Jones v. City of Los Angeles

SHINN, P. J.

Annabelle Jones, plaintiff and appellant, was standing on the sidewalk at the southwest corner of Spring and Eighth Streets, in Los Angeles. She was close to an electrolier consisting of a cast iron base about 3 feet high and a lamppost with crossarms supporting five large light globes. The total height of the standard to the top of the center globe was 13% or 14 feet. A truck and van-type trailer operated by Ray Carter Trucking Company approached from the west. The right front corner of the van struck the top of the standard and broke off the pole where it joined the base. Mrs. Jones was struck by the falling sections of the pole and severely injured; she sued the city and the individual partners who composed the trucking company. In a jury trial the verdict and judgment were against the city, but in favor of the trucking company. Plaintiff moved for a new trial as to the trucking company and the city also moved for a new trial. The court granted • both motions. The trucking company did not appeal; plaintiff appealed from the order granting the motion of the city.

In granting the motions the court specified insufficiency of the evidence to support the verdict as to each defendant. It is not claimed by the city that the order is supportable for error in the trial. The sole question to be considered is whether it was an abuse of discretion to grant the motion of the city upon the ground of insufficiency of the evidence.

It is contended by plaintiff that the electrolier was placed

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so close to the curb as to create an obviously dangerous and defective condition of public property of which the city had knowledge, that such condition was a proximate cause of the accident, and that liability of the city results under section 53051 of the Government Code, commonly referred to as the Public Liability Act, a codification of Act 5619, 2 Leering’s General Laws, page 2630, which was in force at the time of the accident.

The physical facts which contributed to the happening of the accident are the following: The base of the standard was imbedded 12 inches from the face of the adjacent curb; the width of the crossarms which were at right angles to each other was 39% inches; the thickness of the metal at the break was 9/16th of an inch; the width of the body of the trailer was 7 feet 9 inches; the width between the outsides of the wheels was 8 feet; the top of the trailer was 12 feet 5% inches above ground level; there was an inlet through the curb and a culvert under the sidewalk, immediately west of the lamppost, for. the diversion of surface waters from the gutter; opposite the inlet the center of Eighth Street, at a point 20 feet from the curb, was approximately 10 inches above the level of the gutter; easterly from that point, the gutter rose gradually to within one inch of the sidewalk level at the corner; the lamppost was 4.8 feet west of the westerly -edge of the sidewalk of Spring Street. Naturally, the slope of Eighth Street caused the body of the trailer to incline toward the south. Plaintiff claims that it was shown by uncontradicted testimony that the light standard inclined toward the north. There was testimony that after the accident the 3-foot base inclined toward the north and was almost an inch from the perpendicular. From this it is argued that at the top the inclination of the standard toward the street would be approximately 4 inches. A truck driver testified that he had observed on other occasions that the pole leaned toward the north. There was also evidence from which it could have been inferred that the inclination of the base might have been somewhat affected by the blow it received. Plaintiff argues earnestly against the reasonableness of such an inference. It is an arguable question of fact, but is not a determinative factor in the case, for reasons which will be developed.