Trammel v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co.

637 So. 2d 517, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 4236, 1993 WL 651367
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedAugust 9, 1993
DocketNo. 92 CA 1313
StatusPublished

This text of 637 So. 2d 517 (Trammel v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance 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
Trammel v. State Farm Mutual Auto Insurance Co., 637 So. 2d 517, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 4236, 1993 WL 651367 (La. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

CRAIN, Judge.

Linda Trammel, a guest passenger in a vehicle owned and operated by her aunt, Shirley Hodge sued Ms. Hodge and her insurer, the Tangipahoa Parish Council, as the custodian of the roadway; General Motors Corporation, as the manufacturer of the vehicle’s seat belts, and plaintiff’s uninsured motorist carrier for injuries she claims she sustained, on April 23,1987, when the vehicle in which she was riding allegedly struck a “pothole” on South Thibodeaux Road in Poncha-toula, Louisiana. In a bifurcated trial1 judgment was rendered in favor of the appellees and against the plaintiff, dismissing her suit. Plaintiff and defendant, General Motors, appeal. In a single assignment of error the plaintiff appeals the jury verdict. Defendant, General Motors, seeks an award of expert fees. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The primary issue presented for our review is whether the jury erred in its findings that plaintiff was not injured in the alleged automobile accident which is the subject of this lawsuit.

The facts out of which this alleged accident arose are reflected in the record as follows:

On the date of this incident, April 23,1987, Shirley ^Hodge had travelled from her home on Sharp Road in Ponchatoula, Louisiana to the near-by home of her brother. The vehicle being operated at the time in question was a 1978 Cadillac, equipped with front-seat lap and shoulder belts. Ms. Hodge had left her brother’s house to return home when this incident occurred. She had been joined by her niece, Linda Trammel, who was a guest passenger seated in the front seat of Ms. Hodge’s vehicle. Plaintiff testified she was wearing the seat/shoulder belt around her at the time of the alleged accident.

Shortly before this accident, the couple was engaged in conversation, with the driver and passenger periodically glancing at each other as they spoke. The roadway was dry; it was late afternoon and the driver was proceeding at the rate of approximately 45 miles per hour in a southerly direction on South Thibodeaux Road. The vehicle, in which the pair was riding, allegedly struck a hole in the surface of the roadway. The hole was described as being the size “of a 50 gallon drum” (in diameter) and having a depth of approximately “8 to 9 inches”. According to Ms. Hodge, at the time of impact, her car hood suddenly opened and she applied her brakes. The doors to the car were jammed closed by the impact. The car rolled and then stopped. Ms. Hodge indicated that [519]*519she did not see the hole in the roadway because she was engaged in conversation with, and looking at her niece, at the time of this incident. She admitted that she could have gotten around the hole if she had seen it. She also indicated that she had travelled this road before the date of the accident and was familiar with the general condition of this road, but she did not previously notice the hole. Ms. Hodge indicated that she did not receive assistance after the accident because no one was on the road. No report of the incident was made to the Parish and the record does not indicate that an accident report was filed.

According to Ms. Trammel, at the time of impact, the car’s safety belt did not restrain her and she was injured when her hands struck the vehicle’s dashboard. Although she lived in the vicinity of the road, Ms. Trammel stated that this was not a road Igwith which she was familiar. She had trav-elled down this road once, long ago. She did, however, know that the hole in the road was filled three days after this alleged incident.

On appeal, plaintiff contends that the jury erred in finding that she did not suffer injuries from this alleged automobile accident. We cannot agree.

In the recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision of Stobart v. State of Louisiana, Through Department of Transportation and Development 617 So.2d. 880 (La., 1993) the court discussed, in detail, the standard by which we review a trial court’s findings of fact. In Stobert, id. at 882-883 the Supreme Court stated:

A court of appeal may not set aside a trial court’s or a jury’s finding of fact in the absence of ‘manifest error’ or unless it is ‘clearly wrong.’ Rosell v. Esco, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989). This court has announced a two-part test for the reversal of a factfinder’s determinations:
1) The appellate court must find from the record that a reasonable factual basis does not exist for the finding of the trial court, and
2) the appellate court must further determine that the record establishes that the finding is clearly wrong (manifestly erroneous).
See Mart v. Hill, 505 So.2d 1120, 1127 (La.1987).
This test dictates that a reviewing court must do more than simply review the record for some evidence which supports or controverts the trial court’s finding Id. The reviewing court must review the record in its entirety to determine whether the trial court’s finding was clearly -wrong or manifestly erroneous.
Nevertheless, the issue to be resolved by a reviewing court is not whether the trier of fact was right or wrong, but whether the factfinder’s conclusion was a reasonable one. See generally, Cosse v. Allenr-Brad-ley Co., 601 So.2d 1349, 1351 (La.1992); Housley v. Cerise, 579 So.2d 973 (La.1991); Sistler v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 558 So.2d 1106, 1112 (La.1990)). Even though an appellate court may feel its own evaluations and inferences are more reasonable than the factfinder’s, reasonable evaluations of credibility and reasonable inferences of fact should not be disturbed upon review where conflict exists in the testimony. Rosell v. Esco, 549 So.2d 840 (La.1989); Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978). However, where documents or | objective evidence so contradict the witness’s story, or the story itself is so internally inconsistent or implausible on its face, that a reasonable factfinder would not credit the witness’s story, the court of appeal may find manifest error or clear wrongness even in a finding purportedly based upon a credibility determination. Rosell, 549 So.2d at 844-45. Nonetheless, this Court has emphasized that “the reviewing court must always keep in mind that ‘if the trial court or jury’s findings are reasonable in light of the record reviewed in its entirety, the court of appeal may not reverse, even if convinced that had it been sitting as the trier of fact, it would have weighed the evidence differently.’ ” Hous-ley v. Cerise, 579 So.2d 973 (La.1991) 0quoting Sistler v. Liberty Mutual Ins. Co., 558 So.2d 1106, 1112 (La.1990)).
This court has recognized that ‘[t]he reason for this well-settled principle of review is based not only upon the trial court’s better capacity to evaluate live witnesses [520]*520(as compared with the appellate court’s access only to a cold record), but also upon the proper allocation of trial and appellate functions between the respective courts.’ Canter v. Koehring Co, 283 So.2d 716 (La.1973). Thus, where two permissible views of the evidence exist, the factfinder’s choice between them cannot be manifestly erroneous or clearly wrong. Id.

The following evidence exists concerning the alleged pothole and resultant “accident”.

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Related

Arceneaux v. Domingue
365 So. 2d 1330 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1978)
Cosse v. Allen-Bradley Co.
601 So. 2d 1349 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1992)
Rosell v. Esco
549 So. 2d 840 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1989)
Sistler v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co.
558 So. 2d 1106 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1990)
Housley v. Cerise
579 So. 2d 973 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1991)
Canter v. Koehring Company
283 So. 2d 716 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1973)
Mart v. Hill
505 So. 2d 1120 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 1987)
Fireman's Fund Insurance v. Moore
432 So. 2d 374 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
637 So. 2d 517, 1993 La. App. LEXIS 4236, 1993 WL 651367, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trammel-v-state-farm-mutual-auto-insurance-co-lactapp-1993.