Beck v. San Francisco Unified School Dist.

• Decision Date: 12 March 1964
• Citation: 37 Cal.Rptr. 471,225 Cal.App.2d 503
• Court: California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals
• Parties: Christian BECK, by Carl E. Beck, his Guardian ad Litem, Plaintiff, Respondent and Appellant, v. SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant, Appellant and Respondent. Civ. 20794.

Page 471

37 Cal.Rptr. 471

225 Cal.App.2d 503

Christian BECK, by Carl E. Beck, his Guardian ad Litem, Plaintiff, Respondent and Appellant, v. SAN FRANCISCO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant, Appellant and Respondent.

Civ. 20794.

District Court of Appeal, First District, Division 2, California.

March 12, 1964.

Dallas D. Brock, Jr., San Francisco, for appellant.

Thomas M. O'Connor, City Atty. of City and County of San Francisco, Jerome Cohen, Deputy City Atty., San Francisco, for respondent.

TAYLOR, Justice.

The minor plaintiff, Christian Beck, through his guardian ad litem, Carl Beck, filed this action for damages for personal injuries suffered when Christian was struck by two other pupils on school grounds. After the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $7,678, the court denied the defendant school district's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict and the district appeals from the order of denial. The court granted the district's motion for a new trial on the insufficiency of the evidence and the plaintiff cross-appeals from the order granting the new trial.

The pertinent facts are as follows: At the time of the injury, Christian was 15 years old, and a sophomore at Mission High School in San Francisco. On May 22, 1959, the day of the annual school carnival, Christian, after attending his morning classes, looked for a teacher to obtain permission to leave the school grounds. He looked in vain in the school building and then went outside to the yard where the carnival was held. Because it was noontime and he was hungry, he decided to get something to eat. As he walked to the food ticket booth in the center of the yard, he saw 2 older boys he did not know standing nearby. He noticed they were smoking in violation of the school rules. While Christian stood in line for about 5-10 minutes, he 'unconsciously' stared at the smokers, wondering how they could get by with such an obvious violation of the strictly enforced rules against smoking on the school grounds. After purchasing his tickets, Christian walked away still 'sort of' staring at the smokers who then came over and asked him what he was looking at. When he replied 'Nothing,' one struck a 'sneak blow' which spun him around, while the other knocked him to the ground. Christian struck his head and suffered a severe injury.

A girl screamed and a crowd formed around the plaintiff. The scream was heard by the teacher charged with the general supervision of the carnival, A. J. O'Connor, who immediately turned around and saw the plaintiff lying on his back. O'Connor also noticed a man standing near the plaintiff, assumed it was a teacher, and left to get the nurse. Other school officials testified that of the 23 teachers assigned to the carnival, none were absent from their assignments, that 5 or 6 teachers were in the area of the ticket booth just before the incident, and that when adolescents gather, rowdyism tends to occur unless there is supervision. Vince Belli, plaintiff's fellow student, testified that he looked but did not see any teachers in the area in question from the time he arrived prior to the incident until several minutes thereafter. There was evidence that some of the teachers were conversing with each other. There had never been any fights or difficulties at previous festivals. On this occasion, there was nothing unusual, no loud talking or shoving or other circumstances to indicate that any trouble was brewing. The evidence establishes without contradiction that the plaintiff was injured by the sudden wilful act of two 17 year old fellow students. The two assailants did not have a reputation for belligerency or fighting. The plaintiff testified that they did not address him in a pugnacious manner and that he received a 'sneak punch.'

The alleged liability of the school district is based on section 903 of the Education Code ¹ which provides that a school district is liable for injuries resulting from the negligence of its officers or employees. A school district has a duty to supervise the conduct of children on school grounds at all times and to enforce pertinent rules or regulations (Taylor v. Oakland Scavenger Co., 17 Cal.2d 594, 110 P.2d 1044). The failure to do so may constitute actionable negligence (Tymkowicz v. San Jose etc. School Dist., 151 Cal.App.2d 517, 520, 312 P.2d 388). It is not necessary to prove that the very injury which occurred must have been foreseeable by the school authorities in order to establish that their failure to provide the necessary safeguards constituted negligence. Negligence is established if a reasonably prudent person would foresee that injury of the same general type would be likely to happen in the absence of such safeguards (Taylor v. Oakland Scavenger Co., supra; Lehmuth v. Long Beach Unified Sch. Dist., 53 Cal.2d 544, 553, 2 Cal.Rptr. 279, 348 P.2d 887). However, there must be a proximate causal connection between the inadequacy of the supervision and the accident (Forgnone v. Salvador U. E. School Dist., 41 Cal.App.2d 423, 106 P.2d 932). While foreseeability is one factor in the delineation of negligence, it is equally pertinent in the exploration of proximate cause, especially when an intervening act plays a contributory role in the accident (Raymond v. Paradise Unified School Dist., 218 A.C.A. 1, 6, 31 Cal.Rptr. 847).

We first consider the denial of the district's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The rule in passing upon such a motion is the same as for nonsuits. (Waller v. Southern Cal. Gas Co., 170 Cal.App.2d 747, 339 P.2d 577). 'Unless it can be said as a matter of law, that * * * no other reasonable conclusion is legally deducible from the evidence, and that any other holding would be so lacking in evidentiary support that a reviewing court would be impelled to reverse it upon appeal, or the trial court to set it aside as a matter of law, the trial...