Case Name: FULCO et ux. v. CITY ICE SERVICE, Inc.
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1951-06-29
Citations: 59 So. 2d 198
Docket Number: No. 7676
Parties: FULCO et ux. v. CITY ICE SERVICE, Inc.
Judges: KENNON, J., not participating.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 59
Pages: 198–209

Head Matter:
FULCO et ux. v. CITY ICE SERVICE, Inc.
No. 7676.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.
June 29, 1951.
On Rehearing March 28, 1952.
Rehearing Denied June 2, 1952.
Browne, Browne & Bodenheimer, Shreveport, for appellants.
Ferdinand A. Cashio, Shreveport, for ap-pellees.

Opinion:
KENNON, Judge.
On December 16, 19-18, an automobile driven by plaintiff, Roy L. Fulco, in which his wife and young daughter were passengers, was damaged in a collision with a truck owned by .defendant, City Ice Service, Inc., and insured by defendant, Lum-bermens Mutual Casualty Company. The petition recites that as the Fulco Dodge automobile was driven along its own side of Lawrence Street in the City of Shreveport at about 10:30 p. m., a truck of City Ice Service, Inc., without warning, in complete darkness and without any lights, darted from the curb where it had been parked, crossed over into its left side of Lawrence Street immediately in front of the Fulco vehicle, causing a head-on collision.
Petitioners alleged, on information, that the truck in question had been parked by direction of the defendant ice company on Southern Avenue with the keys therein and unattended, and .that a person whose name was unknown to petitioners got into the truck and drove it down to Lawrence Street and subsequently caused the accident first mentioned. Petitioners then alleged that they were uninformed as to whether or not the unknown person had the permission of the defendant company to use the truck, but alleged that he was an employee, was so authorized and was operating the truck with the knowledge and consent of its owner, express or implied.
In the alternative, and in the event the operator of the truck was not authorized to use it, then petitioners alleged that the conduct of the City Ice Service, Inc. in parking and leaving the truck in the nighttime unattended and with keys therein was an implied invitation, and that the action of the company in so leaving the vehicle with keys and unattended constituted negligence and was a proximate cause of the accident.
Alleging that the Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company had issued a policy covering defendant and any one who might be operating the named vehicle against any negligent operation, plaintiffs, Mr. and Mrs. Roy L. Fulco, prayed for judgment against both defendants, in solido, for damages totaling $27,646.76.
Defendants filed exceptions of no cause or right of action and improper cumulation of actions which were overruled by the trial court and not urged on appeal.
The defendants in answer admitted that amicable demand had been made and that Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company had issued a policy to its co-defendant, and set forth that if the truck involved in the accident was owned by defendant, it was being operated by a person unknown to defendants and without the permission, knowledge or consent of the defendant companies or their officers or employees, and that the .truck was not parked on the street but on property owned by the defendant ice company.
On motion of plaintiffs, trial by jury was had and on May 10, 1949, a jury returned a verdict in favor of Mrs. Fulco and against Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company for $1,000, and in favor of her husband, against the same company, for $691.76.
Motion for a new trial was filed on May 12th. On May 20th attorneys for plaintiffs moved for and obtained an order withdrawing as counsel. The motion for a new trial was granted. A new .trial, lasting some five days, was held, resulting in a jury verdict in favor of plaintiff, Roy L. Fulco. for $755.56, and a verdict for defendants as to the other plaintiff. The minutes of court show that the Court refused to sign a judgment in accordance with the verdict, and, on its own motion, ordered a new trial. Prior to the third trial, plaintiffs' second counsel was granted permission to withdraw as plaintiffs' attorney.
A third trial, also by jury, was held for four days beginning March 5, 1951, resulting this time in a judgment for plaintiff, Roy L. Fulco, against both defendants. for $846.76 (the increase representing additional medical bills), and in favor of Mrs. Fulco against both defendants for $5,000. The case is before us on defendants' appeal from that judgment.
Plaintiffs have answered the appeal asking that the award in favor of Roy L. Fulco be increased to $1,500 and that the judgment in favor of Mrs. Fulco be increased to $10,000.
