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Cardella v. Robinson5/13/2005
Before STEWART, GASKINS and DREW, JJ.
The plaintiff, Charles P. Cardella, appeals from the granting of summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The trial court found that a driver who allowed his intoxicated adult passenger to exit his car owed no duty to the plaintiff, a motorist who struck and killed the passenger when he walked into interstate traffic. We affirm.
FACTS
On July 5, 2002, shortly after 9:00 p.m., Levon Wilson was a passenger in a car driven by Alton Robinson on I-20 in Ouachita Parish. Loretta Gates, the aunt of Robinson's wife, and her young child were also riding in the car. The group was returning to Rayville from a family reunion in Monroe. At Wilson's insistence, Robinson stopped the car on the shoulder so Wilson -- who was intoxicated and increasingly belligerent -- could exit to urinate. Robinson then drove to a nearby convenience store so he and Gates could use the bathroom. They then began to drive back to the place where Wilson had gotten out.
However, while they were gone, Wilson walked into the eastbound traffic lane of I-20 where he was struck and killed by a truck driven by the plaintiff. His body was severed in half. An autopsy revealed that Wilson's blood alcohol level was .308 and that cocaine was present in his system.
On December 18, 2002, the plaintiff filed suit against Robinson, alleging that he was aware of Wilson's drunken condition and that he was responsible for the accident because he allowed an incapacitated passenger to exit his car and remain unattended on the interstate. On March 13, 2003, Robinson filed an answer in which he asserted that the sole cause of the accident was the plaintiff's negligence. On April 15, 2004, the plaintiff filed a supplemental and amending petition in which he added State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company as Robinson's liability insurer, as well as his own UM carrier.
On May 7, 2004, Robinson and State Farm filed a motion for summary judgment. They maintained that Robinson had no legal duty to protect the plaintiff from harm, i.e., he had no duty to prevent Wilson from walking into the path of the plaintiff's car. In support of the motion, they submitted the depositions of Robinson and Gates, his other adult passenger. They asserted that no special relationship exists between a driver and an adult passenger, even an intoxicated one.
The plaintiff filed an opposition to the motion for summary judgment on June 28, 2004. He contended that there are issues of material fact in dispute. In particular, he stated that there are conflicts as to whether Robinson had an agreement with Wilson that he would return to get him. In support of his opposition, the plaintiff submitted the deposition of the investigating officer, Trooper David Bryant.
On July 6, 2004, a hearing was held on the motion for summary judgment. Finding that Robinson owed no duty under the facts of this case, the trial court granted summary judgment. A judgment in conformity with the trial court's ruling was signed on August 27, 2004.
The plaintiff appealed.
SUMMARY JUDGMENT
Law
Appellate courts review summary judgments de novo under the same criteria that govern the district court's consideration of whether summary judgment is appropriate. Schroeder v. Board of Supervisors of Louisiana State University, 591 So. 2d 342 (La.1991); Costello v. Hardy, 2003-1146 (La.1/21/04), 864 So. 2d 129. A court must grant a motion for summary judgment "if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to material fa
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