Robertson v. Travis, 13700
| Decision Date | 15 December 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 13700,13700 |
| Citation | 393 So.2d 304 |
| Parties | Ross H. ROBERTSON, Individually and on Behalf of his minor Daughter, Janice Dianne Robertson v. Samuel TRAVIS et al. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
L. B. Ponder, Jr., Amite, for plaintiff-appellee.
Johnnie A. Jones, Baton Rouge, for defendant-appellant Samuel & Charles Travis.
Roy L. Wood, Amite, for defendant-appellant Mrs. Olevia Webb.
Leonard Yokum, Dist. Atty., Amite, for defendant-appellant St. Helena Parish School Bd Duncan S. Kemp, III, Hammond, for defendant-appellant Travelers Ins. co.
Jesse Lagarde, Amite, for defendant-appellant Employer's Ins. Co.
Iddo Pittman, Jr. & Alton Lewis, Hammond, for defendant-appellant State Farm Ins. Co.
Before ELLIS, COLE and WATKINS, JJ.
Plaintiffs Ross Robertson and Janice Dianne Robertson 1 appeal from a judgment rendered in favor of all defendants. The trial judge did not assign reasons for the judgment.
On December 7, 1966, Janice Robertson, age 9 years 11 months, was a passenger in Olevia Webb's station wagon. Mrs. Webb was employed by the St. Helena Parish School Board as a bus driver. She used her privately owned station wagon to transport several children to and from school in Greensburg, Louisiana. The light blue-green 1963 Chevrolet station wagon was not marked as a school bus in any way.
The Webb vehicle was headed south on the Montpelier-Greensburg Road (La. Hwy. 43) and stopped approximately 3 miles south of Greensburg to allow Janice Robertson to get out of the car to go home. Janice lived down a gravel lane on the opposite side of the road so it was necessary for her to cross Highway 43 to reach her house. Testimony taken by deposition showed Mrs. Webb stopped in the right hand lane at the top of a hill opposite the gravel road. Her right wheels were slightly off the road and she applied her emergency brake and her left turn indicator. She testified she saw no cars in the rear view mirror so proceeded to get out of the car to escort Janice across the road. Janice exited from the front right door and walked around the front of the car to meet Mrs. Webb. Mrs. Webb stated in her deposition she was standing at her open front left door, crossing flag in her hand, and was about to walk Janice across the highway when a car being driven by Samuel Travis appeared suddenly from the rear. The Travis car was also traveling south on Highway 43 and was attempting to pass the stopped Webb vehicle. Mrs. Webb stated there was no time for her to do anything but jump back into the car to avoid being hit by the Travis car. Janice, obviously confused and frightened, attempted to cross the highway alone. As she crossed the left lane she was struck by the Travis car. Janice survived the accident but was seriously injured.
Testimony at trial and by depositions showed Janice remained unconscious for 25 days. She was hospitalized for seven weeks with her body in a cast from the chest down. Her left leg was broken which has caused one leg to be slightly shorter than the other, resulting in a permanent limp. She also suffered from a concussion at the time of the accident and complains today of a seriously weakened left arm. Janice testified she feels she is mentally slower than her peers and that she found school to be so difficult she dropped out in the seventh grade.
Plaintiff filed suit against the following parties: Olevia Webb and her husband Pete Webb; 2 Webb's insurer, Employers' Liability Assurance Corporation, Ltd.; St. Helena Parish School Board and its insurer Travelers Indemnity Company; and Charles Travis (Samuel's father) as the administrator of his minor son's estate. Plaintiff also made a claim against his own insurer, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, to recover damages cause by any uninsured motorist.
The procedural delays in this case are phenomenal. Although the accident occurred in late 1966, numerous continuances resulted in such delay that the trial did not take place until ten years later, in September of 1976. The testimony taken at the 1976 trial was never transcribed and the record indicates the court reporter may have lost her notes. Due to the lack of the transcript, plaintiff obtained a retrial in May of 1978. Because 12 years had elapsed since the accident the witnesses were obviously not able to recall the facts with as much detail as would have been desired. This is particularly true of the several witnesses who were children at the time of the accident. Fortunately for the fact finder, depositions of several parties taken in 1968 and in 1970 were admitted into evidence. Judgment was rendered in favor of all defendants and against plaintiff. Plaintiff has appealed. Since there are numerous defendants in this suit we will discuss separately the issues concerning each.
