Wilford v. Little

301 P.2d 282, 144 Cal. App. 2d 477, 1956 Cal. App. LEXIS 1744
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedSeptember 17, 1956
DocketCiv. 21469
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 301 P.2d 282 (Wilford v. Little) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilford v. Little, 301 P.2d 282, 144 Cal. App. 2d 477, 1956 Cal. App. LEXIS 1744 (Cal. Ct. App. 1956).

Opinion

FOURT, J.

Plaintiffs commenced an action to recover damages for the death of a minor son who fell into the private swimming pool on defendants’ residential property. To an amended complaint the defendants .demurred and the same was sustained with leave to amend. No amendment was made and judgment of dismissal was entered. This appeal is from the judgment of dismissal.

A fair résumé of the matters set forth in the amended complaint follows: On or about August 31, Í954, the swimming pool in question contained water to a depth of about 9 feet at one end, with a diving board extending over the water. Small children played on the property adjacent to the property of the defendants. The pool and diving board could be seen by the children from the .adjacent property and *478 this was • known to the defendants. On the date heretofore mentioned Christian McLean Wilford, the 4%-year-old son of plaintiffs, and some other small children, were attracted onto the property of the defendants by the diving board and pool. Christian McLean Wilford and one other small boy began to play upon the diving board which was similar to a see-saw or teeter-board in that it had an “up-and-down” motion when jumped upon. The pool was so constructed that it was difficult for a child to hold onto the sides of the pool. The boy and his companions were too young to appreciate the danger involved in playing on the diving board and in the pool. In the course of play the lad fell or jumped from the diving board into the water and drowned. Neither of the plaintiffs knew, nor had reason to know that there was a swimming pool in the neighborhood, or that the property of the defendants was not fenced or enclosed in any manner to keep children or others away from the pool. A fence or other enclosure could have been installed at a relatively small cost. It was then alleged that the defendants were negligent in not properly enclosing the pool and that this negligence resulted in the death of plaintiffs’ son to their damage in the sum of $50,000, together with expenses in the sum of $992.06.

It is appellants’ contention that California has adopted the rule of law generally referred to as the “Attractive Nuisance Doctrine,” or the “Rule of the Turntable Cases,” as set forth in the Restatement of the Law of Torts, and cites as authority for such contention the case of Copfer v. Golden, 135 Cal.App.2d 623, 627-628 [288 P.2d 90], and the cases cited therein. It is our opinion, however, that a swimming pool and diving board is not an attractive nuisance as that term is generally used. The California Annotations to the Restatement of the Law of Torts contain the following language (at pages 141-142):

‘1 § 339. Artificial conditions highly dangerous to trespassing children.
“. . . (b) Ponds or reservoirs: There is no liability for drowning of children in ponds or reservoirs under the attractive nuisance doctrine. (See a possible exception under the (siphon cases’ infra) Peters v. Bowman, 115 Cal. 345, 47 P. 113, 598, 56 Am.St.Rep. 106 (1896) is the leading decision. In this case the water collected on a vacant lot by reason of an embankment erected by the city in grading a street. Polk v. Laurel Hill Cemetery Ass’n, 37 C.A. 624, 174 P. 414 (1918), *479 a child of eight drowned in an unguarded reservoir in a cemetery being used as a park. Reardon v. Spring Valley Water Co., 68 C.A. 13, 228 P. 406 (1924), a five-year-old boy drowned after a fall from a rowboat which was allowed to remain unfastened in a negligently guarded reservoir. The court refused to hold that the presence of the boat brought the case within the doctrine.
“(c) ‘Siphon’ cases: There are several decisions but in only one was the doctrine held applicable. (1) Sanchez v. East Contra Costa Irr. Co., 205 Cal. 515, 271 P. 1060 (1928). In the other two cases there is an obvious effort to pattern after the rules announced in this opinion. Plaintiff’s son, aged five, was drowned in a canal when he fell into it after trying to wet his handkerchief. The body was found in a ‘siphon’ which carried the water under a cross-stream. The court held that defendant had created a concealed danger in the nature of a trap (siphon) to those who lived close by, and one that could easily be guarded. (2) Melandez v. City of Los Angeles, 8 Cal.2d 741, 68 P.2d 971 (1937). The demurrer to the complaint was sustained and on appeal this action of the court was affirmed. The court cited and approved Restatement section 339 as an exception to the rule of nonliability but held the doctrine not applicable. The complaint alleged that plaintiff’s two sons were drowned in a pool of water in a storm drain. One son, aged 11, was on a raft and fell into the water and into a deep hole concealed and unknown to him. The other son, aged 13, went to his rescue and was similarly drowned. The decision held that the deep hole was not an artificial contrivance of the possessor of the land and the precedent followed is Beeson v. City of Los Angeles [115 Cal.App. 122 (300 P. 993)], infra.”

In the recent case of Lake v. Ferrer, 139 Cal.App.2d 114 [293 P.2d 104] (hearing denied in the Supreme Court, March 28, 1956), plaintiffs’ son of 2% years was attracted to the defendant’s swimming pool and trespassed upon the defendant’s property, fell into the swimming pool and drowned. Plaintiff parents did not know of the pool’s existence and had not been told of it. In the Lake case, the plaintiffs relied for authority upon section 339 of the Restatement of Torts and practically all of the cases cited in the instant case, plus several others. It was held that the attractive nuisance doctrine did not apply under allegations considerably stronger than those presented in the instant case. The court, among other things, said (at p. Ill):

*480 ‘ “The following from 38 American Jurisprudence 779 is applicable: ‘ The accepted view is that the tender age of a child, rendering it incapable of looking out for its own safety, does not raise a duty where none otherwise exists. . .,. It is said that the responsibility for avoiding injury to a trespassing child from defective or dangerous premises lies with the parent or legal custodian of the child rather than with the proprietor of the premises. ’ In 19 California Jurisprudence 624 a similar statement occurs: ‘In the absence of circumstances which bring a case under the attractive nuisance doctrine, it is said that an owner of land owes no other duty to a.child who is trespassing . . . than he owes to an adult trespasser..’ ”’ ... It is pointed out that, ‘Our courts hold the attractive nuisance doctrine is an exceptionally harsh rule of liability and is not to be extended. As expressed in Whalen v. Streshley, 205 Cal. 78, 81 [269 P. 928, 60 A.L.R. 445] . .

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Bluebook (online)
301 P.2d 282, 144 Cal. App. 2d 477, 1956 Cal. App. LEXIS 1744, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilford-v-little-calctapp-1956.