Travelers Insurance Co. v. Great American Indem. Co.

113 So. 2d 815, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1239
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 30, 1959
Docket4865
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 113 So. 2d 815 (Travelers Insurance Co. v. Great American Indem. 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
Travelers Insurance Co. v. Great American Indem. Co., 113 So. 2d 815, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1239 (La. Ct. App. 1959).

Opinion

113 So.2d 815 (1959)

TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
GREAT AMERICAN INDEMNITY COMPANY, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 4865.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, First Circuit.

June 30, 1959.

Christovich & Kearney, New Orleans, for appellant.

Reid & Macy, Hammond, for appellee.

Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER and TATE, JJ.

ELLIS, Judge.

This is a case involving an intersectional collision which occurred in the city of Hammond, La., in the year 1950 and which lay dormant on the docket of the court after answer filed on March 6, 1951, until trial on January 14, 1959. Judgment was rendered on January 20, 1959 with written reasons *816 assigned in favor of the plaintiff, and the defendant has appealed to this court.

In the early morning of February 20, 1950 A. E. Little was driving a new Studebaker automobile, which was insured by the plaintiff company, in an easterly direction on East Coleman Avenue in the City of Hammond, Louisiana, and Chaney Harvell was operating a highway department truck in a southerly direction on South Cypress Street. There are no traffic controls at the intersection of these two streets and neither has been designated as a right of way street, but as the vehicle of the plaintiff assured was traveling in an easterly direction to the right of the highway commission dump truck, which was traveling south, the former, under the law of this State as set forth in LSA-R.S. 32:237, subd. A, had the right of way. Therein the law provides:

"A. When two vehicles approach or enter an intersection at approximately the same time, the driver approaching from the right shall have the right of way. The driver of any vehicle traveling at an unlawful rate of speed or in an unlawful manner shall forfeit any right of way which he might otherwise have."

In the recent case of Gutierrez v. Columbia Casualty Co., La.App., 100 So.2d 537, 539, the Orleans Circuit with Judge Regan as the organ of the court involving a case under LSA-R.S. 32:237, subd. E, stated:

"In a relatively recent case we commented that judicially we are tending more and more toward an appreciation of the truth that, in the last analysis, there are few rules in tort cases that permit of universal application; there are principally standards and degrees for the reason that no one is so gifted with foresight that he or she can anticipate all possible human events and prescribe in advance thereof the proper rule for each. It is a question of degree whether a person is negligent, that is, guilty of conduct likely to cause harm, as distinguished from freedom from negligence, that is due care.

"Fortunately, in this case the burden of precisely evaluating the degree or standard of care which each litigant was required to exercise under the facts enumerated hereinabove has, to a great extent, been alleviated by virtue of legislative intervention, which has pronounced that:

"`The driver of a vehicle entering a public highway from a private road * * * shall yield the right of way to all vehicles approaching on the public highway.'

"Of course, the rationale of the foregoing statute may not be interpreted to mean that a motorist may, in the face of imminent danger, simply rely upon the right of way accorded him by law and recklessly drive along the highway with complete abandonment of all caution, but it does mean that a motorist who in the exercise of ordinary care is driving in a public highway should not be held to the same standard or degree of care and vigilance as if no such expression of the legislative intent existed. He has the right therefore to assume, unless danger can be reasonably anticipated or is otherwise imminent, that the promulgated law relating to this rule of the road is understood and will be observed, and he is not required to search in anticipation of other motorists who may, in violation thereof, enter any portion of a public highway from a private road or driveway without being relatively certain that it is safe to do so." (Emphasis added.)

In Gautreaux v. Southern Farm Bureau Casualty Co., La.App., 83 So.2d 667, 669, which involved an intersectional collision, we stated:

"In our opinion, the able District Court correctly felt that the motorist on the favored street should be permitted to rely on the existence of a stopsign inhibiting the entrance of traffic from inferior streets; but we feel that the mere fact he failed to see whether the other automobile did or did not stop does not constitute contributory negligence. *817 To bar recovery, the deficient lookout must be a proximate cause of the accident.

"To paraphrase the rule we have stated several times: A motorist crossing an intersection has the right to rely on the assumption that those approaching it will respect a stopsign which the motorist knows is located there, and accordingly he may proceed. If, however, in driving on the favored street he sees, or in the exercise of due care should see, that the other vehicle neglected to make the stop required by law, the motorist may himself be under a duty of stopping if by the exercise of reasonable care on his part the accident could have been avoided at the time he saw or should have seen the other vehicle violating its legal duty to stop before entering the favored thoroughfare. See Blashfield, Cyclopedia of Automobile Law and Practice, (Perm. Edition) Volume 2, Section 1032, pp. 333-334, cited in Miller v. Abshire, La.App. 1 Cir., 68 So.2d 143; Droddy v. Southern Bus Lines, Inc., La.App. 1 Cir., 26 So.2d 761; Termini v. Aetna Life Insurance Co., La.App. 1 Cir., 19 So.2d 286. See also Federal Insurance Co. v. Lepine, La.App. 1 Cir., 55 So.2d 83, where excessive speed on part of driver on main thoroughfare at blind intersection was held not to be proximate cause of accident.

"In the everyday world, ordinarily prudent motorists on the main thoroughfare do not slow before each corner and attempt to peer down the sidestreets, but instead concentrate most of their attention on the path ahead, relying on their legal `right of way'. Legislative provisions for right of way are to facilitate the passage of traffic in this congested twentieth century world. If to accomplish this purpose, and in realization that even observing the path ahead may tax the ordinary motorists' powers of sustained observation, the legislature has relieved the motorist on the right of way street of a duty ordinarily to slow before each intersection (and, consequently, of a duty to take his attention from the path ahead by darting glances each way down the intersecting streets), appellate courts should not supply artificial standards in an unrealistic attempt to allocate damages after an accident has occurred.

* * * * * *

"We do not view defendant's claim to have pre-empted the intersection as well founded since as we have observed only recently, `The right of pre-emption is not accorded the driver who blindly enters a favored street, without regard to oncoming traffic, and then attempts to absolve himself of liability because of the mere fact that he was there first', Sonnier v. United States Fidelity and Guaranty Co., La.App. 1 Cir., 79 So.2d 635, at page 638. Pre-emption means entry into an intersection with the opportunity to clear same without (Under reasonably anticipated conditions) obstructing the passage of approaching vehicles, Wilson v. Williams, La.App. 1 Cir., 82 So. 2d 71."

Again in Commercial Credit Corporation v. Serpas, La.App., 94 So.2d 83, 85, we restated the rule of law as to intersectional collisions as follows:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
113 So. 2d 815, 1959 La. App. LEXIS 1239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/travelers-insurance-co-v-great-american-indem-co-lactapp-1959.