Young v. Salt Lake City Corp.

876 P.2d 376, 241 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1994 Utah LEXIS 41, 1994 WL 257128
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJune 10, 1994
DocketNo. 920579
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 876 P.2d 376 (Young v. Salt Lake City Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Young v. Salt Lake City Corp., 876 P.2d 376, 241 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1994 Utah LEXIS 41, 1994 WL 257128 (Utah 1994).

Opinion

DURHAM, Justice:

Plaintiff Stephanie Young appeals a district court order dismissing her negligence action and granting summary judgment in favor of defendants Salt Lake City Corporation (the “City”) and Thomas Maudlin, a City employee. We reverse.

The following facts are undisputed. The accident giving rise to this lawsuit occurred on City Creek Canyon Road, a narrow roadway running up City Creek Canyon. Although not a public thoroughfare, the City owns the road and regulates its use by City ordinance. This ordinance provides that public vehicles may use the road only on “even-numbered” days during the summer months.1 “Odd-numbered” days are reserved for pedestrians and bicyclists. The road is open at all times to City maintenance and emergency vehicles. Access to the road is controlled by a gate. On the date of the accident, the road was closed to public vehicles. The accident occurred when Young, who was bicycling down the road, collided with a City maintenance vehicle driven by Maudlin.

Young filed a complaint alleging that Maudlin, knowing that the road was open only to pedestrian and bicycle traffic, negligently drove up the road and collided with Young. The City moved for summary judgment based on the Limitation of Landowner Liability — Public Recreation Act. See Utah Code Ann. §§ 57-14-1 to -7 (the “Act”). The Act limits the liability of public and private landowners who make their property available for public recreational use.

The district court granted the City’s motion. Relying on the Act, the court ruled that the City and Maudlin owed Young no duty of care (i) to keep City Creek Canyon safe for Young’s entry or use for bicycling or any other recreational purpose, or (ii) to give Young any warning of a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity in the canyon, including the operation of City maintenance vehicles. The court also found that the City was not obligated to curtail its use of the canyon during Young’s recreational use and that the operation of the maintenance vehicle was a necessary and reasonable “use” within the meaning of section 57-14-4(4). Young appeals.

Summary judgment is appropriate when there are no genuine issues of material fact and the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Utah R.Civ.P. 56(c); Winegar v. Froerer Corp., 813 P.2d 104, 107 (Utah 1991). In determining whether the trial court properly granted summary judgment, we give no deference to the trial court’s legal conclusions but review them for correctness. Mountain States Tel. & Tel. [378]*378Co. v. Garfield County, 811 P.2d 184, 192 (Utah 1991).

Young concedes that she was a nonpaying recreational user of the canyon and that the canyon is a recreational area within the meaning of the Act. She argues, however, that the Act applies only to traditional premises liability, not to otherwise negligent conduct by the landowner on the property. The City, on the other hand, argues that the Act shields owners of recreational property from all forms of potential liability, including vehicular negligence.

Although this court and the court of appeals have addressed the Act in four previous eases, each case arose in the context of traditional premises liability. See Jerz v. Salt Lake County, 822 P.2d 770, 771 (Utah 1991) (complaint alleged that defendant failed to maintain roadway); Golding v. Ashley Cent. Irrigation Co., 793 P.2d 897, 898 (Utah 1990) (complaint alleged that defendant failed to maintain irrigation canal and to warn of its existence); Crawford v. Tilley, 780 P.2d 1248, 1249 (Utah 1989) (complaint alleged that defendant failed to warn plaintiffs decedent about faulty ventilation system in mountain cabin); Loosli v. Kennecott Copper Corp., 849 P.2d 624, 625-26 (Utah Ct.App.) (complaint alleged that defendant failed to warn users of debris on premises or to guard against accident resulting from its presence), cert. denied, 860 P.2d 943 (Utah 1993). Neither court has considered whether the Act provides immunity for landowners who negligently operate motor vehicles on their land. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that it does not.2

The Act is intended “to encourage public and private owners of land to make land and water areas available to the public for recreational purposes by limiting their liability toward persons entering thereon for those purposes.” Utah Code Ann. § 57-14-1. The Act accomplishes this by providing that “an owner of land owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for entry or use by any person using the premises for any recreational purpose, or to give any warning of a dangerous condition, use, structure, or activity on those premises to those persons.” Id. § 57-14-3.

The Act’s plain language relieves landowners of two specific duties of care toward recreational users: (i) to keep their premises safe, and (ii) to warn of dangerous conditions. See id. The operative language of the Act does not purport to relieve landowners of their separate duty to conduct themselves in a reasonably safe manner while on the premises. Adhering to the general rule that the terms of a statute should be interpreted in accord with their usual and accepted meanings, Clover v. Snowbird Ski Resort, 808 P.2d 1037, 1045 (Utah 1991); Utah County v. Orem City, 699 P.2d 707, 708 (Utah 1985), we conclude that the Act does not apply to active vehicular negligence.

Our conclusion is consistent with what appeal’s to be the only reported decision on this issue. In Scott v. Wright, 486 N.W.2d 40 (Iowa 1992), the Iowa Supreme Court held that a recreational use statute did not apply where negligent operation of a tractor caused the plaintiffs injury. Id. at 42. In Scott, the plaintiff was injured while attending a party at the defendants’ farm. During the party, the defendants’ son-in-law took the celebrants on a hayrack ride through the defendants’ apple orchard. Id. at 41. Shortly after the ride began, the son-in-law lost control of the tractor on a wet grassy slope. Plaintiff fell off the hay wagon and was seriously injured. She sued the defendants on a theory of vicarious liability for the son-in-law’s negligent operation of the tractor. Id.

The Iowa court previously had interpreted Iowa’s statute, which is virtually identical to Utah’s,3 “as intending a ‘blanket abrogation of duty to all recreational users.’ ” Scott, 486 N.W.2d at 42 (quoting Peterson v. Schivertley,

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876 P.2d 376, 241 Utah Adv. Rep. 3, 1994 Utah LEXIS 41, 1994 WL 257128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/young-v-salt-lake-city-corp-utah-1994.