Opinion ID: 1666294
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: On the Question of Liability of Public Service

Text: Miller, the driver of the Public Service bus, testified that as he approached the intersection and the slow sign facing him, he reduced the speed of the bus from approximately 20 miles per hour to about 10 or 12 miles per hour; that when he was 30 feet from the intersection, he looked to the left (the direction from which vehicular traffic would come) and did not see any vehicle approaching; that he then entered the intersection without looking again to his left, that he was looking straight ahead, and that when he was half-way across the lakebound side of St. Roch, he caught sight of the Prescott car out of the corner of his eye, his attention being called to it by the screech of brakes. Prescott without stopping for the stop sign at North Miro entered the intersection at a speed estimated to be 20 miles per hour. The vehicles collided approximately in the center of the intersection of North Miro and the Lake roadway of St. Roch, and the left front of the bus and the right front of the automobile were damaged. As observed by the Court of Appeal, several passengers on the bus testified in this case. Although they were not in as good a position in their seats behind the driver to have a general observation of the whole intersection as was the driver of the bus, they testified that they saw the Prescott car approaching before the collision at various distances away. One saw the car when it was a short distance from the intersection and just as the bus reached the intersection. One saw it as the bus entered the intersection. One saw the automobile when it was about 25 feet away from the point of collision and the bus was 10 feet from the intersection. Another saw the car 20 or 30 feet away when the motor part of the bus was into the intersection. One of these passengers who observed the car stated that it seemed to him there was going to be an accident. Insofar as Public Service and Miller are concerned, the law applicable to the case was correctly stated by the Court of Appeal thus: The mere showing of injury to a farepaying passenger on a public conveyance and his failure to reach his destination safely establishes a prima facie case of negligence and imposes the burden on the carrier of convincingly overcoming such case. Adams v. Great American Indemnity Company, La.App., 116 So.2d 307; Johnson v. Continental Southern Lines, Inc., La.App., 113 So.2d 114, 74 A.L.R.2d 1328; Coleman v. Continental Southern Lines, Inc., La.App., 107 So.2d 69; Peters v. City of Monroe, La.App., 91 So.2d 428. A public carrier of passengers while not an insurer is required to exercise the highest degree of vigilance, care and precaution for the safety of those it undertakes to transport and is liable for the slightest negligence. Gross v. Teche Lines, Inc., 207 La. 354, 21 So.2d 378. The carrier must do all that human sagacity and foresight can do under the circumstances, in view of the character and mode of conveyance adopted, to prevent injury to passengers, the carrier being held liable for the slightest negligence with reference to the exercise of such care. Mire v. Lafourche Parish School Board, La., 62 So.2d 541. The Court of Appeal found affirmative proof that the bus driver was negligent in the operation of the bus at the time of the accident. As we view the matter, however, it is necessary for us under the law only to ascertain whether Public Service and Miller have sustained the burden of convincingly overcoming the prima facie case of negligence against them. As the driver of the bus approached the intersection, he was confronted with a slow sign. What degree of care is required of a driver approaching such a sign? In our opinion, he is warned by such a sign that the locus or intersection is hazardous and unusual, his duty to exercise vigilance and prudence is increased, and it is inescapable that his right to rely on a motorist to obey a stop sign at that intersection is greatly decreased. When an intersection is controlled by a stop sign and a slow sign, a high duty of care is put on the drivers of vehicles on both thoroughfares, and, as stated by the Court of Appeal, a motorist when confronted with a slow sign must do more than diminish his speed. He must enter the intersection with extreme caution and vigilance so as to apprise himself that he may proceed safely across. Reducing his speed is only a partial fulfillment of the duty such a sign imposes. In view of the high degree of care required of public carriers toward their fare-paying passengers, the vigilance and prudence that must be exercised in the face of a slow sign, and the fact that the burden is on the carrier to show its freedom from negligence, we cannot say that the jury and the Court of Appeal erred in holding Public Service and Miller liable. The bus driver's complete lack of awareness of the Prescott car's approach under the circumstances of this case appears to us to be sufficient to justify the conclusion that he and Public Service failed to prove that he was maintaining the proper lookout, vigilance, and caution required at this intersection. Consequently we conclude that Public Service and Miller have not sustained the burden required under the law of overcoming the prima facie case of negligence against them. In brief and in argument in this court counsel for Public Service contend that the Court of Appeal misconstrued and did violence to the law as laid down in Kientz v. Charles Dennery, Inc., 209 La. 144, 24 So.2d 292. That case was cited with approval in Koob v. Cooperative Cab Co., 213 La. 903, 35 So.2d 849, in which we stated:    The motorist on the right-of-way street, with knowledge of the location of such a stop sign, has a right to assume that any driver approaching the intersection from the less favored street will observe the law and bring his car to a complete stop before entering the intersection, and such motorist can indulge in this assumption until he sees, or should see, that the other car has not observed, or is not going to observe, the law.    This principle of law has little or no application to the facts of the instant case, for North Miro Street on which the bus driver was proceeding was not favored over St. Roch at this intersection to the extent that the right-of-way street in those cases was favored because, as we have pointed out, a slow sign confronted the bus driver; and therefore his right to assume that a motorist would observe the stop sign on St. Roch was greatly decreased in comparison with the right of the driver in those cases to indulge in such assumption, and correspondingly his duty to exercise vigilance and prudence was greatly increased. Certainly the presence of the stop sign on St. Roch does not of itself determine the standard of care at this intersection, but the presence of the slow sign on North Miro must also be considered in determining that standard of care, and in determining the sufficiency of Public Service's proof to overcome the presumption of negligence against it and to show its freedom from negligence. Under these circumstances in our view the decision of the Court of Appeal does no violence to the case of Kientz v. Dennery, supra.