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Moreau v. North American Fire and Casualty Insurance Co.12/26/2001
AFFIRMED
In this matter, we affirm a judgment awarding damages in favor of Plaintiff-Appellee, Marilyn Moreau.
STATEMENT OF THE CASE
The matter was instituted with a Petition for Damages filed on November 3, 1999, naming as Defendants, North American Fire and Casualty Insurance Company, Metry Cab Service, Inc., and Julius Miller, the driver of the cab. North American and Metry Cab are the Appellants herein.
All Defendants entered a general denial in answer to the suit, and the matter was set for trial.
A bench trial was held on August 23, 2000. At the beginning of those proceedings, the individual Defendant, Julius Miller, was dismissed from the suit. In addition, insurance coverage was stipulated, the total amount of medical special damages was stipulated, and the authenticity of all exhibits was stipulated.
Written judgment in favor of Moreau was entered on January 10, 2001: Damages were awarded in the amount of $13,812.00, which sum represents $10,000.00 in general damages and the stipulated medical specials of $3,812.00. In addition, expert fees in the amount of $450.00 per hour were awarded for the trial appearance of Moreau's treating physician, Dr. Michael Haydel, D.C.
Defendants North American and Metry Cab timely filed a Motion for Suspensive Appeal, and they now urge the following errors:
1. Whether the Appellee, Marilyn Moreau, was solely negligent in causing the subject accident, or whether Appellee, Marilyn Moreau, contributed to the cause of the subject accident;
2. Whether the Appellee, Marilyn Moreau, failed to mitigate her damages, and whether the subject accident caused her symptoms.
FACTS
The suit arises out of an automobile accident that occurred on December 15, 1998, on David Drive in Kenner. Appellee Moreau and witness Jenny Lemoine were driving in a northerly direction on David Drive, and had just crossed over Airline Highway when the accident occurred. The collision occurred as Defendant Miller entered David Drive from an off-street parking lot.
Lemoine described the accident as follows. She stated that she had been traveling in the median lane as she approached the scene of the accident, and had first noticed Moreau on David Drive a "couple of blocks" back from where the accident occurred. She testified that she approached and passed Moreau, who had been traveling in the sidewalk lane, and was approximately a car length and a half ahead of her when the accident occurred. Lemoine stated that immediately after she had passed Moreau the Metry cab pulled out of a parking lot into the sidewalk lane of the street. She testified that she swerved her car to the left because the cab came out of the lot "so fast" and so suddenly that she was afraid the cab would pull into her lane of traffic. She stated that the accident happened very quickly - the cab hadn't pulled very far into the street, and she heard tires screeching as she was swerving her car.
Moreau's testimony regarding the accident is as follows. She stated that she had been in the sidewalk lane of David Drive when the accident occurred, traveling at about 40 miles per hour. She had first noticed Miller when she was about a half a block away from the cab, when it was still in the parking lot. She stated that Miller was at first slowly inching up to the street, then, suddenly, "jumped" into her lane of traffic. She stated that he had pulled out "real fast" in front of her, and that she "impacted" him before the cab had pulled totally out of the lot. She stated that she hit the left taillight of the cab; at the moment of impact, the right taillight was still in t
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