Graves v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co.

• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana
• Writing for the Court: JANVIER
• Citation: Graves v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 75 So.2d 513 (La. App. 1954)
• Decision Date: 08 November 1954
• Docket Number: No. 20318,20318
• Parties: Mr. and Mrs. Murrel W. GRAVES, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellees.

Page 513

75 So.2d 513

Mr. and Mrs. Murrel W. GRAVES, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. LIBERTY MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY et al., Defendants-Appellees.

No. 20318.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Orleans.

Nov. 8, 1954.

Prowell, Viosca & Reuter, Arthur C. Reuter, New Orleans, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Jones, Walker & Waechter, New Orleans, for defendants-appellees.

JANVIER, Judge.

At about five o'clock in the morning on November 10, 1951, near Norco, an industrial settlement which is near the eastern or New Orleans end of the Bonnet Carre Mississippi River Spillway, there occurred, as the result of a heavy bank of fog, a series of at least three rear-end motor vehicle collisions, in one of which Mrs. Murrel W. Graves, a guest passenger in one of the cars, sustained serious physical injuries, including fractures of bones of the right ankle and a brain concussion, as well as general body bruises and contusions.

Alleging that the injuries of Mrs. Graves had been sustained when the car in which she was seated was struck by a large motor tractor or its trailer belonging to Huff Truck Lines, Inc., and that that collision resulted from negligence of the operator of the truck, an employee of the said truck line, Mr. and Mrs. Graves brought this suit for damages against the truck line corporation and its liability insurance carrier, Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and also against Dolese W. St. Germain, the driver of the tractor.

Mrs. Graves prayed for solidary judgment against all defendants in the sum of $20,000, and Mr. Graves, as head of the marital community which existed between himself and Mrs. Graves, sought recovery of $1,609.37, the amount he alleges he expended for various expenses made necessary by the injuries sustained by his wife.

The defendants filed what their counsel referred to as a general denial, though they admit that the tractor or trailer of the truck line company did strike the Chevrolet automobile in which Mrs. Graves was seated. They also admit that this resulted from negligence of the employee of the truck line company, but they contend that the blow struck by the tractor was a very slight one and caused no injury to Mrs. Graves, and that her injuries, while admittedly serious, were sustained earlier when the Chevrolet automobile in which she was riding on the front seat crashed into the rear of another car--a Buick--of a Mr. Phil Alton Browning who had brought his car to a stop in the fog in order that he might investigate still another rear-end collision which had occurred in the road ahead of him and in which two other vehicles (both Fords) were involved.

After a lengthy trial in the Twenty-ninth Judicial District Court for the Parish of St. Charles, there was judgment dismissing the suit of plaintiffs, and the matter comes before us on appeal from that judgment.

There are certain facts which are not in dispute. All of the vehicles, which were involved in the three different accidents, were going in the same direction--from New Orleans towards Baton Rouge, and each, as it reached a point near the eastern or New Orleans end of the spillway, ran into a heavy fog bank. The first car in which we are interested was the Buick sedan, owned and driven by Browning. He is an engineer in the employ of the Shell Oil Company. When he reached the fog bank, he reduced the speed of his car and a few moments later brought it to a stop because he noticed another motor car stopped in the road ahead of him and, on alighting from his car, he found that there had been a rear-end collision of two Ford cars in the roadway ahead of him. He walked ahead to offer assistance and shortly afterwards, as he was walking back to his own car to move it from the roadway, he saw a fourth car, the Chevrolet in which Mrs. Graves was a passenger, approaching from the rear of his car. Before he could do anything to prevent it, this Chevrolet, driven by Philip R. Mussman, crashed into the rear of his Buick.

Sometime thereafter, while all of these four cars were still in the roadway and after the State Highway Police (referred to as Troopers) had arrived, the Huff tractor, coming from the rear of the Chevrolet, driven by Mussman, also entered the fog bank, and its driver, Dolese W. St. Germain, instead of stopping, attempted to pass alongside the Mussman Chevrolet and another car belonging to Mr. Edward Mire, Sr., who, in the meantime, had arrived on the scene. He was only partially successful and some part of this tractor or its trailer struck the Mire car and also the Mussman Chevrolet, causing some slight damage to the Chevrolet.

As we have said, it is conceded that the driver of the tractor was negligent in not bringing it to a stop or in not avoiding the Chevrolet, but it is asserted by the defendants that the injuries which Mrs. Graves suffered were caused not by that very slight impact, but resulted from the earlier and much more serious crash when the Chevrolet in which she was a passenger struck the rear end of the Buick of Mr. Browning.

Both Mrs. Graves and Mussman stated that Mrs. Graves was not hurt in the collision between the Chevrolet and the Buick. On the other hand, there is much testimony to the contrary and this and the physical facts tremendously preponderate to overcome the testimony offered on behalf of plainti...