Huckey v. City of Temecula

250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 336, 37 Cal. App. 5th 1092
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedJune 28, 2019
DocketE070213
StatusPublished
Cited by28 cases

This text of 250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 336 (Huckey v. City of Temecula) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huckey v. City of Temecula, 250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 336, 37 Cal. App. 5th 1092 (Cal. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

FIELDS, J.

*1095I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff and appellant, Charles Huckey, sued defendant and respondent, City of Temecula (the City), for injuries he sustained from tripping and falling on a defective city sidewalk. He alleged the sidewalk defect was a dangerous condition of public property. ( Gov. Code, §§ 830 et seq. )1 The trial court granted the city's motion for summary judgment on the ground the sidewalk defect was trivial as a matter of law. The sidewalk was vertically uneven between two concrete panels, and the height differential was 9/16 of *1096an inch, three feet and one foot from the sidewalk's right edge, and one and 7/32 inches (1.21875 inches), at the right edge, as plaintiff was walking when he fell.

In this appeal, plaintiff claims (1) the City did not meet its initial burden of making a prima facie evidentiary showing that he could not establish that the sidewalk defect was a dangerous condition, or presented a substantial risk of injury ( § 830 ), and (2) the court erroneously concluded that the sidewalk defect was trivial as a matter of law (§ 830.2).

In our de novo review, we conclude the City met its initial burden on its motion, and plaintiff did not present sufficient evidence to raise a triable issue of material fact. All of the papers adduced on the motion show that the sidewalk defect was trivial as a matter of law.

II. FACTS AND PROCEDURE

A. Plaintiff's Complaint

Plaintiff alleges two causes of actions in his complaint against the City, captioned or styled as (1) dangerous condition of public property ( § 830 et seq. ) and (2) negligence. The complaint alleges plaintiff tripped, fell, and was injured while walking on a City sidewalk, near the northeast corner of Rancho California Road and Meadows Parkway at approximately 4:00 p.m. on December 12, 2015. A "raise" in the sidewalk's elevation caused plaintiff to trip and fall.2

*339B. The City's Motion

The City moved for summary judgment, or summary adjudication, on the ground the sidewalk defect was trivial as a matter of law. (§ 830.2.) The City adduced plaintiff's deposition testimony in which he testified he did not know whether he tripped with his right or left foot, but he knew he fell forward and first hit his head, then his face and hands, on the sidewalk. A concrete panel was "lifted" in the sidewalk. The City also adduced the declaration of its expert, Ned Wolfe, a mechanical engineer who specialized in accident reconstruction. On October 4, 2017, nearly two years after plaintiff alleged he fell on December 12, 2015, Wolfe inspected the sidewalk and measured the height differential or rise between the "lifted" concrete panel and the lower, adjacent panel. The panels had been beveled or ground down since plaintiff *1097alleged he fell, but by using a leveler, Wolfe determined the height of the rise between the panels before they were beveled-the height differential.

Before the panels were beveled, the height differential ranged from a low of 9/16 of an inch to a high of one inch-measured between three feet and one foot, respectively, "along the diagonal joint from the edge of the dirt, which would correspond to an area starting at 8 inches from the [right] side of the walkway." The right side of the walkway was to plaintiff's right as he was walking. "Only the very right two feet of the deviation [along the diagonal seam between the two concrete panels] was greater than 3/4 of an inch." There were no jagged edges or broken concrete in the height differential. The raised panel was removed on October 4, 2017, and Wolfe saw that a large tree root from the adjacent property had caused the panel to rise.

Wolfe reviewed the deposition testimony of plaintiff and Valentina N., who saw plaintiff fall. According to Valentina N., plaintiff was walking "closer to [the] dirt" or to the sidewalk's right edge, when he fell. Photographs show a level dirt area to the right of the sidewalk. Neither plaintiff nor Valentina N. indicated exactly where plaintiff was walking when he fell. Wolfe opined that "[a] pedestrian generally walks at least 8 inches from the separation between the edge of the sidewalk and the adjacent dirt area." Thus, Wolfe opined that if plaintiff fell, his "foot (most likely the toe) would have struck between approximately 1 foot and 3 feet along the diagonal joint [the height differential] from the edge of the dirt, which would correspond to an area starting at 8 inches from the side of the walkway." The City thus claimed that plaintiff must have fallen on the height differential at least eight inches from right side of the walkway, where the height differential was no higher than one inch.

The City also adduced the declaration of Rodney T., who, in his capacity as the City's maintenance superintendent for the previous seven years, or since 2010, was notified when claims were made against the City for trip and fall accidents on City sidewalks. Other than plaintiff's December 2015 accident, Rodney T. knew of no other trip and fall accidents at the northeast corner of the intersection where plaintiff claimed he fell, and no accidents had been reported on other corners of the same intersection.

C. Plaintiff's Opposition

In opposition, plaintiff argued the City did not meet its initial burden of showing plaintiff could not establish the duty element of its causes of action by showing that the height differential was a dangerous *340condition. Plaintiff claimed the City was relying solely on the size of the height differential to show it was a trivial defect and was disregarding other circumstances which showed that the height differential was a dangerous condition. Plaintiff *1098specifically claimed that leaves, dirt, other debris, and the shadow from a light pole all obscured a pedestrian's view of the height differential at the time plaintiff fell, and these factors, in addition to the size of the height differential, rendered the height differential a dangerous condition. Plaintiff argued his evidence showed there was a triable issue whether the height differential was a dangerous condition.

Plaintiff also argued the City had a policy of beveling sidewalk height differentials of one-half inch or higher, and that standards promulgated pursuant to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) and by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) required that "sidewalk variances of more than one-half inch between panels be ground down." Plaintiff argued the City should have discovered the height differential in 2014 and 2015, when ADA ramps were installed at the intersection and the City inspected the sidewalks near where the ADA ramps were to be installed, including at the intersection's northeast corner, where plaintiff later fell.

Plaintiff adduced additional excerpts from his and Valentina N.'s depositions. Plaintiff testified he fell at approximately 3:00 p.m. on December 12 or 13, 2015. The weather was sunny and dry.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 336, 37 Cal. App. 5th 1092, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huckey-v-city-of-temecula-calctapp5d-2019.