiffs ^awarding damages in the amounts of $2,200 to Solomon and $6,158.33 to Blount.

Challenging the allocation of fault and the award of damages, the defendants’ filed a suspensive appeal.

DISCUSSION

The defendants argue that the trial court erred in assigning 80 percent of the fault to Tugwell and minimal fault to Blount. They argue that, even accepting the version of events related by Blount and Solomon, there is no evidence in the record to support the assignment of any fault to Tugwell.

A trial court’s factual findings are accorded great weight and will not be disturbed on appeal absent manifest error. Rosell v. ESCO, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989). The allocation of fault is a question of fact for the trial court to decide. Underwood v. Dunbar, 628 So.2d 211 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1993), writ denied, 94-0026 (La.2/25/94), 632 So.2d 767. The appellate court should not disturb the trial court’s allocation of fault unless it is clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Adams v. Rhodia, Inc., 07-2110 (La.5/21/08), 983 So.2d 798. After reviewing the entire record, the appellate court may reverse the trier of fact’s findings if there is no reasonable factual basis for such findings, and the record establishes that the trier of fact was clearly wrong or manifestly erroneous. Salvant v. State, 05-2126 (La.7/6/06), 935 So.2d 646; Stobart v. State Through DOTD, 617 So.2d 880 (La.1993).

In Watson v. State Farm Fire and Cas. Ins. Co., 469 So.2d 967, 974 (La.1985), the supreme court set forth the following factors to be | ¿considered in reviewing the allocation of fault for manifest error: (1) whether the conduct resulted from inadvertence or involved an awareness of danger; (2) how great a risk was created by the conduct; (3) the significance of what was sought by the conduct; (4) the superi- or or inferior capacities of the actors; and (5) the existence of extenuating circumstances that might have required the actor to proceed in haste, without proper thought. Consideration should also be given to the relationship between the fault / negligent conduct and the harm to the plaintiff. Id.

We look first to the conduct of the parties in light of their respective duties. La. R.S. 32:123(B) sets forth the duty applicable to a motorist approaching a stop sign at an intersection:

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175 So. 3d 1024, 2015 La. App. LEXIS 1641, 2015 WL 5175022, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/solomon-v-american-national-property-casualty-co-lactapp-2015.