Pudmaroff v. Allen

977 P.2d 574
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJune 3, 1999
Docket66769-1
StatusPublished
Cited by36 cases

This text of 977 P.2d 574 (Pudmaroff v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pudmaroff v. Allen, 977 P.2d 574 (Wash. 1999).

Opinion

977 P.2d 574 (1999)
138 Wash.2d 55

Richard PUDMAROFF, a single man, Respondent,
v.
Leona ALLEN and John Doe Allen, wife and husband, and the marital community composed thereof, Petitioners.

No. 66769-1.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued March 24, 1999.
Decided June 3, 1999.

*575 Mark T. Fordham, David Shelton, Bricklin & Gendler, Michael W. Gendler, Seattle, amicus curiae on behalf of Bicycle Alliance of Washington.

Reed, McClure, William R. Hickman, Danielle A. Hess, Seattle, for Petitioners.

David R. Hallowell, Maltman, Reed, North, Ahrens & Malnati, Douglas Ahrens, Seattle, for Respondent.

TALMADGE, J.

We are asked in this case to determine if a bicyclist is entitled to the protection of the crosswalk when crossing a roadway. We hold a bicyclist using a crosswalk to cross a roadway is entitled to the protection of law afforded persons using crosswalks. The trial court here properly granted summary judgment on liability to the bicyclist and exonerated the bicyclist from comparative fault on these facts. We affirm the trial court's judgment on the verdict of the jury and award fees on appeal to the bicyclist.

ISSUES

1. Do the protections of a crosswalk extend to a bicyclist using the crosswalk to traverse the roadway?

2. Was the vehicle driver who struck the bicyclist in the crosswalk correctly found 100 percent liable as a matter of law?

3. Should the respondent bicyclist be awarded attorney fees on appeal pursuant to RAP 18.1?

FACTS

On September 6, 1994, at approximately 4:30 p.m., Leona Allen was driving her Blazer sports utility vehicle east along Southeast 277th Street, a two-lane, two-way roadway in the city of Kent, Washington. Richard Pudmaroff was riding his bicycle on the north-south multiuse Interurban Trail in the same city. Where the Interurban Trail crosses 277th Street, there is a marked crosswalk, designated by both a series of white parallel stripes painted on the pavement and a standard crosswalk sign (a yellow diamond C-shaped sign depicting a person walking) on the right-hand side of 277th Street approaching the crosswalk from the west. Railroad tracks also cross 277th Street on the east side of the crosswalk, so traveling from the west, an automobile first comes to the crosswalk sign, then to the crosswalk itself, and then to the railroad tracks. Allen, heading *576 east on 277th, approached the crosswalk from the west.

As Pudmaroff was riding his bicycle southbound on the Interurban Trail, he encountered a stop sign before he came to the crosswalk on 277th. Pudmaroff stopped and dismounted from his bicycle at the edge of the roadway in front of the crosswalk, looked, and waited for traffic. A car on his left in the westbound lane stopped and allowed him to proceed across 277th. He remounted his bike, looked to the right, and started across. He saw only one vehicle, not near, but a good distance away.

Allen claims she was proceeding no faster than the posted speed limit of 35 miles per hour before she got to the crosswalk. Nearing the crosswalk, she began slowing for the railroad tracks on the far side of the crosswalk. A westbound car allegedly obscured Allen's view of Pudmaroff as he entered the crosswalk. Allen did not see Pudmaroff until he was two feet north of the center of the two-lane road. As soon as Allen saw Pudmaroff, she slammed on her brakes, leaving skid marks for more than 30 feet, and veered across the fog line marked on the right of the roadway. When the right front corner of Allen's Blazer struck the rear tire of Pudmaroff's bicycle, throwing him from the bicycle causing injuries, Pudmaroff was across the fog line and off the traveled portion of the roadway.

