White v. Austin

798 So. 2d 1127, 0 La.App. 4 Cir. 2316, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 2387, 2001 WL 1329219
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedOctober 3, 2001
DocketNo. 2000-CA-2316
StatusPublished

This text of 798 So. 2d 1127 (White v. Austin) 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
White v. Austin, 798 So. 2d 1127, 0 La.App. 4 Cir. 2316, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 2387, 2001 WL 1329219 (La. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

1KIRBY, Judge.

Plaintiffs, Queenie White and Lois Thomas, appeal the trial court’s judgment dismissing their claims against defendants, Felicia Austin and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company. We affirm.

Plaintiffs and defendant Austin were involved in a vehicular collision at the intersection of North Galvez Street and Ursuline Avenue on May 23, 1997. Plaintiffs filed a petition for damages against defendants, alleging that plaintiffs were traveling eastbound on North Galvez through its intersection with Ursuline on a green light, when a vehicle driven by Austin entered the intersection from Ursuline causing a collision between the two vehicles.

The first witness that testified at trial was Mr. Lester Jackson. Jackson testified that he witnessed the accident in question on the morning of May 23, 1997. He stated that he was traveling in a southbound direction on Ursuline, when he saw a funeral procession that was traveling in a northbound direction on Ursuline. He said he saw a police officer on a motorcycle that was stopped in the middle of the intersection of Ursuline and North Galvez. Jackson said that just as the officer was leaving the intersection, the traffic light changed to green for the cars on Ursuline. After the light changed to green for traffic on Ursuline, Jackson | gsaw a car traveling eastbound on Galvez enter the intersection at “a tremendous speed,” pass in front of his vehicle and then hit the defendant’s vehicle, which was in the middle of a funeral procession. He said that the driver of the car that struck the defendant’s vehicle appeared to apply the brakes before the impact because the car looked like it slid into the other vehicle. He said it was obvious to him that the cars traveling northbound on Ursuline were in a funeral procession. He also said the funeral procession was about five blocks long.

On cross-examination, Jackson testified that after witnessing the accident, he initially did not stop, but continued to his mother’s house several blocks away. After talking with his mother about the accident he witnessed, he decided to go back to the accident scene and report what he saw. His testimony was “my conscience told me that I needed to go back and say that I did see the accident and that’s what I did.” [1129]*1129Jackson said that he approached the investigating officer and told him that he saw the accident. He said the officer wrote down Jackson’s name and telephone number and then directed him to tell what he saw to the occupants of the car that was struck while traveling in the funeral procession. The officer did not ask Jackson for any details about the accident. Jackson testified that he did not remember what any of the women involved in the accident looked like and did not recognize them at trial.

Felicia Austin testified that she was driving her car in a funeral procession on Ursuline Avenue on May 23, 1997, when she was involved in a collision. She said that her car lights were turned on while she traveled in the funeral procession, which was escorted by police on motorcycles. Austin said that Kim Douglas and Jensey Gordon were passengers in her vehicle. She testified that as she entered the intersection of Ursuline and Galvez, her vehicle was struck on the driver’s side |3by another vehicle, which then caused her vehicle to slide into a parked truck on the side of the street. She said she was not paying attention to the color of the traffic lights because she “didn’t think it made a difference if the police stopped everything.” Austin said a police officer came to the scene of the accident and recorded the names of those involved in the accident. She said the officer who investigated the accident was not one of the police escorts for the funeral procession. She said she did not know Lester Jackson, but she remembered that he gave her his name and number after the accident.

On cross-examination, Austin said the front grill of her car suffered slight damage when her car hit the parked truck after the car on Galvez struck her vehicle on the driver’s side. She disputed the statement in the police report that there were only two cars involved in the accident and that the only damage to her vehicle was on the driver’s side. She said that after the collision, the driver of the other car started yelling at her and accusing her of running a red light. Austin said she told the woman that she was in a funeral procession, and then asked the woman if she saw the police officer on the motorcycle that was in the intersection right before the collision occurred. Austin said the woman said she never saw the police and then continued yelling at her.

The next witness was Kim Douglas, a passenger in the vehicle driven by Felicia Austin. She corroborated Felicia Austin’s testimony about how the accident occurred.

Lois Thomas testified that she was a passenger in the vehicle driven by Queenie White at the time of the accident on May 28,1997. She stated that their vehicle was headed eastbound on Galvez and that they had a green light as they entered the intersection of Galvez and Ursuline. Their vehicle collided with | ¿Austin’s vehicle in the intersection. She said she saw nothing to indicate that Austin’s vehicle was in a funeral procession. Thomas stated that she did not see Lester Jackson after the accident. She did speak to the police officer.

On cross-examination, Thomas said there were two vehicles involved in the accident, and she did not see Austin’s vehicle collide into a third vehicle. She said she did not see anything that looked like a funeral procession, and that there were no other vehicles in sight. She did not see any vehicles in front of or behind Austin’s vehicle, and she did not see a police officer on motorcycle at the intersection.

Queenie White testified that she was driving on Galvez Street toward its intersection with Ursuline Avenue. She stated that she proceeded through the intersec[1130]*1130tion on a green light. After the collision between her vehicle and Austin’s vehicle, White says that she went up to Austin and asked her if she realized that she ran a red light. White claims that Austin said she admitted running a red light but said she was in a funeral procession. White testified that she asked Austin where the rest of the procession was because there were no other cars around, and that Austin then looked around and uttered a profane word. At that point, White said that she walked back to her car and waited for the police officer to arrive. She said Lester Jackson was not at the scene of the accident and that she had never seen him prior to the trial.

On cross-examination, White stated that Austin’s vehicle did not hit a parked truck after the collision with White’s vehicle. She said that she spoke to the police officer that investigated the accident. She testified that there was no funeral procession going through the intersection of Gal-vez and Ursuline at the time of the accident. She said there were no limousines, police officers on motorcycles, or |Bcars driving with lights turned on. White said that there were no other cars at all passing through the intersection at the time of the accident.

She said she did not hit her brakes before the impact because she was going through the intersection on a green light and did not think she had any need to apply her brakes. She also said her foot was on the gas pedal at the time of the collision. However, on redirect examination, White stated that she slammed on her brakes when she saw Austin’s car enter the intersection.

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Bluebook (online)
798 So. 2d 1127, 0 La.App. 4 Cir. 2316, 2001 La. App. LEXIS 2387, 2001 WL 1329219, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/white-v-austin-lactapp-2001.