Freund v. Oakland Board of Education

[247]

STURTEVANT, J.

Phyllis Freund, a minor, by her guardian

ad litem,

commenced this action to recover damages for injuries sustained when struck by a locker which toppled over in the gymnasium building on the school grounds.

The complaint alleged in substance that the plaintiff was a student at Claremont Junior High School, Oakland; that a locker room was maintained for the convenience of the students; that certain steel lockers in that room were in a dangerous and defective condition in that they were not fastened to prevent their falling; that on information and belief such condition had existed for at least thirty days and that the defendants had notice of such dangerous condition. It is then alleged that as a result of such negligent maintenance one of the aforesaid lockers fell on the plaintiff inflicting the injuries complained of.

The defendants named in the complaint were the Oakland Board of Education, Oakland High School District of Alameda County, Oakland Junior High School District of Alameda County, and H. N. Massey. All but Oakland Junior High School District of Alameda County answered. The jury returned a verdict against all defendants. The brief recites that the Board of ’Education appealed. We will accept that recital and hereinafter refer to it as the defendant.

The accident occurred on March 1, 1937, between the hours of 9 A. M. and 10 A. M. at the Claremont Junior High School. It happened in an outbuilding which is used as a locker room and a dressing room by girls in classes in physical education, and as a gymnasium in rainy weather. It is also used for dancing. The room, on three sides, had lockers fastened to the walls, the outside dimensions of each locker being 7 feet by 12 inches by 12 inches, each locker containing two separate compartments, an upper and a lower, each compartment being 36 inches high. The lockers were attached together in groups of from three to six, four sets in the group that fell, i. e., eight separate compartments. They stood upright against the wall, and, in the manner stated above, were nailed at the backs to the studding in the wall, although they would stand without being attached to the wall. They had been installed in the building in August, 1931. There is testimony that, after the accident, the other lockers were loose but did not fall when pulled on. The principal testified that