Dangerous Conditions of Public Property

Numerous sidewalk trip and falls: These sidewalk trip and/or slip and fall incidents result in lawsuits almost exclusively based on the Government Code’s description of a “dangerous condition of public property”. The conditions range from minor or trivial offsets to more significant offsets that were not inspected nor repaired within reasonable periods of time. The allegations in these matters typically range from poor to no reasonable inspections, to inadequate policies not causing sidewalks to be inspected within reasonable periods of time, to failing to have City tree trimmers provide sufficient inspection of the contiguous sidewalks when they are trimming trees.

Numerous defects in City streets: These defects, typically in some form or size of a pothole, often cause trip and falls that result in litigation. The variety of the alleged street defects range from divots within crosswalks, to a divot adjacent to a parking space (where a driver must step exiting a vehicle), to grates for storm drains that catch bicycle tires, to manhole covers below grade, to resurfaced streets using defective materials, to negligent workmanship in the resurfacing that can result in any number of problems (e.g., the asphalt not being flush with the cement gutter, the poor quality of the asphalt resulting in sunken stretches of roadway).

Numerous street and roadway design issues: These cases can involve any number of alleged defects all premised on the allegations of a dangerous condition of public property. These cases involve such problems as signal placement, malfunctioning, and the timing of phases and cycles, the existence or non-existence of left-turn lanes and/or dedicated left-turn signals, the location and adequacy of traffic control devices (from signs to signals), line of sight distances, and to what extent is the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices in conflict with any local/City standards and practices.

A rural County’s stop sign was knocked down and not repaired until after an auto v. auto accident. The road runs parallel to an irrigation district canal. The impact spun a vehicle into the adjacent canal, resting upside down. The driver died from drowning when water from the canal flooded the car (he could not move due to the severity of the impact and being pinned by the steering wheel). The driver’s wife was the front seat passenger and survived being able to move her head to where her feet had been, finding an air pocket. Irrigation District personnel, who carry air tanks for such a circumstance, arrived shortly after the accident and were able to save her.

An on-duty Deputy County Sheriff served a subpoena on a homeowner and tripped over a City water meter that was below grade in the sloping driveway apron. The Sheriff/plaintiff sustained serious lower extremity damages. The County held a sizeable worker’s compensation lien. The City and homeowner were sued for the dangerous location and condition of the water meter.

Multiple commercial vehicle accidents all occurred over a six-week period of time resulting in two deaths and catastrophic injuries. The multiple plaintiffs alleged an excessively steep grade in an urban setting with sharp curves that were not remedied despite a City transportation engineer’s memorandum recommending altering the roadway long before any of the accidents. The consolidated cases settled with the primary and excess carriers filing declaratory relief actions on the question of whether the three accidents were one or multiple “occurrences” trigging three separate excess claims of coverage.

A City was sued when a 37-year-old motorcyclist with the right-of-way on a through street ran into the driver side door of a young woman who pulled away from her cross-street failing to see the motorcyclist. The driver settled for her policy limits. The motorcyclist sued the City on the allegation that the length of the red-curb set back from the cross-street violated the Caltrans recommended standards for line-of-sight protections. The motorcyclist remains in a permanent vegetative condition requiring 24-hour care for life.

A stop limit line parallel to a City’s stop sign was set back quite some distance from the curb lane of the intersecting main through street. When a motorcyclist was stopped at the limit line and stop sign, he could not see the on-coming cross-traffic. When the motorcyclist pulled out into traffic, he was T-boned rendering him a paraplegic.

A major artery with two lanes in each direction, left-turn pockets, and a raised grass median dividing the two directions is intersected by two separate streets, each approaching at acute angles resulting in an intersection with six separate approaches. Two accidents, virtually identical but 10 years apart, took place involving left turning vehicles from the main through street striking a moped first, and then striking and killing a speeding motorcyclist. The allegations in the two lawsuits included sight distance obstructions, insufficient warnings, but mostly the issues revolved around the complexities of the six approaches to the intersection. The problems also included left turn lanes on the main artery, but no dedicated left-turn arrows.

Cities have repaved asphalt streets without raising the level of manhole covers resulting in depressions. These conditions have resulted in both pedestrian and cyclist accidents. These injuries can range from minor events to fractures requiring surgery.

A City engaged a private vendor to resurface an alley. The alley’s asphalt surface was ground down and removed leaving a substantial offset up against the center cement trough/drain which is not altered during the project. The vendor complied with the contract posting warning signs and was on schedule to complete the resurfacing within a week. An elderly woman who lives at this location tripped over the center drain taking her trash to the City garbage container located in the alley. The allegations include inadequate signage, failure to warn, and failure to secure the alley while under construction all causing TBI.