Bady v. Detwiler
Citation | 127 Cal.App.2d 321,273 P.2d 941 |
Court | California Court of Appeals |
Decision Date | 10 September 1954 |
Parties | Fendora BADY, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Dr. Howard F. DETWILER; Margaret Detwiler; Black & White Company, a corporation; One Roe to Five Roe, inclusive, copartners, doing business under the fictitious firm name and style of Roe Company, a copartnership; City of Los Angeles (sued as John Doe) and Jane Doe, Defendants. City of Los Angeles, Appellant. Dewey LEWIS, Lynda Lou Lewis, a minor, by her Guardian ad Litem, Dewey Lewis and Arleen Stephenson, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. Frank PERKINS, John Doe One, John Doe Two and Jane Doe, Defendants. City of Los Angeles, Appellant. Dewey LEWIS, Lynda Lou Lewis, a Minor, by her Guardian ad Litem, Dewey Lewis and Arleen Stephenson, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. CITY OF LOS ANGELES, a Municipal Corporation, Defendant and Appellant. Frank W. PERKINS, Jr., Emma Burns and Ruth J. Nelson, Plaintiffs and Respondents, v. CITY OF LOS ANGELES, Margaret Detwiler, N. H. Detwiler, First Doe and Second Doe, Defendants. City of Los Angeles, Appellant. Margaret DETWILER, N. H. Detwiler and Katherine Varner, Plaintiffs, v. CITY OF LOS ANGELES, a Municipal Corporation, Defendant and Appellant. Margaret Detwiler and N. H. Detwiler, Respondents. Katherine VARNER, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Frank W. PERKINS, Jr., John Doe I, John Doe II and Jane Doe, Defendants. City of Los Angeles, Appellant. Civ. 20044. |
Roger Arnebergh, City Atty., Bourke Jones, Asst. City Atty., Joseph N. Owen, Deputy City Atty., Weldon L. Weber, Deputy City Atty., Los Angeles, for appellant.
Erb, French & Picone, Beverly Hills, Samuel B. Picone, Hagenbaugh & Murphy, Van A. Hagenbaugh, and Robert E. Benton, Los Angeles, for respondents.
The city of Los Angeles appeals from three consolidated judgments against it entered on eight jury verdicts in favor of the several plaintiffs in actions for damages for personal injuries. Liability was imposed on the city under the Public Liability Act of 1923, now sections 53050 and 53051 of the Government Code, sometimes referred to as the 'act.' A motion for a new trial was denied.
On Sunday morning, August 5, 1951, at about 7:30 a. m., a collision between an automobile driven by Frank Perkins and one driven by Margaret Detwiler occurred at the intersection of Jefferson Boulevard and Flower Street in Los Angeles. Traffic control devices of the 'Acme' type, owned, maintained, and operated by the city, were located at each of the four corners of the intersection, having lights and semaphore arms operating on independent electrical circuits from a master control box at the southwest corner of the intersection.
Perkins, with four passengers, was driving an automobile east on Jefferson. When about 150 feet from the intersection he observed that the semaphore arm on the signal on the southwest corner, controlling eastbound Jefferson traffic, indicated 'Go.' When about 20 feet from the intersection he observed that the semaphore arm on the signal on the northeast corner, controlling westbound Jefferson traffic, also indicated 'Go.' He did not observe any signal lights, only the semaphore arms. He continued into the intersection.
Mrs. Detwiler, with four passengers, was driving an automobile north on Flower Street. As she approached the intersection she saw that the semaphore arm on the signal on the southeast corner, controlling northbound Flower traffic, indicated 'Go.' She did not observe the signal on the northwest corner, controlling southbound Flower traffic. She continued into the intersection.
The two cars collided in the intersection. The signals were not cycling, changing from 'Go' to 'Stop' and vice versa. They were stuck on 'Go' for Jefferson traffic, on 'Go' for northbound Flower traffic, and on 'Stop' for southbound Flower traffic. It is agreed that the condition of the traffic control devices was defective and dangerous.
The city's first contention is that the liability imposed by the Public Liability Act of 1923 does not extend to the defective and dangerous condition of traffic control devices.
Section 53050 of the Government Code provides: Section 53051 reads:
The city argues that traffic control devices are not included in the term 'property' as used in the statute.
Generally, the word 'property' is used as referring to a thing of which there may be ownership. Civil Code section 654 says: '[T]he thing of which there may be ownership is called property.' The word is a generic one. When unqualified it is sufficiently comprehensive to include every species of estate, both real and personal, whether choate or inchoate. Ponsonby v. Sacramento Suburban Fruit Lands Co., 210 Cal. 229, 232, 291 P. 167; Crouch v. Crouch, 28 Cal.2d 243, 261-262, 169 P.2d 897; Hunt v. Authier, 28 Cal.2d 288, 295-296, 169 P.2d 913, 171 A.L.R. 1379; In re Estate of Glassford, 114 Cal.App.2d 181, 189-190, 249 P.2d 908, 34 A.L.R.2d 1259; People v. Settles, 29 Cal.App.2d Supp. 781, 786, 78 P.2d 274; Finley v. Winkler, 99 Cal.App.2d Supp. 887, 890, 222 P.2d 345.
The question in Coleman v. City of Oakland, 110 Cal.App. 715, 295 P. 59, was whether the word 'property,' as used in the Public Liability Act of 1923, included a city-owned and-operated motor truck. In holding it did, the court said, 110 Cal.App. page 718, 295 P. at page 60:
In Smith v. County of San Mateo, 62 Cal.App.2d 122, at page 129, 144 P.2d 33, at page 37, the court stated:
Liability has been imposed upon a local agency under the act for maintaining or permitting the maintenance of the following kinds of property in a defective or dangerous condition: an incinerator in which trash was burned on school grounds, Huff v. Compton City Grammar School Dist., 92 ...
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