Bellocq v. Hotel De Soto Co.
Bellocq v. Hotel De Soto Co.
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit for personal injuries, in which a jury trial resulted in verdict and judgment for plaintiff, Paul >D. Belloeq against defendant, the Hotel De Soto Company, proprieors” of the Hotel De Soto, in Hew Orleans. The damages allowed were $2,666.50, and a judgment in favor of intervenor, Miller Indemnity Underwriters and against plaintiff, in the sum of $166.50.
We find that plaintiff was employed by the Interstate Electric Company, whose place of business was directly opposite the Perdido Street side of the hotel which occupies the entire block-or l/2 block, bounded by Baronne, Carroll, Eerdido and poydras Streets.
On May 10th, 1919, at about 11:30. A'.M., plaintiff was directed by one of his superior co-employees of the Interstate Electric Company to repair an automobile used in the company’s business. This machine was at the time, parked closely to the side-walk, on the hotel side of Carroll Street, about fifty feet- from the corner of Perdido and Carroll Streets. Whi-le engaged in the repair of the car, plaintiff was standing on the side-walk with his back to the hotel and leaning over the open hood of the madhine. In this position, a wooden framed screen fell from the eighth floor window of the hotel, .struck the car and plaintiff a slanting blow, resulting in severe contusions of plaintiff’s scalp, and causing a dent in-the hood of the car. Plaintiff was not rendered unconscious, but for a minute wag, as he say3; "dazed" by the blow, and after bracing himself against the hotel wall, be managed to walk from the- place of the accident to the réar door of the Interstate Electric Company, where his fellow-workmen came to his assistance, and hurried him.in one of the Company's trucks, to a nearby hospital, neither of the doctors who treated him at’the hospital testified in the case, hilt from the evidence it appears that plaintiff suffered severe e.on-. tuai'ons-,and lacerations of the scalp, was detained for treatment ab -td)!) hospital for a week, and continuing to suffer, from
We find from X-ray-photographs in the record, and from the radiologist's report thereon, that same "showed "no evidence of. depression of the skull or of fracture or "any signs of bone injury." Vie also find from testimony on b'ehalf-'Of plaintiff, record-admissions tc the effect that examination by a'competent oculist disclosed n'o injuries to plaintiffJs,.eye-sight, but that the headaches and other terns porary sufferings r.ere natural results of the accident.
It is not denied that plaintiff v.as injured in the-manner described in his petition, and after careful examination of the evidence we have concluded that the extent of his injuries were as above set forth. He has also proven conclusively that his financial loss in wages, doctors’ bills, etc., was some §350.50. of which the Millers' Indemnity Underwriters, intervenors herein, have reimbursed him in the sum of §166.50. 'These facts being, established, we are led to the ■ conclusion, vel non, of defendant's liability; and to this /end', v.e must"’determine facts presented by the record.
We find from the evidence that the wire sdreen \-&hich struck-the plaintiff, and caused his injury, was undoubtedly a part of the structure, or equipment, of the Hotel pe^S.pto, property of defendants herein; that it fell from the story windov of the Hotel, and was seen in its dovnward lllii^ht- .‘to-strik.ei the plaintiff a glancing b^ov on the head,
"In cases where the plaintiff cannot be expected to have any information as to the causes of the accident, whereas the defendant, on the contrary, must be assumed to be fully, informed on the subject, and where the accident is of the kind which ordinarily do not occur when due care has been exercised, the rule of evidence is that the aocident speaks for itself - res-ipsa loquitur - that is to say, that, a presumption of negligence arises from the fact itself of'the aocident. In such cases,-the plaintiff not only need not allege the particular -acts of omission or commission from which the accident has resulted, but need not even prove them. The aboident itself makes out a prima facie case, and the burden is on defendant to show absence of negligence. Res ipsa loquitur."
We note the particular reliance placed by counsel for defendant in the case of Mire vs East La. Ry. Co., 42 Ann., p.p. 392 to 395, stressed by him in application for a new trial.