Plaintiff, Roy L. Fulco, testified that on December 16, 1948, while he was proceeding northerly on Lawrence Street in the City of Shreveport, Louisiana, defendant's truck suddenly, without lights, came into his path and struck his car head-on. He observed the name of .the defendant ice company on the side of the truck, noted that the driver was a colored man but, due to the fact that his attention was directed to his injured wife, and that the truck, soon after the accident, backed up and got away from .the scene, he did not observe the driver closely and could not identify him. A city police officer arrived at the scene as the truck was in the process of backing up, turning on the lights and starting off. He followed the truck to an alley off Southern Avenue near the premises of the defendant ice company. Finding' that the driver had fled, this officer secured the keys and noted that the truck was a City Ice Service, Inc. truck.
No proof was offered to contradict Fulco's version of the accident. We find that the collision came as the result of the negligent operation of the City Ice Service, Inc. truck.
There is a stipulation in the record that the truck involved in the collision with plaintiffs was owned by the City Ice Service, Inc. and covered by policy of insurance issued by the co-defendant.
Plaintiffs in pleadings and brief have urged that the action of the defendant ice company in leaving its trucks unattended with the keys in the switches constituted negligence sufficient to make the company responsible for the torts committed by any person operating the trucks as a result of the invitation implied by their being left with the keys in the switches and unattended. In support of this contention, plaintiffs have cited and discussed the cases of Schaff v. R. W. Claxton, Inc., 79 U.S.App.D.C. 207, 144 F.2d 532, and Ross v. Hartman, 78 U.S.App.D.C. 217, 139 F.2d 14, 158 A.L.R. 1370. The holding of the Ross case is expressed in paragraphs three and four of the syllabus, quoted below:
"An ordinance requiring motor vehicles, left unattended in public place, to be locked is a safety measure, and its violation is negligence.
"Where truck owner's agent violated traffic ordinance by leaving truck unattended, in a public alley, with ignition unlocked and key in switch and an unknown person drove truck away and negligently ran over plaintiff, the violation of the ordinance was negligence and constituted the 'proximate cause' of the injury rendering owner liable therefor."
The Court, in passing on the case, noted that in the absence of an ordinance, the leaving of a car unlocked might not be negligent in some circumstances, but in other circumstances it could be an act of negligence and therefore a proximate cause of a resulting accident. The Cburt then ruled that since the adoption of the ordinance was a safety measure designed to prevent children and thieves from tampering with an unlocked vehicle, and since this negligence created the hazard and brought about the harm which the ordinance was intended to prevent, it constituted a proximate cause and therefore the truck owner was responsible to the innocent victim.
Counsel also cites the case of Ostergard v. Frisch, 333 Ill.App. 359, 77 N.E.2d 537. In that case, the defendant left his automobile unlocked, with the key in the ignition while he called on a customer in a place of business in Chicago. The car was stolen and the thief, while driving it, collided with plaintiff's car. There the plaintiff relied upon an Illinois statute making it unlawful for a person in charge of a motor vehicle to leave it without locking the ignition.
Had a similar ordinance been here involved, the jury might well have held that defendant's action in leaving the key in the switch was a violation of law which contributed to the accident and that the defendants were liable. Such a holding would be in accordance with the recognized doctrine of this state that while a violation of a traffic ordinance is not negligence per se, nevertheless when the act of violation is the proximate contributing cause of an accident, liability results. Bradford v. Wertz, La.App., 52 So.2d 47, and cases there cited. However, no Louisiana law or Shreveport city ordinance was cited or introduced, and we find that the leaving of the keys in the trucks was not negligence under the circumstances.
The accident happened long after normal business hours. There is no proof that the driver was on any business of the ice company.
Having found that the ice company was not negligent in leaving the keys in the truck switch, and that the truck was not being used at the time in furtherance of the company's business, the judgment appealed from is erroneous insofar as the City Ice Service, Inc. is held liable.
Liability against the insurance company turns on the question of whether or not the man driving the truck at the time was doing so with the express or implied permission of the City Ice Service, Inc. and therefore covered by the omnibus clause in the policy of insurance which included "any person while using an owned automobile , provided the actual use of the automobile is with the permission of the named insured ."
