Bourgeois v. Francois

• Citation: 161 So.2d 750,245 La. 875
• Decision Date: 24 February 1964
• Docket Number: No. 46808,46808
• Parties: Hendrix BOURGEOIS, Sr. v. Nathan FRANCOIS, Oville Breaux, Sr., Individually and as the Administrator of the Estate of his Minor Son, Oville Breaux, Jr., and the Marquette Casualty Co. Willie Marie JONES, Wife of and Nathaniel FRANCOIS v. Oville BREAUX, Sr., Individually and as the Administrator of the Estate of his Minor Son, Oville Breaux, Jr., and the Marquette Casualty Company.
• Court: Supreme Court of Louisiana

Page 750

161 So.2d 750

245 La. 875

Hendrix BOURGEOIS, Sr. v. Nathan FRANCOIS, Oville Breaux, Sr., Individually and as the

Administrator of the Estate of his Minor Son,

Oville Breaux, Jr., and the Marquette

Casualty Co.

Willie Marie JONES, Wife of and Nathaniel FRANCOIS v. Oville BREAUX, Sr., Individually and as the Administrator of

the Estate of his Minor Son, Oville Breaux, Jr.,

and the Marquette Casualty Company.

No. 46808.

Supreme Court of Louisiana.

Feb. 24, 1964.

Rehearings Denied March 30, 1964.

Thomas C. Wicker, Jr., Simon, Wicker & Wiedemann, New Orleans, for defendants-relators.

J. Joseph Blotner, Robert H. Fray, White, Fray & White, Gretna, for plaintiffs-appellees.

McCALEB, Justice.

These consolidated cases are actions ex delicto for recovery of personal and property damages arising out of an automobile collision which occurred shortly after midnight on October 16, 1960 in the intersection of the West Bank Expressway and Barataria Boulevard in Marrero, Louisiana, when a 1957 Ford automobile driven by Oville Breaux, Jr., which had turned into Barataria Boulevard, was struck with great force on its right side by a 1951 Plymouth car owned and driven by a negro named Nathan Francois in the northeast quadrant of the intersection. At the time of the accident Breaux, Jr., an 18 year old minor, was accompanied by a young lady named Sandra Bourgeois, also a minor, whom he was driving home from a dance which they had attended. Francois was accompanied by his wife, a 49 year old woman, and they were returning from a wedding reception. All occupants of the colliding automobiles sustained serious and painful personal injuries, Miss Bourgeois receiving a head injury which rendered her unable to remember how the accident happened.

One of the suits was instituted by Hendrix Bourgeois, Sr. against Francois and Oville Breaux, Sr., the father of young Breaux, and his liability insurance carrier, Marquette Casualty Company, for judgment in solido for the damages sustained by his daughter. He alleged that the accident resulted from the joint and concurring negligence of the drivers of the colliding automobiles.

The other suit was brought by Francois and his wife against Breaux, Sr., as father of his minor son, and Marquette Casualty Company for judgment in solido for the damages each sustained, it being alleged that the accident was caused solely by the negligence of Breaux, Jr.

Each suit was resisted by the defendants therein and, in the Francois suit, Oville Breaux, Sr. reconvened, individually and as administrator of his son's estate, alleging that the accident was attributable solely to the Francois' imprudence.

On the issues thus formed a trial was had, which resulted in judgments in favor of Bourgeois, individually, for $588.80 and for $3,500, as administrator of the estate of his minor child, against all defendants in solido. In the Francois suit, there was judgment dismissing the husband's claims in entirety and also the reconventional demand of Breaux, Sr. However, judgment was rendered in favor of Francois' wife for $5,000 and against Breaux, Sr. and Marquette, in solido. Breaux, Sr., Marquette and Francois appealed to the Court of Appeal, Fourth Circuit, where one judgment was amended so as to decrease the award to Bourgeois individually from $588.80 to $113.80 and, as thus amended, all judgments were affirmed. See Bourgeois v. Francois, La.App., 152 So.2d 383. On application of Breaux, Sr. and Marquette we granted certiorari.

As stated above, the accident happened shortly after midnight in the northeast quadrant of the intersection of the West Bank Expressway and Barataria Boulevard. The Expressway is a four-lane highway, two lanes for traffic travelling in a westerly direction and two for traffic proceeding east. The traffic lanes are separated by a wide neutral ground and at the intersection of Barataria Boulevard, which crosses the Expressway at right angles, there are paved indentations in the neutral ground which are reserved for expressway traffic turning left into Barataria Boulevard. This Boulevard is a two-way thoroughfare running north and south. The intersection of the Expressway and the Boulevard is controlled by six semaphore signals. Two of these control westbound express traffic and are situated on each side of the westbound lanes of the Expressway. Two similar standards or semaphores are on the eastbound lanes of the Expressway and two others are located on the neutral ground, one on each side of Barataria Boulevard controlling traffic making a left turn from the Expressway into the Boulevard. The speed limit on the Expressway is 50 miles per hour.

Young Breaux was taking Miss Bourgeois home from a dance and was driving on the Expressway in an easterly direction, it being his intention to make a left turn into Barataria Boulevard. When he arrived at the intersection he pulled into the indented land on the neutral ground and stopped his car in obedience to a red-traffic light. While he was waiting for the signal to turn green, or rather for a green arrow which appears for traffic intending to make a left turn into Barataria Boulevard, he noticed the head lights of the Francois car approaching the intersection in one of the west-side lanes reserved for traffic proceeding in a westerly direction. At the time he first saw the lights of the approaching car, Breaux estimated that the car was some 250 or 300 feet away from the intersection, travelling at a speed of between 40 and 55 miles per hour. When the signal light changed to the green arrow in his favor, he again noticed the headlights of the approaching Francois car which he estimated was then about 100 to 150 feet from the intersection and still travelling at the same speed. Believing that this car would stop in obedience to the red traffic signal then facing its driver, Breaux began making his turn into Barataria Boulevard on the favorable green arrow signal. He had almost completed his left turn into Barataria Boulevard and the greater part of his car was in the Expressway northeast quadrant of the intersection when the Francois vehicle rammed the right side of his car causing the substantial property damage and personal injuries sued for herein.

Francois testified that he was traveling at a speed of 40 to 45 miles per hour; that he proceeded into the intersection with the green light in his favor; that he never saw the Breaux vehicle prior to the accident and never slackened the speed of his car, and that he struck the Breaux car just after his car had entered the intersection. The testimony of Francois' wife is of no value. She was unable to relate any salient facts except that she maintains that her husband had the green light, contrary to a statement she had given previous to the trial.

The Court of Appeal properly deduced that Francois' testimony was not credible, particularly with reference to his claim that he entered the intersection on a favorable green light. His evidence was directly contrary to the evidence of young Breaux and Officer Irving Trosclair, a deputy sheriff, who made a police investigation of the accident and who stated that Francois admitted that night that he had run a red light.

Notwithstanding its finding that the direct, proximate and primary cause of the accident was Francois' gross negligence in driving into the intersection on an unfavorable signal and without paying any attention to the Breaux car which was traversing the crossing when he ran...