Tate v. Hill

197 So. 2d 107
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 9, 1967
Docket6877
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 197 So. 2d 107 (Tate v. Hill) 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
Tate v. Hill, 197 So. 2d 107 (La. Ct. App. 1967).

Opinion

197 So.2d 107 (1967)

Bennie G. TATE, Sr., Individually and as Administrator of his Minor Son, Bennie G. Tate, Jr., Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Barney W. HILL, Jr. and Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, Defendants-Appellee.

No. 6877.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

March 13, 1967.
Rehearing Denied April 17, 1967.
Writ Refused June 9, 1967.

*108 Alex Wall, of Dodd, Hirsch, Barker, Avant & Wall, Baton Rouge, for appellant.

Maurice J. Wilson, of Breazeale, Sachse & Wilson, Baton Rouge, for appellee.

Before LOTTINGER, REID and SARTAIN, JJ.

SARTAIN, Judge.

Plaintiff, Bennie G. Tate, Sr. individually and as administrator of the estate of his twelve year old son, Bennie G. Tate, Jr., instituted this suit to recover expenses incurred by him and for personal injuries sustained by his minor son growing out of a pedestrian-automobile accident which occurred on March 6, 1965. Defendants are Barney W. Hill, Jr., owner and operator of a 1956 Studebaker automobile and Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, public liability insurer of petitioner and responsible to petitioner by virtue of the uninsured motorists clause of its policy in the event of liability on the part of defendant, Hill. Judgment was rendered in the district court finding the minor son guilty of negligence, absolving Hill of negligence and rejecting plaintiff's plea of last clear chance. Plaintiff appeals from this adverse judgment. Only defendant, Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, has answered the appeal and urges the correctness of the trial judge's decision.

Plaintiff resides on the south side of U. S. Highway 190 (Baton Rouge-Hammond) approximately 4½ miles west of Hammond. An older son, Emmett Tate, resides on the north side of said Highway 190 and directly in front of plaintiff. Young Bennie Tate was going from the Emmett Tate residence to his father's home and was running in a southerly direction across Highway 190 when he was struck by Hill's automobile. The point of impact was 3 feet south of the center line of Highway 190 or in the lane for eastbound traffic.

Highway 190 at this point is straight and level for some distance. It is a standard hard surfaced highway measuring 24 feet in width, 12 feet for each direction of traffic. The width of the shoulder is not indicated in the record. Paralleling the highway and the shoulder on the north is a ditch approximately 2 feet in depth. The width of the ditch is not given; however, it is conceded that the depth of the ditch did not obstruct or hinder the view of drivers traveling in either direction along the highway of persons walking in or across the ditch. The accident occurred around *109 5:30 P.M., visibility was good, the weather was clear, and the road dry.

Shortly before the accident young Tate was with Emmett Tate at the latter's residence and was watching television. Emmett left him there with instructions to turn the set off when he had concluded and return to his father's home for supper. All the lad recalls of the events leading up to the accident was turning the set off and taking several steps towards the door.

Defendant Hill testified that he was traveling eastward on U. S. Highway 190 at approximately 55 miles per hour. He first observed the boy from a distance of 300 feet. The lad was running in a southerly direction and at a slight angle in his direction. When Hill had narrowed the distance to 150 or 200 feet young Tate had come up to the ditch, across the shoulder and stepped onto the road. When the boy was about in the center of the westbound traffic lane he hesitated and then darted in front of his automobile. He applied his brakes when he was about 100 feet away but could not avoid hitting the boy. Hill further testified that he had previously observed a pickup truck traveling towards him at some distance at the same time he observed the movements of young Tate. He explained that when it was evident to him that the boy was going to cross his path all he could do was to apply his brakes, "* * * if I had went to the right if he had kept running I would have hit him on the shoulder, and if I went on down in the ditch it would have turned over and I might have turned over on him and it would have been both of us, and if I had went to the left I would have hit that truck head on." The left front of his car struck the youth, knocking him up and over the vehicle and a distance of some 60 feet. From the point of impact, Hill's vehicle skidded a distance of 120 feet and came to rest on the south shoulder of the highway facing west and even with the spot where the pickup truck had come to a stop.

The driver of the pickup truck was one Fleet Blackwell, Jr., whose testimony was taken by deposition and filed in the record. This witness stated that he was traveling westward on U. S. Highway 190 between 60 and 65 miles per hour and when he was 100 to 150 yards from the point of impact he saw young Tate cross the ditch on the north side of the highway, run up on the shoulder and onto the highway, where he momentarily hesitated and then made another start and ran into the path of Hill's oncoming car. He stated that he began to "brake" his vehicle to where he could stop when he observed the boy cross the ditch and come onto the shoulder, and had completely stopped by the time young Tate's body had fallen to the pavement and before Hill's vehicle came to rest beside him. He placed his position 125 feet from the point of impact, 60 to 75 feet from young Tate's body, and even with Hill's vehicle. He was asked if he had observed defendant prior to the accident and stated, "I don't remember seeing that car at all until it hit the boy, I had my eye on that kid in the highway." The witness further stated that Hill's skid marks commenced at the point of impact and continued eastward "up to where his car actually left the pavement and started into the ditch * * *" He further stated that young Tate looked both ways when he was in the act of crossing the highway and had momentarily paused. This witness placed the point of impact at 3 feet south of the center parallel line of the highway.

Concerning the action of young Tate while in the middle of the westbound lane of traffic, Hill stated "then he hesitated". The witness Blackwell stated that the boy "momentarily hesitated" and also "a pause more or less". However, the evidence shows that the lad was in fact running from the time he was observed in the ditch on the north side of the highway to the moment of impact. Probably a better description of the action of this youth at this moment was that he "broke his stride".

Trooper C. E. Chandler, with the Louisiana State Police arrived at the scene of the *110 accident shortly after young Tate was taken by ambulance to the Baton Rouge General Hospital in Baton Rouge. He testified that there was no abrupt change in the skid marks left by Hill's automobile nor was there any debris on the road itself and accordingly he could not determine the point of impact. He did, however, step off 120 feet of skid marks left by Hill's vehicle. These skid marks were all located in Hill's or the eastbound lane of traffic. They commenced at a point near the driveway leading into the Sr. Tate's residence. The trooper further testified that he observed no defects in the mechanical condition of the Hill vehicle. His comment was there was sufficient skid marks to indicate that the defendant's vehicle's brakes were functioning properly.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 So. 2d 107, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tate-v-hill-lactapp-1967.