Whittey v. Locascio

76 So. 2d 455, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 956
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedNovember 8, 1954
DocketNo. 20234
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 76 So. 2d 455 (Whittey v. Locascio) 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
Whittey v. Locascio, 76 So. 2d 455, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 956 (La. Ct. App. 1954).

Opinion

JANVIER, Judge.

At about 3:30 o’clock on the afternoon of August 1st, 1951, on South Claiborne Avenue near the corner of Perdido Street, in New Orleans, Marshall D. Whittey, a boy eleven years of age, sustained physical injuries when he was struck by an automobile which was owned and driven by Nat J. Loc-ascio, who was an employee of Rosemond J. Dufour and who, at the time, was operating his car in the course and scope of his employment.

Alleging that the accident was caused by negligence of Locascio and that both he, as operator of the car, and Dufour, as his employer, were liable for the results of that negligence, Steve Whittey, the father of the boy, brought this suit against both Locascio and Dufour praying for solidary judgment for $5,000 and, in his behalf, for solidary judgment for $153 for medical and other expenses.

It is alleged that the boy was on the upper lake side corner of Perdido Street and South Claiborne Avenue, and that he desired to cross the Avenue to the river side; that, after looking in a downtown direction and seeing no vehicles, he stepped into the roadway at the pedestrian crossing, walked towards the neutral ground, and had almost reached it when the automobile in question, driven “in a reckless, careless and wanton manner” by Locascio, who was not “maintaining proper vigilance,” approached at an excessive speed and struck the boy before he could complete the crossing.

In the petition it is charged that the car of Locascio had been on Perdido Street going towards Lake Pontchartrain, and that after it had traversed the neutral ground area of South Claiborne Avenue, had turned to the left into the lake side roadway of the Avenue just as the boy was attempting to cross and that, as a result, the boy was struck as the car completed the turn.

When the original answer of Locascio was filed it contained an admission that he had been operating the car on Perdido Street and had made the turn from that street into South Claiborne Avenue, but a supplemental answer was later filed and in that supplemental answer it was averred that Locascio had not been driving on Per-dido Street but had, in fact, been on South Claiborne Avenue for some distance and that the accident occurred after the car had crossed the Perdido Street intersection.

When the matter was argued before us counsel for Locascio, who had not represented him in preparing and filing the original answer but who had prepared and filed the supplemental answer, stated that the admission in the original answer had been made inadvertently.

Defendants denied any negligence on the part of Locascio and averred that the acci[457]*457dent resulted from negligence of the boy himself in that, at a point some distance above the pedestrian crossing, he had run into the street from between two automobiles which were parked at the curb and had suddenly appeared in front of the Lo-cascio car when it was so near to him that it could not be brought to a stop before it struck him.

Defendants averred that if there was negligence on the part of Locascio, the proximate cause of the accident was the contributory negligence' of the boy himself, who was eleven years of age at the time and was quite capable of being guilty of contributory negligence.

In the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans there was judgment dismissing the suit and it is now here on devolutive appeal.

In spite of the testimony of the boy himself and of one or two other witnesses who testified büt who did not see the actual occurrence, there is not the slightest doubt on the question of just where the boy was attempting to cross the street. It is absolutely certain that he 'was not at the pedestrian crossing, but was 30 feet up South Claiborne Avenue when he went into the street.

Locascio says that his car had passed tbe crossing some 20 feet when he first saw the boy and that he immediately applied his brakes and skidded about 5 or 6 feet and hit the boy when the front of the car had reached a point about 30 feet from the intersection; that the boy apparently entered the street from between two cars which were parked along the lake side curb of South Claiborne Avenue.

There was another car which was also going up South Claiborne Avenue in about the middle lane of the same roadway and this other car was in advance of Locascio’s car by a car length or so and was to its right. Locascio says that as this other car passed the point at which the boy emerged from between the two stationary cars, “he just dashed out,-and I had no chance of seeing him standing between the cars.”

John A. Lopez, who says that he is a civil service employee of "the City of New Orleans and is an “accident technician,” arrived on the scene spme 20 or 30 minutes or so after the occurrence. He says that the car had not been moved and that its front end was about 36 feet from the upper side of the pedestrian crossing; that there were skid marks extending 9 feet back of the rear wheels of the car; that the brakes of the car were in good condition and that there • was broken glass 30 feet from the crossing which indicated to him that the boy had been struck at that point. He says too that there was a mark on the pavement showing where the boy’s feet had been dragged and that this mark indicated that the boy was 30 feet from the crossing when he was struck.

Albert Raimer, another police officer who arrived shortly after the accident, said that when he reached the scene the car had not been moved and that its front end was 35 feet from the crossing, and Leon Couste, a police sergeant, says that the front of the car was 32 feet beyond the crossing. Both of these officers also testified that there were cars parked along the curb of South Claiborne Avenue.

It would serve no useful purpose to discuss in more extensive detail the evidence •on this question. It is certain that the boy was attempting to cross about 30 feet beyond the regular pedestrian lane. Even Nemiah Morrison, a witness placed on the stand by plaintiff but who obviously fabricated his story from beginning to end, says that when he got there the boy was lying 35 or 40 feet from the corner.

It is argued that the boy had no reason to go up South Claiborne Avenue and that he would naturally have crossed in the pedestrian lane, since he had come out Perdido Street on the lake side of South Claiborne Avenue and intended to continue on Perdido Street after crossing the Avenue. It is shown, however, that he had been walking with another little boy who, when they reached the Avenue, had turned up the sidewalk to go to the corner [458]*458of Poydras Street where his mother was employed, and, in view of the overwhelming evidence that the Whittey hoy was 30 feet up the Avenue when he attempted to enter the roadway, it is reasonable to believe that he had accompanied the other little boy up the Avenue for that short distance.

Furthermore, in spite of the denial of the boy that he had looked up and was attempting to return a baseball which had been knocked across the roadway from the neutral ground by other boys who were playing there, there is evidence to the effect that this is what actually occurred.

That there were cars parked at the curb is abundantly proven in spite of the statement of the little boy that there was only one car at the curb and that that was much farther up the street.

That the speed of the car was about 15 miles per hour is shown by all the witnesses who testified on the subject and, according to John A.

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81 So. 2d 73 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1955)

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Bluebook (online)
76 So. 2d 455, 1954 La. App. LEXIS 956, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whittey-v-locascio-lactapp-1954.