In Tansavatdi v. City of Rancho Palos Verdes, the Supreme Court today holds immunity under Government Code section 830.6, that generally protects California public entities and employees from liability for injuries “caused by the plan or design of a construction of, or an improvement to, public property,” is not as broad as government defendants want. In doing so, the court rejects a call to overturn part of its decision in Cameron v. State of California (1972) 7 Cal.3d 318, finding the part was not dictum and there is nothing that “warrants departure from the doctrine of stare decisis.”
The court’s unanimous opinion by Justice Joshua Groban says the issue is “whether design immunity is limited to claims alleging that a public entity created a dangerous roadway condition through a defective design, or whether the statutory immunity also extends to claims alleging that a public entity failed to warn of a design element that resulted in a dangerous roadway condition.” The court concludes “design immunity does not categorically preclude failure to warn claims that involve a discretionarily approved element of a roadway” and finds public entities “retain a duty to warn of known dangers that the roadway presents to the public.” However, the court stresses that “a plaintiff seeking to impose liability for failure to warn of an immunized design element must prove the public entity had notice that its design resulted in a dangerous condition” and must also overcome a separate immunity “by establishing the accident-causing condition was a concealed trap.”
Today’s decision allows the continuation of a lawsuit — on a failure-to-warn liability theory — that resulted from a fatal bicycle versus tractor trailer accident at a roadway section where the defendant city had chosen not to provide a bike lane.
The court affirms the Second District, Division Four, Court of Appeal’s published opinion. But it also disapproves a 2006 Sixth District decision and a 1993 Fourth District, Division One, decision. Additionally, although sticking with Cameron, the Supreme Court does walk back some language in its Cornette v. Dept. of Transportation (2001) 26 Cal.4th 63 opinion on which the defendant city relied.