Brown v. City of Oakland

California Court of Appeal Apr 7, 1942 No. Civ. 11759Published

Before: Ward

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Holding. The court held that the trial court erred in granting a nonsuit because the questions of whether the school authorities were negligent in maintaining the sand pit and whether they should have anticipated its use by children were issues of fact for a jury.

Issues

Whether the conduct of the minor and the defendants presented questions of fact for a jury or could be decided as a matter of law.
Whether the school district could be held liable for injuries sustained by a non-pupil on school grounds.
Whether the sand pit constituted a dangerous condition that the school authorities should have anticipated children would use.

Disposition. reversed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“Whether defendants should have anticipated that children would play in the box, and whether under all the circumstances the box was adequately inspected, are questions of fact to be determined”

“Defendants may be liable for negligence for failure to reasonably anticipate the use of such equipment by children.”

WARD, J.

This is a personal injury action. Judgment upon a nonsuit was granted in favor of all of the defendants. The appeal is limited to the judgment as its affects Oakland School District of Alameda County, Oakland High School District of Alameda County, Board of Education of the City of Oakland and William J. Parry.

The complaint alleges four causes of action. The first two are based upon the provisions of section 2.801 of the School Code, the others upon the Public Liability Act. Causes one and three pray for damages for an injury to a female minor child, and two and four, for expenses for hospitalization, services of physicians, etc., incurred or to be incurred on behalf of the minor.

Appellants urge that a sufficient case has been proven under section 2.801 of the School Code by showing facts sufficient to charge the school authorities with constructive notice of the dangerous condition of a designated portion of the school ground, and this irrespective of whether or not appellants have shown notice under the Public Liability Act. Upon their theory we will assume for the purpose of the appeal that the causes of action relating to the Public Liability Act become mere surplusage.

(Maede

Oakland High School Dist.,

212 Cal. 419 [298 Pac. 987] ;

Freund

Oakland Bd. of Education,

28 Cal. App. (2d) 246 [82 P. (2d) 197].)

It is the duty of school authorities to enforce or cause to be enforced rules and regulations in the supervision of pupils on school grounds.

(Underhill

Alameda E. School Dist.,

133 Cal. App. 733 [24 P. (2d) 849] ;

Bellman

San Francisco H. S. Dist.,

11 Cal. (2d) 576 [81 P. (2d) 894] ;

Taylor

Brown v. City of Oakland

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WARD, J.

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