Opinion ID: 1690678
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Dupas's Contributory Negligence

Text: The previous courts held that Dupas was contributorily negligent in observing for UFO's while on the traveled portion of the roadway, inattentive to oncoming traffic. We think that, in so doing, they overlooked the importance all participants attached to the lighting by headlights to alert them to the presence of other vehicles on this completely darkened and deserted stretch of roadway, and its significance in determining whether Dupas was contributorily negligent under the circumstances. While the defendants argue that Dupas was oblivious to any oncoming traffic whatsoever, a fair reading of the evidence as a whole indicates that, while watching for UFO's, Dupas and Knickmeyer also kept a lookout for oncoming headlights. In describing Dupas and his conduct, [1] Knickmeyer testified that he and Dupas kept a lookout for automobiles coming up on that overpass as well as looking for UFO's. He testified, Tr. 404-05: We wasn't watching the binoculars constantly, we were watching for UFO's and watching for traffic, that's how we seen the first truck that came up because the lights would reflect up there before the vehicle would even get on the overpass. This testimony was corroborated by the testimony of Officer Boepple. He had driven a police truck up the south incline of the overpass about thirty minutes before the accident, in connection with his own investigation of UFO sightings. His police vehicle, unlike Brown's, made full use of its headlights. As he came up the overpass, Boepple noticed the reflectors of the plaintiff's parked motorcycle. Then, as he approached the crest, he saw the two pedestrians, one (Knickmeyer) leaning on the abutment and the other (Dupas) in the roadway in his path. As the police truck approached, Dupas moved over to the side of the road. Tr. 152. Boepple testified, once I got about 30 or 40 feet from him he [Dupas] moved out of the way [off the street], he saw me coming. Tr. 159. Although Boepple was approaching at a speed of 20-25 mph, he wasn't required to stop to avoid hitting Dupas, instead he (Boepple) came nowheres near making contact with him. Tr. 160. Officer Boepple then stopped, conversed about UFO's, and casually cautioned the pedestrians to be careful. (They, of course, thought they were acting carefully, in getting off the roadway (if on it) when headlights alerted them to an oncoming vehicle.) The defendant Brown's testimony itself indicates the importance of headlights in alerting persons on or near the overpass to the approach of oncoming traffic from either side of the overpass. The care Brown took to darken his own vehicle, so as not to alert suspected hunters of its presence, illustrates this. Further, in describing his ability to see the outside (west) wall on the other (south) side of the crest of the overpass from his parked position on the north incline, he observed: You could only see to the crest unless the car was coming up the other side.  Tr. 76. (In context, we take this to mean that he could not see beyond the crest unless headlights of oncoming traffic outlined the structure.) Under these circumstances, Dupas was exercising reasonable care to protect himself from oncoming traffic reasonably to be expected. He and his companion relied on the headlights, either coming up the incline on his side of the overpass or else illuminating the crest if coming from the other side, of oncoming traffic to alert them to the approach of the isolated vehicle which might exceptionally use the deserted dead-end overpass. In crossing the darkened roadway without observing for the approach of an illegally darkened vehicle, which he could not reasonably anticipate, Dupas did not act with unreasonable disregard of his own safety. We cannot say that a pedestrian is negligent simply because he crosses a deserted roadway at night, nor in failing to anticipate that from the total darkness ahead a darkened vehicle will come upon him as he crossed the center-line. [2] As we noted earlier, Failure to take every precaution against every foreseeable risk or to use extraordinary skill, caution, and foresight does not constitute negligence or contributory negligence. In Law v. Osterland, 198 La. 421, 3 So.2d 680 (1941), we held that a pedestrian who crossed a roadway in the face of oncoming lights of trafficin what the court of appeal had held to be grossly negligent conductwas not contributorily negligent in assuming that the oncoming motorist was approaching in accordance with traffic laws. (In fact, the motorist was speeding at an excessive rate.) Citing well-settled jurisprudence, we stated, 3 So.2d 683:    `A pedestrian should use ordinary care for his own safety when crossing a street or highway; however, he has the right to assume that others will use a like care to avoid injuring him. Failure to anticipate omission of such care does not render the pedestrian negligent as a matter of law.' See also: Brantley v. Brown, 277 So.2d 141 (La.1973); Duffy v. Hickey, 151 La. 274, 91 So. 733 (1922); Carpenter v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co., 333 So.2d 296 (La.App. 1st Cir. 1976); Normand v. Piazza, 145 So.2d 110 (La.App. 4th Cir. 1962). Here, for instance, in all probability the accident would not have occurred if the headlights of Brown's vehicle had been shining, since its approach could then have been seen by Dupas or his companion in their lookout, as the lights outlined the crest of the overpass before it crossed it (and all the more readily after the vehicle came over the crest onto the southerly incline). Dupas could then have desisted from crossing or have stepped back into the opposite lane so as to avoid the vehicle. Further, if the headlights had been shining, Brown himself could have seen Dupas in the roadway as he came over the crest, instead of when only 10 feet from him, and could have easily stopped (at 15 mph), slowed, honked his horn to alert the pedestrian, or otherwise have avoided the accident, even though the pedestrian himself was unaware of his approach. Brown would thus have been liable, if he had failed to avoid the accident, if he had been shining his headlights as required by law. See, e. g., Pierre v. Landry, 341 So.2d 891 (La.1977); Guilbeau v. Liberty Mut. Ins. Co., 338 So.2d 600 (La.1976). It would be an anomalous result that he could escape present liability because his negligence was of a grosser nature, i. e., driving a vehicle on the roadway completely without lights to observe persons on it or to alert them of his approach.