Case ID: so2d_325/html/0586-02.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "TATE, J.,", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

Shelton RITTER et al. v. SOUTHERN FARM BUREAU CASUALTY INS. CO.
    No. 57237.
    Supreme Court of Louisiana.
    Jan. 30, 1976.
   In re Shelton Ritter, Et Al, applying for Certiorari, or writ of review, to the Court of Appeal Third Circuit, Parish of Evangeline.

Writ refused. On the facts found by the Court of Appeal, 321 So.2d 46, there is no error of law in its judgment. The issues are factual.

TATE, J.,

respectfully dissents. The Court of Appeal ignored the trial court’s finding of excessive speed, based on physical evidence and the length of distance, even after impact, it took to stop the defendant’s car. As the trial court held, the evidence presents a classic, last clear chance case, even assuming the decedent was negligent. A speeding motorist is not entitled to an open season on helpless pedestrians in the roadway. The trial court’s factual finding was far from manifestly erroneous. This Court should not abdicate its appellate function by characterizing a reversal as “factual” and therefore refusing to disturb a reversal which is unjustified.