Connecticut Fire Insurance Co. v. Rayford
Connecticut Fire Insurance Co. v. Rayford
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff, Connecticut Fire Insurance Company, filed this suit against the defendants, Franklin Rayford and James E. Jackson, III, in an endeavor to recover the sum of $858.00 representing the cost of repairing a building owned by its insured, William Hagerty, which was damaged as the result of a collision between the respective vehicles owned and operated by the defendants, in the intersection of Hickory and Dante Streets.
The defendants answered and denied that they were guilty of any negligence in the premises, and each insisted that the proximate cause of the accident was the fault of the other driver.
Following a trial on the merits, judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff and against both defendants solidarily. From that judgment, only James E. Jackson, III, has appealed.
The record discloses that on March 26, 1966, the defendants were involved in an automobile accident in the intersection of Dante and Hickory Streets, in the City of New Orleans. The property damaged as the result thereof is designated by the municipal number 1738 Dante Street, and the plaintiff was the insurer of its owner, William Hagerty; it repaired the damage to the property and obtained a subrogation from Hagerty, hence this suit by the plaintiff.
When the accident occurred, Rayford was operating his vehicle in the general direction of Jefferson Parish in Hickory, the favored street, and Jackson was driving in Dante Street in the general direction of the Mississippi River. A stop sign exists in Dante Street which regulates traffic moving therein, and the speed limit on each roadway is fixed at 20 miles per hour. The record discloses that Jackson drove his vehicle to the corner of Dante and Hickory and stopped in obedience to the traffic sign. He insists that he looked both to his left and his right before he drove into the intersection and when he reached the approximate center thereof, his vehicle was violently struck on its left side by the Rayford vehicle and propelled into the Hagerty property which, as we said, was insured by the plaintiff herein.
Rayford testified that he was driving in Hickory Street at a speed of 20 miles per hour; however, there is sufficient evidence inscribed in the record to convince us that he was operating his vehicle at a considerably higher rate of speed, perhaps as much as forty miles per hour. Jackson asserted that he looked in the direction from which the other vehicle approached but failed to see it. Hickory Street at this point was lined on both sides with parked automobiles, and according to Jackson’s testimony he could only see 25 feet in the direction of the Rayford vehicle. He explained that he could not see through the windows of the cars parked along Hickory Street, since it had been raining and the windows of the vehicles were beaded with water.
In an effort to exculpate himself from liability, Jackson argues that he was entitled to presume that any vehicle moving
In both his brief and oral argument, counsel for Jackson relied on the rationale emanating from Thomas v. Checker Cab Company of New Orleans
In oral argument before this court, counsel for Jackson asserted that he also desired to rely upon the rationale of Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company v. Taylor,
In view of our reasoning in the Taylor case, we fail to comprehend how counsel for Jackson can gain any comfort therefrom.
In any event, an analysis of the whole tenor of the record convinces us that Jackson was guilty of negligence which directly contributed to the occurrence of the collision. We have often remarked as we did in the Taylor case, that a motorist who stops in obedience to a traffic sign performs only half of the duty imposed upon him by law. He is further required to make a careful evaluation of traffic conditions which exist in the intersection and refrain
For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the lower court is affirmed.
The costs of this appeal are to be paid by the defendant, Jackson. Both defendants are to pay all other costs.
Affirmed.
. Consequently, the judgment against Franklin Rayford has become final as to him.
. 229 La. 1079, 87 So.2d 605 (1956).
. 193 So.2d 840 (La.App., 1966).
. Liverpool & London & Globe Insurance Company v. Taylor, 193 So.2d 840 (La.App., 1966).
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.