Hayes v. State of California

Opinion

CLARK, J.

After sustaining demurrers without leave to amend plaintiffs’ original complaint, the trial court entered judgment of dismissal. Plaintiffs appeal.

On the evening of 4 July 1970, Thomas Hayes (age 20) and Thomas

[471]

Dolan (age unknown) entered a beach on the campus of the University of California at Santa Barbara. While asleep in the night, they were attacked and beaten by unknown persons; Hayes sustained serious injury and Dolan died. Their parents filed this personal injury and wrongful death action against the State of California, the City and County of Santa Barbara, and the Regents of the University of California.

Plaintiffs alleged defendants owned, maintained, and supervised the beach, and that the public was both permitted and encouraged to use it at all hours. They further alleged that defendants had created a dangerous condition by failing to provide adequate police protection despite knowledge that undesirable persons frequented the beach, committing dangerous crimes there. Plaintiffs now concede inadequate police protection provides no basis for liability, but urge they should have been permitted to amend their complaint to state a cause of action for failure to warn of a dangerous condition of property.

(Lemoge Electric

v.

County of San Mateo

(1956) 46 Cal.2d 659, 664 [297 P.2d 638].)

Section 815 of the Government Code

1

declares: (a) a public entity is not liable for any injuries except as provided by statute; and (b) any statutorily established liability is subject to both statutory immunities and the defenses that would be available to the public entity were it a private person.

The basis for imposing liability advanced by the plaintiffs is maintaining a dangerous condition of property. As defined by section 830, a dangerous condition is “a condition of property that creates a substantial (as distinguished from a minor, trivial, or insignificant) risk of injury when such property or adjacent property is used with due care in a manner in which it is reasonably foreseeable that it will be used.”