Christy v. City of Alhambra

SHINN, J.,

pro tem.

Plaintiff and respondent L. M. Christy in alighting from an automobile in the City of Alhambra stepped into a sunken water meter box in the parkway between the curb and sidewalk, which box and meter were maintained and controlled by appellant, City of Alhambra. In a suit for damages, charging the city with negligence in maintaining the box and cover thereof in a defective condition, she was awarded $3,500 by a jury. Upon its appeal, the city relies upon the insufficiency of the evidence to show notice to the city of the defective condition of the meter box, upon the defense of contributory negligence, alleged errors in the admission of evidence and instructions to the jury, and contends that the amount of the verdict is excessive. The box in question was square, of metal construction with a metal top, which folded back upon hinges, to allow reading of the meter. It had been in use a long time and there was evidence that it had been in a defective condition, due to the hinges being broken, for about a year prior to the accident. Shortly after the accident it was replaced with another box, the old box being discarded. The water meters were read by the city each month.

Appellant relies upon the fact that no actual knowledge of the defective condition of the box was brought home to the city water department, and that, therefore, the liability of the city for negligence was not established. The argument, however, ignores the element of constructive notice, which will be presumed where a conspicuous defect or dangerous condition has existed for a considerable length of time. Under Statutes of 1923, page 675, a municipality is

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chargeable with actionable negligence if it has notice of the dangerous or- defective condition of public works and fails within a reasonable time thereafter to remedy the same, so as to protect the public against injury. It was the duty of the city to keep its meter boxes in repair, which duty entailed an obligation to inspect them at reasonable intervals. If the meter readers were not charged with the duty of inspection it is to be presumed that some other employee was and that the city did not allow the boxes to go uninspected for a period of a year. “Implied or constructive notice arises from facts from which it may be reasonably inferred or from proof of circumstances from which it appears that the defect ought to have been known or remedied, the rule prevailing in such cases requiring the exercise of ordinary or reasonable care to discover the defect.” (43 C. J. 1045.) This rule is given recognition in