Eaton v. City of Vacaville
Plaintiff and appellant Henry Eaton was injured in a motor vehicle accident on Peabody Road in Vacaville. Eaton was riding northbound on a motorcycle when he collided with Alfatoon Edalat, who had been driving southbound in an automobile and was making an unlawful left turn across a set of double-double yellow lines denoted by Bott’s dots. The two double lines extend south from a concrete median and also form the left boundary of a left turn lane that extends approximately 75 feet further south, at which point the double lines open for left turns and there is a prominent left turn arrow painted on the roadway. In other words, instead of entering the left turn lane and turning left across the northbound lanes at the point indicated by the large arrow painted on the roadway, Edalat attempted to cut across Peabody just past the concrete median where the space between the two double lines is the greatest. Edalat has never disputed that he was making an illegal left turn, never expressed any confusion about the roadway markings, and never claimed there was any obstruction of his view down Peabody. Rather, he claimed Eaton must have been speeding because he seemed to come out of nowhere.
Eaton sustained significant injuries, and he and his wife, plaintiff and appellant Anna Eaton, sued the city, alleging the accident was caused, at least in part, by a dangerous condition of public property. The city moved for summary judgment on several grounds, including that there was no dangerous condition of public property at the accident site as a matter of law and the city was protected from liability, in any event, by design immunity. The trial court granted the motion on the ground there was no dangerous condition as a matter of law and therefore did not reach any other issue. We affirm.
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