Jarreau v. Toye Bros. Yellow Cab Co.

• Court: Court of Appeal of Louisiana
• Citation: Jarreau v. Toye Bros. Yellow Cab Co., 24 So.2d 700 (La. App. 1946)
• Decision Date: 11 February 1946
• Docket Number: 18355.
• Parties: JARREAU et al. v. TOYE BROS. YELLOW CAB CO. et al.

24 So.2d 700

JARREAU et al. v. TOYE BROS. YELLOW CAB CO. et al.

No. 18355.

Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Orleans.

February 11, 1946

McCloskey Moore & Dennery, Moise W. Dennery, and Joseph McCloskey Jr., all of New Orleans, for Jacques Jarreau and Alliance Assur. Co., Limited, plaintiffs and appellees.

A D. Danziger and Jack Marx, both of New Orleans, for Toye Bros. Yellow Cab Co. and Vincent Serio, defendants and appellants.

JANVIER Judge.

This suit results from a rather strange accident in which four automobiles were involved. At about 7:15 o'clock on the morning of September 15, 1944, Jacques Jarreau was driving his Buick automobile in Canal Street towards the Mississippi River. He was near to the neutral ground and, just after he crossed the intersection at Claiborne Avenue, he noticed that a Ford car, which was in the roadway ahead of him, was about to come to a stop. The driver of the Ford, Morton Meredith did not reside in New Orleans and was not thoroughly familiar with the streets in that neighborhood. He desired to turn across the neutral ground on Canal Street in a downtown direction, as he wished to go to the Monteleone Hotel, and thought that by using some other street than Canal, he could avoid the traffic congestion usually found on that thoroughfare near the business center of the city.

The first cross street on the riverside of Claiborne Avenue is North Robertson, but between that street and Claiborne Avenue there is an auxiliary crossing of the neutral ground, by means of which crossing vehicles may pass from one side of the street to the other. Had Meredith used this auxiliary crossing, he would have had to go back to Claiborne Avenue by means of the lower side of Canal Street, since that auxiliary crossing does not lead directly to any cross street. As he was passing this crossing, he obviously did not fully understand the situation and was not certain whether he could use it in his desire to get off Canal Street. In his indecision he paused just after passing this crossing and stopped just before reaching the crossing at North Robertson. Jarreau was following him in his Buick. As Meredith stopped, Jarreau came to a stop also. There is a dispute--and it is one of the principal issues of the case--as to whether the Buick struck the Ford.

Behind Jarreau there was a third automobile driven by a Mr. Ganci. Ganci stopped his car.

On the upper side of Canal Street there was a taxicab of defendant partnership, Toye Brothers Yellow Cab Company. This cab was operated by Vincent Serio. He had stopped at a filling station and had just driven from that station back to the street as the three already mentioned cars passed. Serio drove almost across the upper roadway of Canal Street and had just turned to his right, along the neutral ground, as the other three cars, one behind the other, came to a stop. The taxicab crashed into the Ganci car; it was pushed into the Jarreau car and the Jarreau car, in turn, was pushed into the Meredith car.

Jarreau had secured from Alliance Assurance Company, Ltd., a policy of collision insurance under which that company had agreed that, should his car be damaged in collision, it would pay such amount above $50 as the repairs might cost. In other words, it was what is known as a collision insurance policy with a $50 deductible clause.

The repairs to the Jarreau car cost $141. Jarreau himself paid $50 thereof; the Alliance Assurance Company, Ltd., paid the balance, $91, and secured from Jarreau a subrogation pro tanto to his right against the tort-feasor. Jarreau and the said Alliance Assurance Company, Ltd., then brought this suit against the Toye Brothers Yellow Cab Company, a partnership and the individual members thereof, Frandk E. Toye, George A. Toye, Joseph Toye and Paul W. Toye; and also against Vincent Serio, the...