The Supreme Court today concludes San Diego County properly invoked statutory design immunity to shield itself from liability for a dangerous condition of public property that caused a serious car accident.
In a unanimous opinion by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, the court in Hampton v. County of San Diego holds that, although the immunity depends in part on there having been a discretionary approval of the design that caused the accident, the approval is valid even if done by an employee who was unaware of design standards or that the design deviated from the standards. However, a public entity still must provide substantial evidence that the design was reasonable. The court finds that, in enacting the immunity, the Legislature “intended to avoid second-guessing the initial design decision adopted by an employee vested with authority to approve it, except to the extent the court determines that the employee’s approval of the design was unreasonable.”
The court affirms the Fourth District, Division One, Court of Appeal. It disapproves a 1983 decision from the First District, Division Three, Court of Appeal and a 2013 opinion from the Second District, Division Seven, Court of Appeal.