Case Name: Isaac WILSON, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of the Minor Child, Denita Marie Wilson, Theresa Mitchell Brown, Wife of Melvin Brown, Individually and On Behalf of Her Minor Child, Denita Marie Wilson and Melvin Brown v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Cerdan Monroe, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and the City of New Orleans, Department of Streets In Solido
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1984-02-17
Citations: 446 So. 2d 786
Docket Number: No. CA 0296
Parties: Isaac WILSON, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of the Minor Child, Denita Marie Wilson, Theresa Mitchell Brown, Wife of Melvin Brown, Individually and On Behalf of Her Minor Child, Denita Marie Wilson and Melvin Brown v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Cerdan Monroe, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and the City of New Orleans, Department of Streets In Solido.
Judges: Before SCHOTT, GARRISON and BARRY, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 446
Pages: 786–790

Head Matter:
Isaac WILSON, Individually and as Administrator of the Estate of the Minor Child, Denita Marie Wilson, Theresa Mitchell Brown, Wife of Melvin Brown, Individually and On Behalf of Her Minor Child, Denita Marie Wilson and Melvin Brown v. ALLSTATE INSURANCE COMPANY, Cerdan Monroe, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company and the City of New Orleans, Department of Streets In Solido.
No. CA 0296.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Fourth Circuit.
Feb. 17, 1984.
Bernard J. Rice, III, Gretna, for plaintiffs-appellants-appellees, Theresa Brown, individually and as administratrix of her minor child, Denita Wilson and Melvin Brown.
Donovan & Lawler, Christopher E. Lawler and Marshall G. Weaver, Metairie, for defendant-appellant-appellee, Allstate Ins. Co.
Salvador Anzelmo, City Atty., Douglas P. Wilson, Chief Deputy City Atty., Bernette J. Johnson, Asst. City Atty., New Orleans, for defendant-appellee, The City of New Orleans.
Before SCHOTT, GARRISON and BARRY, JJ.

Opinion:
GARRISON, Judge.
This suit arises out of an intersectional automobile collision which occurred on August 11, 1978. Plaintiff Isaac Wilson was driving his vehicle southbound on Cypress Acres Drive. He was accompanied by guest passengers Theresa Brown, his former wife; Denita Wilson, their minor daughter; and Melvin Brown, Theresa Brown's present husband. Defendant Cer-dan Monroe was driving his vehicle eastbound on Vespasian Street, which is the favored street. All parties agreed that there is ordinarily a stop sign at this intersection which controls traffic on Cypress Acres Drive entering the intersection. However, the sign had either been removed or destroyed at the time Wilson approached the intersection and the two-car collision resulted.
Wilson and the three guest passengers filed suit in August, 1979, for injuries sustained in the accident. Defendants named in the suit were Cerdan Monroe; Allstate Insurance Company, Monroe's liability insurer; the City of New Orleans; and State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, Wilson's uninsured/underinsured motorist carrier. The petition alleged that Monroe was negligent in failing to stop or slow down at the intersection, and that the City was at fault both in failing to replace the missing stop sign and in allowing weeds and shrubs to obscure vision at the intersection.
Monroe, Allstate, the City and State Farm answered the petition and filed third party demands against each other and against Wilson for indemnification and contribution.
In October, 1980, plaintiffs filed an amended petition naming State Farm as an additional defendant in its capacity as Wilson's liability carrier. State Farm filed an exception of prescription, which was referred to the merits of the trial in order to determine whether Wilson was a joint tort-feasor and, thus, a solitary obligor.
The parties stipulated prior to trial that no judgment would be rendered against either insurer in excess of their respective policy limits per person or per occurrence. The trial court rendered judgment granting recovery to the plaintiff guest passengers, denying recovery to plaintiff Isaac Wilson and dismissing all claims against the City. The court reasoned that the negligence of both Wilson and Monroe was "an intervening cause between that of the City, if the City was at all negligent." Defendants Allstate and State Farm were found to be liable in solido to the plaintiff guest passengers. Theresa Brown was awarded $15,-000 individually and $15,000 in her capacity as administratrix of Denita Wilson's estate. Melvin Brown was awarded $1,500.
Defendant Allstate appeals the trial court's finding of negligence on the part of its insured, Cerdan Monroe and the court's dismissal of the City of New Orleans. Theresa Brown, both individually and in her administrative capacity, and Melvin Brown appeal only that portion of the judgment which dismisses the City.
On appeal, defendant Allstate argues that:
(1) the trial court erred in finding Cerdan Monroe negligent; and
(2) the trial court erred in failing to find the City of New Orleans liable under either a theory of strict liability or of negligence.
The facts in the case of Pepitone v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, 369 So.2d 267 (La.App. 4th Cir.), writ denied 371 So.2d 1343 (La.1979), are analogous to those in the instant case. In Pepitone, the plaintiff was traveling on a road normally controlled by a stop sign. However, the sign was completely obscured at the time and plaintiff entered the intersection and was involved in a collision which caused his fatal injuries. The decedent's widow and children sued the other drivers' insurers and the public entity for damages. In affirming the dismissal of the plaintiffs' claim against the public entity, the court in Pepitone stated that:
"The duty of a motorist who approaches an uncontrolled intersection with a street of equal dignity is to determine that he can make the crossing safely before proceeding into the intersection, [citations omitted] Therefore, when two cars approach an uncontrolled intersection of local neighborhood streets, neither motorist can reasonably believe he has an unqualified right of way. Accordingly, a motorist approaching an intersection, who actually does not have the right of way, but who is led to believe the intersection is uncontrolled, cannot reasonably be said to have been trapped or deluded into the belief that he had an unqualified right of way." (Emphasis in original) Pepitone, p. 270.
The Pepitone court based its decision of affirming the dismissal of the public entity on the case of Lochbaum v. Bowman, 353 So.2d 379 (La.App. 4th Cir.1977), writ denied 354 So.2d 1380 (La.1978), which states that when a public entity undertakes control of intersecting roads or streets by installation of signs or mechanical devices, the entity then has the duty to maintain the signs or devices only so as not to cause traps or undue, dangers to motorists using these roads and streets. The court in Pepi-tone specifically held that an obstructed stop sign at an intersection of local neighborhood streets of equal dignity does not, as a matter of law, constitute a trap to motorists approaching the intersection on the unfavored street. Therefore, because plaintiff Wilson was traveling on the unfavored street, the trial court in the instant case was correct in finding no liability on the part of the City.
The trial judge found both drivers negligent in failing to keep a proper lookout at the intersection. In his reasons for judgment, the trial judge, citing the case of Poche v. Frazier, 232 So.2d 851 (La.App. 4th Cir.), writ denied 256 La. 266, 236 So.2d 36 (1970), stated that:
"The law is also settled on the principle that when innocent third parties are injured as the result of the collision between two drivers, each of the drivers is deemed guilty of negligence, per se, and the burden of proof falls upon each to exculpate himself to negligence proximately causing the injuries to the third party.... Accordingly, the court finds both drivers have failed to exculpate themselves with negligence under the circumstances."
The appellate court will not disturb the factual findings of the trial court unless the record establishes that the findings are manifestly erroneous. Arceneaux v. Domingue, 365 So.2d 1330 (La.1978). In light of the record and the Pepitone case, we find no manifest error in the trial court's decision to find defendant Monroe negligent and to dismiss all claims against the City.
Accordingly, the judgment of the trial court is affirmed.
AFFIRMED.
SCHOTT, J., dissents.