Wade Anderson, a colored man, was arrested a few days after the collision, and on the testimony of Officer David C. J3oddit was convicted in City Court as the driver of the City Ice Service, Inc. truck involved in the collision. No testimony was presented other than that of the police officer, who said he testified in City Court that he only saw the side of the face of the truck driver and that the side of Anderson's face resembled that of the truck driver. On cross-examination, he testified that his identification of Anderson was not positive. A few days after Anderson was convicted and began serving his sentence, this officer interceded with the city judge, who granted a suspension.
Wade Anderson testified that he was working for the City Ice Service, Inc. at the time of the trial, his job being on a truck belonging to a Mr. Pickett; that he had formerly worked for this company on a truck belonging to a Mr. Stewart, tie denied any connection with defendant's truck on the night of the accident. He testified that defendant kept its trucks parked in the alley almost in front of the ice plant; that there was no one to check the trucks in or out and no watchman on duty, and that employees of the City Ice Service, Inc. used the trucks for personal trips as going after coffee and that "everyone who worked for them (the ice company) did the same thing." When asked whether he was driving defendant's truck on that night, he denied it, stating that he was at home and had been for some time before and after-wards and was in no position to sit in a truck due to the fact that he had acquired a blister by sitting on the top of a hot stove in a neighborhood restaurant in an effort to dry his wet clothing and suffered severe scald burns in the sitting-contact area. Anderson's story as to being burned in the strategic spot was corroborated by members of his own household.
During business hours of the day of the accident, the truck involved in the collision was driven for the City Ice Service, Inc. by its employee, Nemi Hudson, who left the truck parked across the street from the ice plant with the keys in it at 6:30 or 7:00 p. m. He testified that it had been his habit to so leave the truck during the two year period in which he had worked for the company.
Charlie Thomas, a fellow employee, testified that four trucks of the company were usually so parked across the street from the plant and, in answer to the question as to whether it was customary to leave the keys in these parked trucks, he testified that he always did.
H. T. Perry, in the employ of the City Ice Service, Inc., testified that the practice of parking the trucks across the street from the ice plant with the keys in them had been going on during the ten years he had been employed there.
Lee Atley, another employee of the ice company, who worked in the ice plant itself, testified that defendant's trucks were habitually parked across the street, and that on the night in question, he was relieved at his work by one Elijah Caldwell, who customarily worked from 6:00 p. m. to 6:00 a. m.; that the next morning when he returned to work, Elijah was not on duty but had left someone there in his place.
Elijah Caldwell, a City Ice Service, Inc. employee who worked normally from 6:00 p. m. to 6:00 a. m. each day and night, testified that the trucks were always kept on the other side of the street and that he didn't have anything to do with these trucks. From 10:00 p. m. to 6 :00 a. m., Elijah Caldwell was in charge, working inside the plant and occasionally his duties brought him out on the dock. He denied that he had ever driven one of the trucks himself and when asked whether he did anything if he saw some one about to use a truck, he replied, "Yes, if I seed, I would ask, 'Where you going?' or something like that." This testimony of defendant's employee indicates that night use was made of the ice trucks. He explained his leaving his work on the night of the accident by testifying that he went home in response to a message from his wife that the baby was sick.
The accident occurred on Lawrence Street a short distance off of Texas Avenue. Plaintiffs' home was several blocks further down on the same street. Testimony was offered by plaintiffs which conclusively established that for several months prior to the time of the collision it was usual for a truck of the City Ice Service, Inc. to be parked, during the first half of each night, on Lawrence Street near where the accident occurred, which is in the immediate vicinity of a colored theatre, restaurant and drug store. Witnesses to this fact included the police officer on the beat, two employees of the Charity Hospital who habitually passed that way before and after changing shifts at 11:00 p. m., an employee of the colored theatre, and others who lived or had businesses in the neighborhood. One colored witness, a warehouse foreman for M. L. Bath Company, said that he often observed the City Ice Service truck as he was coming from the show at the Star The-atre. When questioned as to the location of the truck, he answered that the truck would "be sitting on Lawrence near Texas."
