Opinion

Roberts v. Rudzis

  • 2013 La.App. 1 Cir. 0538
  • 146 So. 3d 602
  • 2014 La. App. LEXIS 1404
  • 2014 WL 3511653
Court
Louisiana Court of Appeal
Filed
May 28, 2014
Status
Published
Author
McClendon
On the bench
Crain, Guidry, McClendon, Welch, Whipple
Cited by
10 cases
Authority
More cited than 17.2%

The opinion

McCLENDON, J.,

dissents and assigns reasons.

_JjThe allocation of fault is a factual matter within the sound discretion of the trier of fact and will not be disturbed on appeal in the absence of manifest error. Great West Cas. Co. v. State ex rel. Dept. of Transp. and Dev., 06-1776 (La.App. 1 Cir. 3/28/07) , 960 So.2d 973, 978 , writ denied, 07-1227 (La.9/14/07), 963 So.2d 1005 . Although Ms. Rudzis was presumed to be at fault for rear-ending Ms. Roberts’ vehicle, I cannot conclude that the trial court was manifestly erroneous in assigning fault to Mr. Fischer. Mr. Fischer abruptly left *612 the roadway with a sudden maneuver in order to prevent him from striking Ms. Roberts’ vehicle. Clearly, Mr. Fischer was following Ms. Roberts’ vehicle too closely and in a careless manner insofar as he failed to maintain control of his vehicle within its lane of travel. See LSA-R.S. 32:81(A) and 32:58. Also, Ms. Chachere testified that prior to Mr. Fischer leaving the roadway, she could not see Ms. Roberts’ vehicle because the view was blocked by Mr. Fischer’s vehicle, which was larger than Ms. Rudzis’ vehicle. Given the facts presented to the trial court, I do not agree with the majority’s conclusion that Mr. Fischer’s actions were not “a substantial factor in bringing about the harm to Roberts.” Accordingly, while I agree that the trial court committed manifest error in failing to assign any fault to Ms. Rudzis, I dissent to the extent that the majority fails to |2apportion a percentage of fault to Mr. Fischer. Based on the evidence presented, I would have assessed a percentage of fault to both Mr. Fischer and Ms. Rudzis.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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