Preview:

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA NO. 98-C-1613

LORI ANN SIMS, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE MINOR CHILD, ROBERT SPENCER HEARD V. STATE FARM AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY, ET AL.

ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, SECOND CIRCUIT, PARISH OF CLAIBORNE

PER CURIAM*
We granted certiorari in this case to determine whether the court of appeal erred in modifying the allocation of fault made by the jury. After reviewing the record, we conclude the jury's allocation of fault was not clearly wrong. Accordingly, we reverse the court of appeal's judgment as to allocation of fault and reinstate the trial court's judgment on this issue.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY On the evening of March 19, 1993, Lori Ann Sims, then eighteen years of age, left the town of Haynesville and drove south on U.S. Highway 79 to meet some friends in Homer. A light misting rain was falling, and Ms. Sims had her headlights and windshield wipers on. As she came over a small crest in the road1 about one mile south of Haynesville, Ms. Sims saw a tanker-trailer driven by James Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick was in the process of making a right turn from the road into his driveway, and the tanker-trailer obstructed the southbound lane and part of the northbound lane. Ms. Sims failed to stop in time; she struck the side of the tanker, and her vehicle became trapped beneath the spare tire carrier in the tanker's mid-section.

*

Kimball, J. not on panel. Rule IV, Part II,

Download 98-C-1613 LORI ANN SIMS, INDIVIDUALLY AND ON BEHALF OF THE MINOR CHILD, ROBERT S

Louisiana Law