Another defense urged by defendants' counsel and pleaded.in answer as a bar to plaintiff's recovery, is vne fact that plaintiff was, at the time of the accident, guilty of negligence by working in the public street upon an automobile. in direct violation-of City Ordinance No. 6173, Commission Council Series, which reads as follows:
USE OE STREETS EOR REPAIRS PROHIBITED.
(a) ho machine shop or automobile service or repair station or other establishment for the repair or adjustment of vehicles shall use the public streets for the storage of vehicles or the repair of vehicles ,
(b) In case of necessity, vehicles may be stopped in the public streets for the replacement or repair of tires or for minor adjustments, but shall not stop in such a manner as to impede traffic,"
There is no merit to this defense, because of the fact that proof is lacking, (the burden ’being upon defendant) to show that plaintiff was violating, first the letter, of the of the ordinance as above quoted, or secondly, that even if violated, that its breach in any manner contributed to the accident. The charge to’the Jury thoroughly covers this point, and cannot be better expressed, than in, the language of the able ti"t».i •badge, who said;
"If a-man violate a City ordinance and by his violation of.-, that, ordinance he’makes more liable or apparent an accident, then he ’ •is guilty of negligence, but when hi.S. violation - of the ordinance has nothing to do with the -negligence of his .’adversary, then such negligence does not .preclude his recovery.
■ Every man has a right to use the public streets for all lawful purposes, subject to the police Power of the City and when he violates an ordinance and by his violation as no injury or*285 damage, then it is merely a matter for police action."
The following Articles of the Revised Civil Code is all that is necessary to clearly fix the liability of defendant in this case:
R.CGC.2315. "Every act whatever of man that causes damage to another obligates him by whose fault it happened to repair it,"
R.C.C.670. "Everyone is bound to keep his buildings in repair, so that neither their fall nor that of any part of the materials composing them may injure the neighbors or passersby, under the penalty of all losses and damages which may result from the neglect of th'e owner in that respect."
R.C.0.2322. "The owner of a building is answerable for the damages occasioned by its ruin when this is caused by his neglect to repair it, or when it is the result of a vice in its original construction."
It has not been proven here what force or agency, if any, caused the screen to fall into the street, or that any of defendants' servants caused the screen to fall while cleaning, repairing or lifting it.
There is evidence? that no guests were in the room at the time of the accident, but one of the disinterested witnesses swears that he saw someone look out of the window immediately after the screen had fallen from it. Under these-conditions, another Article of the Code would also apply:
Art. 177: "The master is answerable for the damage caused to individuals or to the community in general by whatever is thrown out of his house into the street or public road, and inasmuch as the master has the superintendence and police of his house and is responsible for the faults committed therein."
We are not disposed to approve of the quantum of damages awarded by the jury and amounting to $2,666.50. This amount in our opinion, is excessive. There is nothing before us to show that the injuries which plaintiff sustained are in any manner permanent, nor in their nature serious. Though the
We think, after careful consideration of the reoord, that the judgment in favor of plaintiff, Paul D. Bellooq, and against Hotel De Soto Company, defendant, should be reduced from Two Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty-Six and 50/100 Dollars-, ($2,666.60) to One Thousand six Hundred and Sixty-Six 50/100 Dollars, costs of the lower court to be borne by defendant, and those of appeal to be borne by plaintiff.
Under Seo. 7, par. 2 of Act 20 of 1914, as amended by Act 247 of 1920r that part of the original Judgment rendered herein, in favor of intervenor, Miner-Indemnity Underwriters, recognizing it as subrogee of all rights and actions of the Interstate Electric Company, employer of' plaintur, Paul D. Bellocii,-and as such awarding it judgment-for the sum of One Hundred and Sixty-Six 60/100 ($166.50) Dollars, with oost3 of intervention, against the amount now decreed to plaintiff, IS AEPIHMBD, said amount to be paid intervenor out of thi3 judgment by preference over all other persons.
JUDGMENT AMENDED AND AS AMENDED AFFIRMED
March 27, 1919.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.