Schoenfeld v. City of Walnut Creek
This is a wrongful death case in which a governmental entity successfully raised a design immunity defense in summary judgment proceedings before the trial court. Plaintiff sued after her husband, Samuel Ragent (plaintiffs decedent), was killed in a motor vehiclebicycle collision on a street designed by defendant City of Walnut Creek (the City). The trial court granted the Citys summary judgment motion, ruling that the City had established as a matter of law that design immunity immunized it against liability.
Plaintiff is entitled to trial on one of the three legal criteria required to successfully invoke the design immunity defense: whether the city engineer approved the design at the location where the motorist struck and killed plaintiffs decedent. Accordingly, Court reverse the judgment.
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