Fanning v. City of Laramie

402 P.2d 460, 1965 Wyo. LEXIS 144
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedMay 18, 1965
Docket3348
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 402 P.2d 460 (Fanning v. City of Laramie) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fanning v. City of Laramie, 402 P.2d 460, 1965 Wyo. LEXIS 144 (Wyo. 1965).

Opinions

Mr. Justice HARNSBERGER

delivered •the opinion of the court.

This appeal is from summary judgment rendered in favor of the defendant-■City upon its motion supported by affidavits and exhibits, to dismiss plaintiff’s amended complaint. However, neither the motion, the affidavits, nor the exhibits challenged or controverted any allegation of plaintiff’s amended complaint. They showed only that plaintiff had not taken an appeal from the rejection by the City of her claim for damages as provided by § 15-323, W.S.1957. Under such circumstances, the allegations of fact of plaintiff’s amended complaint must be taken as true. A sufficient summary of those allegations are as follows.

The deceased died as the result of injuries sustained in a motor vehicle collision between the vehicle driven by deceased and a vehicle driven by defendant-Simpson, which occurred at a place where a designated through street of the City was intersected by a cross street at which there was erected a stop sign concealed by limbs and foliage of trees planted by either defendant Bertha Branch or prior owners of her property in the area between crosswalks and the traveled portion of the cross street opposite the Bertha Branch property, in violation of city ordinance, and thereby creating a dangerous condition and nuisance at that place, such failure being a proximate cause of the accident.

The amended complaint alleges that by its charter the City was empowered to open, care for, and improve streets, regulate planting of ornamental and shade trees and the use of streets and sidewalks, and that by virtue of this State’s motor vehicle code the City was vested with the power to and it had designated the through street, thereby becoming subject to mandatory requirement that it erect signs conforming to statutory and Wyoming State Highway Commission directives.

The grounds upon which defendant based its motion to dismiss were that the amended complaint failed to state a claim against the City upon which relief could be granted because of the City’s governmental immunity and that the court lacked jurisdiction of the subject matter because § 15-323 says, “When any claim against the city is disallowed, in whole or in part, the claimant may appeal from the decision of the coun[462]*462cil to the district court of tlíe district in which said city is situated.”

One position taken by appellant is that under both statutory and case law of this State, it was the City’s duty to erect and properly maintain stop signs at intersections of its through streets; that permitting trees' to overhang and conceal such a stop sign was a street defect; and that the City was liable for damage or injury suffered as a result of such defect, by reason of this being an exception to the rule of governmental immunity. Appellant however cautions that her' position regarding liability under this exception to the rule should not be confused with cases where municipalities acting entirely upon their statutory prerogatives with respect to traffic control create a dangerous condition solely through the in-strumentalities used. By advancing its position respecting the City’s liability through an exception to the general rule, appellant seems to concede the City was acting in its governmental capacity in the establishment of the through street and in the erection and maintenance of the stop sign, but rests her claim of liability upon the City’s assumed duty to properly maintain the stop sign as being an exception to the general rule of municipal immunity. Appellant insists that by exercising its governmental discretion to designate the through street, the City became subject to the law and traffic code of the State which not only require the erection of adequate stop signs at intersections of through streets, but also impose upon the City the duty to properly maintain such signs and render the City subject to tort liability for its negligent violation of that duty.

Another of appellant’s contentions is that concealment of the stop sign by trees’ foliage was a nuisance and that independent of the City’s liability because of negligence in failing to keep the stop sign visible, it became liable within the broader field of maintaining or permitting a dangerous nuisance.

After quoting from 63 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 782, p. 88, where it is said that in most jurisdictions municipal corporations are held liable for injuries resulting from failure to keep streets in a reasonably safe condition or to prevent or abate a nuisance affecting their use and safety, and that in some cases such holdings ai'e based on the theory of corporate or ministerial duty, counsel emphasizes that in other cases, where the duty is held to be governmental, liability arises as an exception' to the general rule of immunity.

Appellant also claims that liability attaches regardless of who or what caused the defect or dangerous condition, provided the City has notice of the same. See 63 C. J.S. Municipal Corporations § 795, p. 108. And a dangex'ous condition made by an abutting owner which exists for a sufficient length of time to have enabled the City to guard the public safety, is enough to render the City liable. 63 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 796, p. 110; Osborn v. City of Nashville, 182 Term. 197, 185 S.W.2d 510, 514.

In the instant case the question of duration seems unimportant because obstruction by shrubbei-y does not take place’ overnight but occurs gradually, a fact which we judicially notice and which in turn must have brought the claimed obstruction to the City’s knowledge sufficiently in advance of the accident to have enabled it to cure the defect. Such notice may therefore be implied. Speas v. City of Greensboro, 204 N. C. 239, 167 S.E. 807, 808; 63 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 796, p. 110.

In addition to appellant’s citations of authorities, it is noted that 38 Am.Jur., Municipal Corporations, § 572, p. 265, points out "The doctrine of immunity from liability for injuries occurring in connection with the exercise of governmental functions is subject to certain exceptions and limitations.” This is followed by saying “It [immunity] has frequently been denied application also where damage or injury has been occasioned through the establishment, maintenance, or permission of a nuisance.” See also 38 Am. Jur., Municipal Corpoi'ations, § 647, pp. 355, 356, et sequens, wherein it is additionally said the liability arises irrespective of the. [463]*463question of negligence, and “liability cannot be avoided on the ground that the municipality was exercising governmental powers.” Each of these text statements are amply supported by case authority, the specific citation of which would unduly burden this opinion.

The analytical and forceful argument of counsel in presenting appellant’s theories requires more than casual attention.

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Fanning v. City of Laramie
402 P.2d 460 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 1965)

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Bluebook (online)
402 P.2d 460, 1965 Wyo. LEXIS 144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fanning-v-city-of-laramie-wyo-1965.