Our finding of fact is that the defendant, City Ice Service, Inc., had an open piece of ground across the street from its plant and bordering on the alley between this property and the plant; that for two to ten years prior to December 16, 1948, the practice had been for its employees in the late afternoon to leave the company trucks parked either in the alley or on the company's property adjacent thereto, with the keys in the switches. We further find that the trucks were not checked in or out with any one; that no employee was given the duty of watching the trucks and that no employee was habitually on duty outside the building after 10 :00 p. m. We further find that there is ample evidence to support a conclusion by the jury that it was not unusual for night use to be made of these trucks in the neighborhood of the theatre and restaurant near where the accident took place. We therefore conclude that there is ample evidence in the record to support a finding that through indifference of the company over the years, an invitation (and implied permission) had been given to employees and others connected with the ice company and familiar with the situation to make use of defendant's trucks for personal purposes and errands in the vicinity.
The Louisiana jurisprudence on this point is discussed in the cases of Parks v. Hall, 189 La. 849, 181 So. 191; Stanley v. Cryer Drilling Co., 213 La. 980, 36 So.2d 9, and Waits v. Indemnity Insurance Co. of North America, 215 La. 349, 40 So.2d 746, 748, all of which went from this Court to the Supreme Court of Louisiana on writs.
In the Parks case, the Supreme Court found that while the employee Hall did not have authority to use the car for his own purposes, nevertheless his employer never questioned Plall about the use of the car or' complained about the time the car was brought back after having been washed and greased. There the Supreme Court of Louisiana noted that the authorities in jurisdictions other than Louisiana are divided in determining the extent of the liability of the insurer under the omnibus clause, and adopted the more liberal rule that the insurance is effective when consent to use the car is obtained in the first instance from the assured, regardless of the use to which the operator puts the vehicle while still in his possession. In support of its finding, the Court noted that the omnibus coverage clause gives protection to drivers other than the person named in the liability policy. In the case before us, the evidence justifies a conclusion that the use of the City Ice Service, Inc. truck at night by employees or other persons, such as the one responsible for the accident, was not unusual. While it is not clear that the operator was an employee of the ice company, the evidence leaves this question an open one and the jury would have been justified in reaching that conclusion. Certainly the evidence justifies the conclusion that defendant's truck at the time of the collision was being used in a manner that was in no way unusual and in fact was customary and in accordance with the practice which defendant had permitted for several years. Had there been no collision, doubtless the truck would have been returned in due course to its usual parking place and its absence would have received no comment or notice. Even after the accident happened, the driver drove the truck back to defendant's plant.
Having found that the evidence in the record is sufficient to support the finding of fact by the jury that the truck involved in the collision was being used with the implied permission of the assured, City Ice Service, Inc., whose policy of insurance contained the above quoted omnibus clause, the judgment in plaintiffs' favor as against the insurer, Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company, is correct.
Dr. Paul Abramson testified that Mrs. Fulco had a laceration of the right knee, a fracture of the fifth metacarpal of the the right hand, and a compression fracture of the sixth cervical vertebra. He testified that Mrs. Fulco was in the hospital approximately a week or ten days, during which time her neck was placed in extension. For two or three months after she left the hospital she wore, both day and night, a prescribed neck and body brace. It was the opinion of Dr. Abramson and Dr. Gene D. Caldwell that Mrs. Fulco had fully recovered from the fracture at the time of the first trial in May, 1949.
One jury fixed her damages at $1,030, another at $5,000. We have concluded to accept the average of $3,000 as a fair award.
For the reasons assigned, the judgment in favor of plaintiffs, Roy L. Fulco and Mrs. Josephine Fulco, and against the defendant, City Ice Service, Inc., is reversed and set aside, and judgment is rendered in favor of the City Ice Service, Inc., and against all plaintiffs, rejecting their demands. The judgment in favor of Mrs. Josephine Fulco against the Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company is reduced to .$3,000 and, as amended, is affirmed, with costs. The judgment in favor of plaintiff, Roy L. Fulco, and against the Lumbermens Mutual Casualty Company is affirmed, with costs.