Seal v. Core
| Decision Date | 24 May 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 6414,6414 |
| Citation | 175 So.2d 676 |
| Parties | Murton H. SEAL, Sr., Individually and as Administrator of and on Behalf of His Minor Child, Sandra Ann Seal, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. W. R. CORE, d/b/a Core Construction Company, and the Travelers Insurance Company, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana — District of US |
Watts & Crain, Franklinton, for appellant.
Seal, Mitchell & Lee, Bogalusa, for appellee.
Before ELLIS, LOTTINGER, LANDRY, REID and BAILES, JJ.
The instant litigation arises out of a September 7, 1963, collision which occurred in Washington Parish. Involved were an automobile owned by Murton H. Seal, Sr., and driven by his fifteen year old daughter, Sandra Ann Seal; and a D.W. 10 dirt mover owned by W. R. Core, driven by Roy A. Smith and insured by The Travelers Insurance Company.
Murton H. Seal, Sr., filed this suit to recover medical expense and property damage for himself and on behalf of his minor daughter to recover damages for bodily injury.
The accident occurred on a dry and extremely dusty day at a point where Mitch Road crosses the construction site of a new highway. Mitch Road runs generally North and South and the new highway, when it is opened to traffic, will run generally East and West.
The undisputed facts in the case disclose that Sandra and a friend named Lynda Mallett had heard of the road construction and had gone to view it. As they approached the construction right-of-way a piece of earth-moving equipment crossed Mitch Road raising a cloud of dust. This equipment, however, passed on and was not involved in the accident. Sandra drove safely to the far side of the right-of-way and about 100 feet beyond. There she turned around and again approached the new highway. A second earth mover crossed Mitch Road just before she reached the new highway, creating a thick cloud of dust which cut off visibility beyond that point.
Sandra testified that she stopped for about a minute to wait for this second cloud to seattle sufficiently for her to see the other side of the new highway and the continuation of Mitch Road. Then she started across, but when about three-fourths of the way across, she perceived a third earth-moving machine in her path.
This third machine had been following the second at a distance of three to four hundred yards and was traveling a path slightly to the left of the second machine, thus hidden from Sandra's view by the dust cloud.
The machines were approximately twenty feet in length and Mitch Road is about twenty feet wide at this point. The evidence indicates that the Seal vehicle struck the machine on the side near the back. Thus, the center of the side of the machine at the time of the impact was over half-way across Mitch Road and the rear of the machine had cleared the edge of the road.
Mr. Smith testified that he was driving the machine at a speed of approximately 15 miles per hour, having slowed down for the intersection. This slowing down was necessitated by the roughness of the road, however, and not because of concern for any traffic which might be traveling along Mitch Road. Smith declared that he could see across Mitch Road, that is, forward, but that he could not see to his right, in the direction of...
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Broussard v. State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co.
...possibility of accident from collision with objects ahead. Demarest v. Travelers Ins. Co., 234 La. 1048, 102 So.2d 451; Seal v. Core, La .App. 1 Cir., 175 So.2d 676; Annotation, Automobiles--Atmospheric Conditions, 42 A.L.R.2d 13. Nevertheless, the degree to which the motorist must reduce h......
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O'Neal v. Southern Farm Bureau Ins. Co., 10516
...425; Employers Fire Insurance Company v. Rodgers, La.App., 47 So.2d 404; Rosenbloom v. Mercer, La.App., 8 So.2d 328. Seal v. Core, La.App., 175 So.2d 676 (1st Cir. 1965). 'In McLelland v. Harper, La.App., 38 So.2d 425 (2nd Cir. 1948) the court "* * * the record conclusively establishes the ......
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