 |
 |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|
|
|
|
Dennis v. Finish Line12/22/2000
KUHN, J. dissents and will assign reasons.
CARTER, J. concurs in part and dissents in part for reasons assigned.
In these consolidated personal injury cases arising out of a two-car collision, the State of Louisiana, through the Department of Transportation and Development, appeals the trial court's judgments against it in favor of the plaintiffs, Celia R. Dennis and Julie A. Cassisa. Ms. Dennis and Ms. Cassisa also appeal the judgments.
FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND
Celia R. Dennis, a bartender at The Finish Line, worked the afternoon and evening of Friday, October 5, 1990. During her shift, one of the customers, Felix D. Givens, caused a disturbance and then "passed out" at the bar. Several employees of The Finish Line removed Mr. Givens from the bar around 5 p.m. and placed him in his car in the parking lot. When Ms. Dennis finished her shift at 11:30 p.m., Mr. Givens was still asleep in the back seat of his car. About midnight, after she had picked up some groceries from a store in the strip mall where the bar was located, Ms. Dennis went back to Mr. Givens' car. She woke him and offered to drive him home with someone else following. Mr. Givens said he was fine, climbed into the front seat, and drove out of the parking lot. Because she was still concerned about him, Ms. Dennis followed a short distance behind him as he proceeded in a northerly direction on U.S. Highway 11. At some point, she noticed that Mr. Givens' vehicle crossed the center line of the two-lane highway into the southbound lane. Almost immediately thereafter, Ms. Dennis saw headlights coming toward her, and her car was struck head-on by a car driven by Julie A. Cassisa.
Ms. Cassisa and her two passengers had been traveling in a southerly direction on U.S. Highway 11 when Mr. Givens' vehicle encroached on her lane. To avoid being hit, she swerved entirely onto the shoulder of the road and almost immediately turned back toward the highway. When Ms. Cassisa's car re-entered the highway, it bumped over the edge of the pavement, angled across the southbound lane, and struck th e car being driven by Ms. Dennis. Ms. Cassisa and Ms. Dennis were seriously injured as a result of the head-on collision.
In May 1991, Ms. Dennis and her husband, Gerald F. Dennis, Jr., filed a lawsuit for damages resulting from this accident. The named defendants were The Finish Line, Inc. ; Ms. Dennis's uninsured motorist insurer, Allstate Insurance Company; Julie A. Cassisa and her parents, Joanne L. and John J. Cassisa; the Cassisas' automobile liability insurer, Automotive Casualty Insurance Company; the State of Louisiana through the Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD); Felix D. Givens; and the unknown insurers of The Finish Line and Mr. Givens. Various third-party claims, cross-claims, and interventions were filed, but all claims of all parties were eventually settled and dismissed except for Ms. Dennis's claims against DOTD and Mr. Givens.
In June 1991, Ms. Cassisa filed suit against Ms. Dennis, Mr. Givens, Jefferson Downs Corporation, d/b/a The Finish Line, Allstate Insurance Company, and various other insurance companies; an amendment later added DOTD as a defendant. The Cassisa case was later consolidated with the Dennis case. Eventually, all claims of all parties in the Cassisa case were also settled and dismissed, leaving only her claims against DOTD and Mr. Givens.
After a three-day trial, the court apportioned fault as follows: Mr. Givens - 65%; DOTD - 15%; The Finish Line - 15%; Ms. Cassisa - 5%; and Ms. Dennis - 0%. In a judgment dated October 12, 1998, the court found in favor of Ms. Dennis and against Mr. Givens and DOTD, "soli
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 Louisiana Personal Injury Attorneys
Personal Injury Lawyers
|
| |
to fill out a simple form to connect to Personal Injury Lawyers in your area.
|
|