The issue concerning Travis is whether or not his behavior fell below the standard of reasonable care. We find the trial court was not clearly wrong in rendering a judgment in favor of Samuel Travis. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978), rehearing denied 1979. Travis testified he saw the Webb vehicle come to a stop and he observed Mrs. Webb standing by the side of the car. He stated he did not see anyone other than Mrs. Webb emerge from the vehicle. His contention that he did not see Janice Robertson is quite credible in that his view of the child standing in front of the car would be blocked by the vehicle itself. The Webb car was not marked in any way to indicate to Travis that the car was transporting school children. He testified he did not know Mrs. Webb and was unaware of her employment as a driver of school children.
The trial judge apparently found Travis acted reasonably in slowing his car to 40 or 45 miles per hour as he proceeded to pass the Webb vehicle. Travis saw the Webb vehicle was stationary and would not be turning left (in spite of the blinking left turn indicator). It would be reasonable for him to assume that Mrs. Webb, an adult, would not cross the road while he was passing. Since Travis' view of the child was blocked by the Webb vehicle, he had no reason to anticipate that a child would dart from in front of the car into his lane of traffic. A motorist who is driving at a lawful and reasonable rate of speed and who is obeying rules of the road as to proper lookout will not be held liable when a child suddenly darts or runs into his path from a concealed position in such a manner that the motorist is unable to avoid striking the child. Anderson v. Janes, 234 So.2d 238 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1970).
Certainly we would be compelled to reach a different result if the station wagon had been marked as a school bus, for then Travis would have been under a duty to anticipate children would be likely to emerge from the vehicle. There are numerous statutes and jurisprudential rules governing the standard of care of drivers approaching a marked school bus, but because this car was not marked none are applicable to Travis.
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment in favor of Samuel and Charles Travis is affirmed.
The issue presented in this part of the case is whether or not Mrs. Webb breached the duty of care owed as a driver of school children. She knew her vehicle was being used as a school bus and is therefore held to the standard of care imposed upon school bus drivers. We find the trial court committed manifest error in not finding a breach of the duty owed by Mrs. Webb and that the breach was a cause of the accident. We, therefore, reverse that portion of the judgment.
School bus drivers have been likened to common carriers and although they are not insurers they must exercise the highest degree of care for their passengers. Sepulvado v. General Fire and Casualty Co., 146 So.2d 428 (La.App. 3d Cir. 1962), cert. denied 1963. Landry v. Travelers Indemnity Co., 155 So.2d 102 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1963). We find the evidence shows Mrs. Webb breached this high degree of care.
Her initial act of negligence was stopping the vehicle in the highway. La.R.S. 32:141 provides in part:
The record reflects Mrs. Webb's car was only slightly off the highway. We find she could have pulled the car further off the road or she could have turned left onto the gravel road which led to Janice Robertson's house. There is no reason why she had to stop on the highway, leaving the car obstructing the southbound lane of traffic. This maneuver was made even more dangerous by the fact that she stopped the car at the top of a hill.
We are aware that it is a general practice for school busses to stop in the road to unload children. However it is one thing for a clearly marked school bus, equipped with appropriate lights, signals and signs, to stop in the highway and quite another thing for a plain blue-green station wagon to stop in the highway. Although Mrs. Webb knew her car was being used as a school bus and is therefore held to the higher standard of care, there was nothing to indicate to other drivers the vehicle was transporting children. We feel this lack of notice to other motorists imposes an even greater duty upon Mrs. Webb to take extreme care in her unloading procedures. Since the car was unmarked, approaching drivers would not anticipate that children would be emerging from the vehicle. Because the car appeared to be a...
To continue reading
Request your trial