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Pesson v. Reynolds11/13/1998
).
In the Aucoin case, it was the combination of the three deviations from the AASHTO policy guidelines, along with a history of accidents on Greenwell Springs Road, that rendered the off-roadway area unreasonably dangerous to the public, as noted by the Louisiana Supreme Court. Still, in Aucoin, with an unreasonably dangerous off-roadway area, DOTD was assessed with only 15% fault for the accident.
In this case, after finding DOTD's failure to meet AASHTO policy guidelines for intersectional sight distance made the intersection unreasonably dangerous, the trial court relied upon the testimony of one witness, Gary Domino (who was involved in litigation against the State), to find evidence of notice of the defect. Mr. Domino testified on cross-examination that he was trying to keep his property and that the State was not giving him enough money for the property, which it was expropriating from him. Mr. Domino testified he had seen a lot of accidents at the intersection in the forty years that he lived on that highway.
Mr. Domino also testified he had made complaints about the intersection to various local and state elected officials and to DOTD officials; however, he could not produce copies of any such correspondence. The plaintiffs failed to introduce any evidence at trial to corroborate these assertions of this witness, who was obviously biased against the State. The DOTD employees who testified at trial had no record of' any complaints from Mr. Domino, any other citizen, or any elected official, regarding this intersection. No records from DOTD were introduced by plaintiffs to show how many accidents had occurred at this intersection, if any.
Given our Conclusion that the trial court committed manifest error in finding the intersection unreasonably dangerous, a fortiori, we conclude that the trial court committed manifest error in finding the plaintiffs proved notice of an unreasonably unsafe condition of the roadway.
THE ALLOCATION OF FAULT
We note that due to the settlement agreements which were made in this case, our ruling on the liability of DOTD may be dispositive of this case. However, in an effort to be thorough, and to the extent that it may be necessary, we address the remaining allocation of fault.
A left turn is one of the most dangerous maneuvers a motorist may execute and requires the exercise of great caution. Thomas v. Petrolane Gas Service, Limited Partnership, 588 So.2d 711, 717 (La. App. 2nd Cir. 1991), writ denied, 590 So.2d 1201 (La. 1992). Before attempting a left turn, a motorist should ascertain whether it can be completed safely. Theriot v. Lasseigne, 93-2661 (La. 7/5/94), 640 So.2d 1305, 1312; Thomas, 588 So.2d at 717.
Mr. Reynolds testified he took the Aycock Street route because it was several minutes faster than the designated truck route, and he believed traffic would be light at that time of the night. He stated he would not have attempted a left turn through this intersection at peak traffic times.
Mr. Reynolds testified he stopped at the stop sign and looked both ways onto Hwy. 90 and it was black both ways, with no approaching headlights. However, two witnesses driving westbound testified they saw the truck turn into the intersection. If the two westbound oncoming cars could see Mr. Reynolds' tractor-trailer pulling out, he should have seen their headlights before he pulled out from the stop sign.
Kenneth Moore, one of the witnesses to the accident, testified be was traveling west-bound on Hwy. 90 and saw Mr. Reynolds' tractor stopped at the stop sign on Aycock Street. When Mr. Reynolds entered the intersection and turned into the inside westbound
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