When settlement negotiations with Allen did not come to fruition, Pudmaroff filed suit on April 15, 1995. The case was assigned to mandatory arbitration, and an arbitrator found for Pudmaroff, awarding him $17,000 in damages. Thereafter, Pudmaroff declined a new settlement offer of $12,000 from Allen, and Allen filed for a trial de novo in superior court as permitted by MAR 7.1. Subsequently, both parties filed for summary judgment on the issue of liability. The trial court granted Pudmaroff's motion, finding Allen negligent as a matter of law and finding no evidence supporting Allen's contention of Pudmaroff's comparative negligence. Trial was held on damages only, and a jury awarded Pudmaroff $40,918, plus attorney fees. MAR 7.3. Allen appealed, and the Court of Appeals, Division One, affirmed the trial court's judgment. Pudmaroff v. Allen, 89 Wash.App. 928, 951 P.2d 335 (1998). Allen then sought discretionary review, which we granted.

ANALYSIS

A. Bicyclists Are Entitled to Crosswalk Protection

To resolve the issues in this case, we must decide how to interpret the provisions of RCW 46.61.235(1) regarding the treatment of persons in crosswalks and RCW 46.04.400 defining pedestrians under Washington law. Allen contends the Court of Appeals and the trial court failed to apply the plain meaning of these statutes. Allen asserts motorists need only stop for pedestrians in crosswalks and that bicyclists are not pedestrians. Washington law now provides that "[t]he operator of an approaching vehicle shall stop and remain stopped to allow a pedestrian to cross the roadway within an unmarked or marked crosswalk[.]" RCW 46.61.235(1) (emphasis added). A "pedestrian" is defined as "any person who is afoot or who is using a wheelchair or a means of conveyance propelled by human power other than a bicycle." RCW 46.04.400 (emphasis added). And as Allen observes, RCW 46.61.755 gives "[e]very person riding a bicycle upon a roadway" the rights and duties of "the driver of a vehicle[.]" Thus, in Allen's view, Pudmaroff was not a pedestrian but, in effect, a motorist at the time of the accident. As such, he was the disfavored driver at the intersection and should have remained at the stop sign until the traffic on 277th Street had cleared.

In an earlier case, Crawford v. Miller, 18 Wash.App. 151, 566 P.2d 1264 (1977), the Court of Appeals held a bicyclist, although not a pedestrian under Washington law, was entitled to the protection of a crosswalk as if a pedestrian. There, a truck was stopped in the outside northbound lane at an intersection. From the truck's right, Crawford stepped into an unmarked crosswalk, pushing her bicycle. In the middle of the lane, she mounted the bike and proceeded to ride across the street. She was struck by a vehicle that had moved into the inside northbound lane to pass the stopped truck. The *577 Crawford court held RCW 46.61.755 did not apply to Crawford when she was in the crosswalk, because the statute pertained to a bicyclist "upon a roadway." Id.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Braeden Simon, V. Kelly Holguin
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2025
Robin Stanley v. Sierra Pacific Land & Timber
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2025
Christy Perez And Jason Sherrell, V. Eric Steever
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2023
McLaughlin v. Travelers Commercial Ins. Co.
476 P.3d 1032 (Washington Supreme Court, 2020)
State v. Brown
454 P.3d 870 (Washington Supreme Court, 2019)
Todd Mclaughlin v. Travelers Commercial Insurance Company
446 P.3d 654 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019)
Smith v. Barker
419 P.3d 327 (Court of Civil Appeals of Oklahoma, 2017)
Camicia v. Howard S. Wright Constr. Co.
Washington Supreme Court, 2014
Camicia v. Howard S. Wright Construction Co.
317 P.3d 987 (Washington Supreme Court, 2014)
Dorothy A. Millican v. N.a. Degerstrom Inc.
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2013
State v. Rose
160 Wash. App. 29 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2011)
Brutsche v. City of Kent
164 Wash. 2d 664 (Washington Supreme Court, 2008)
Kendrick v. Manda
174 P.3d 432 (Court of Appeals of Kansas, 2008)
Borromeo v. Shea
156 P.3d 946 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2007)
Nish v. Schaefer
2006 WY 85 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2006)
Harvey v. County of Snohomish
134 P.3d 216 (Washington Supreme Court, 2006)
Harvey v. Snohomish County
157 Wash. 2d 33 (Washington Supreme Court, 2006)
In Re Estate of Bowers
131 P.3d 916 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2006)
Berghmans v. Museum of Flight
131 P.3d 916 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2006)
Vance v. Offices of Thurston County Com'rs
71 P.3d 680 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2003)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
977 P.2d 574, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pudmaroff-v-allen-wash-1999.