Grey v. City of Topeka

CourtCourt of Appeals of Kansas
DecidedFebruary 16, 2024
Docket125338
StatusUnpublished

This text of Grey v. City of Topeka (Grey v. City of Topeka) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grey v. City of Topeka, (kanctapp 2024).

Opinion

NOT DESIGNATED FOR PUBLICATION

No. 125,338

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF KANSAS

JULIE KATHLEEN GREY, Appellant,

v.

CITY OF TOPEKA, et al., Appellees.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appeal from Shawnee District Court; TERESA L. WATSON, judge. Submitted without oral argument. Opinion filed February 16, 2024. Affirmed.

Eric Kjorlie, of Topeka, for appellant.

Nicholas H. Jefferson, senior litigation attorney, of City of Topeka, for appellee City of Topeka.

Before WARNER, P.J., GARDNER and HURST, JJ.

HURST, J.: After growing impatient waiting for a ride from a friend, Julie Kathleen Grey began walking north on the pedestrian sidewalk across the Kansas Avenue Bridge. While walking, Grey saw her friend driving across the bridge on the opposite side. Apparently not wanting to wait for her friend to drive to her, Grey climbed over the concrete barrier between the sidewalk and the traffic lanes, crossed the two southbound two lanes of traffic, and then climbed over the concrete barricades blocking the center of the bridge from the traffic lanes. Unfortunately, Grey did not realize the center concrete barricades blocked access to a large gap in the bridge and she fell to the ground below suffering serious injuries. Grey brought a suit against the City of Topeka and various

1 other parties alleging they were liable for her injuries. The district court granted the City summary judgment, finding it was immune from liability under the Kansas Tort Claims Act. Finding no error in the district court's well-reasoned opinion, this court affirms.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Before its redesign in 1996, the Kansas Avenue Bridge in Topeka, Kansas, (the Bridge), had a pedestrian sidewalk down the center. The 1996 redesign removed the center sidewalk and added a handicap accessible sidewalk on the west side of the Bridge. This redesign resulted in an approximate 4-foot-wide gap in the middle of the Bridge about 30 feet above the ground. The City of Topeka (the City) placed concrete barricades measuring 2 feet, 8 inches in height on either side of the gap. The City also erected "two regulatory signs" at each end of the Bridge's center barricades which stated, "NO FOOT TRAFFIC ACCESS."

At about 6 p.m. on June 30, 2014, Julie Kathleen Grey was walking north on the sidewalk across the Bridge. At the same time, Grey's friend was driving a vehicle on the other side of the Bridge and called out to Grey. Rather than walk to the end of the Bridge to meet up with her friend, Grey climbed over the concrete barricade that separated the sidewalk from the lanes of traffic, crossed two traffic lanes to get to the center of the Bridge, and then climbed over the 2-foot, 8-inch concrete barricade blocking entrance to the center of the Bridge. Apparently not realizing the concrete barrier guarded a large gap in the Bridge, Grey fell through the gap and landed on the ground approximately 30 feet below. The parties agreed there were no crosswalks or other signs directing pedestrian traffic to the center of the Bridge, and there was no opening in the barricade allowing access to the center of the Bridge near where Grey fell.

In June 2016, Grey filed a petition in Shawnee County District Court against the City and various other parties that the district court dismissed asserting her recovery was

2 barred by the statute of repose. Grey appealed that dismissal, and a panel of this court affirmed the district court's holding that the statute of repose barred Grey's claims alleging negligent installation of the Bridge. Grey v. City of Topeka, No. 117,652, 2018 WL 1352506, at *7 (Kan. App. 2018) (unpublished opinion). However, it remanded Grey's claim that the City breached its continuing duty to warn her of allegedly unsafe conditions on the Bridge, explaining:

"[T]he City had a duty to maintain its streets in a reasonably safe condition, a duty to provide a proper warning of the dangerous condition of the bridge, and a duty to properly supervise construction of the bridge."

". . . As to Grey's claim based on a failure to warn or a failure to maintain, the last day the City could have breached its duty was the day Grey was injured. Thus, Grey's claim against the City for failure to warn or failure to maintain, assuming that such a claim can be established, is not barred by the statute of repose." 2018 WL 1352506, at * 2, 7.

The district court had dismissed Grey's claims prior to discovery, so the district court and appellate court did not analyze the substance of Grey's claims based on a duty to warn. Therefore, the panel remanded Grey's failure to warn and maintain claim for further proceedings to address that issue. 2018 WL 1352506, at *7.

In October 2021, the City moved for summary judgment alleging: (1) The City had no duty to warn of open and obvious dangers; (2) if required, the City's warnings and safety precautions were reasonable; (3) the City was immune from liability under the KTCA for any failure to warn; (4) Grey was more than 50% at fault for her injuries; and (5) there were no cognizable claims against the named individuals in their individual capacities.

Grey's response to the City's motion for summary judgment failed to address most of the City's defenses. Additionally, without appropriate legal or factual support, Grey

3 argued that (1) the public duty doctrine did not bar her claim against the City; (2) the available discovery did not absolve the City of its nondelegable duty to warn, and such warning was nondiscretionary as a matter of law under "the applicable Section(s) of the Restatement (Second) of Torts (1964)"; (3) the KTCA provides a remedy for the City's "failure to provide proper signage" for the "latent dangerous condition" of the gap; and (4) the KTCA provides a remedy for City's "duty to maintain, operate, or inspect their property."

The City replied, arguing that Grey failed to respond to its motion for summary judgment. In April 2022, the district court granted the City's motion for summary judgment and found the City was required to, and did comply with, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) when it placed the "NO FOOT TRAFFIC ACCESS" signs on the Bridge. The district court found the City immune from liability under the KTCA because its decision on whether and how to place a sign was a discretionary act. K.S.A. 75-6104(e) and (h). To the extent Grey's failure to warn claim rested on the design defects not already barred by the statute of repose, the district court found the City was also immune from liability under the KTCA. K.S.A. 75-6104(m). Lastly, the district court found that Grey failed to assert facts supporting a claim against the individually named City employees because there was no evidence that the employees acted outside the scope of their employment or had control over the Bridge premises.

Grey appealed.

DISCUSSION

On appeal, Grey distills her arguments down and essentially only challenges the district court's finding that the City was immune from liability under the KTCA for all of Grey's claims. Grey does not challenge the district court's finding that she failed to maintain a claim against the individually named defendants. Grey alleges that (1) the

4 district court incorrectly interpreted precedent in finding the City immune from liability under the KTCA, and (2) the KTCA did not provide the City with immunity for its nondelegable duty to warn Grey about the gap in the Bridge.

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Grey v. City of Topeka, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grey-v-city-of-topeka-kanctapp-2024.