Winterburn v. City of Pomona

California Court of Appeal Oct 28, 1986 No. B016391Published

Before: Kingsley

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Holding. The court held that Government Code section 831.2 provides absolute immunity to public entities for injuries resulting from natural conditions on unimproved public property, including urban greenbelts, and that the city did not voluntarily assume a duty of care.

Issues

Whether Government Code section 831.2 applies to natural conditions on unimproved public property located in urban areas.
Whether the City of Pomona voluntarily assumed a duty to protect the public from the cave, thereby creating an exception to statutory immunity.

Disposition. affirmed

Quotations verified verbatim against the opinion

“This section provides an absolute immunity from liability for injuries resulting from a natural condition of any unimproved public property.”

“We do not feel, therefore, that a greenbelt is outside the coverage of section 831.2 intended by the Legislature”

“It is undisputed that the city, in fact, did nothing to prevent access to the cave prior to the accident.”

Opinion

KINGSLEY, J.

In a wrongful death action, the plaintiffs appeal the granting of summary judgment to the defendant, the City of Pomona. We affirm.

On April 12, 1982, Todd Winterburn, the plaintiffs’ 11-year-old son, was killed when rocks and debris fell from the roof of a cave in which he was playing with another boy. The cave, which was approximately 14 feet high and extended back some 25 feet into the side of a hill, was a natural geological formation located on a greenbelt owned by the City of Pomona. Following Todd’s death, his parents sued the City of Pomona for damages. The city moved for summary judgment which was granted on the grounds that plaintiffs’ action was barred by Government Code section 831.2. This section provides that: “Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for an injury caused by a natural condition of any unimproved public property, including but not limited to any natural condition of any lake, stream, bay, river or beach.”

On appeal, the plaintiffs do not contest the fact that the cave is a natural condition or that it is located on unimproved public property. Instead, they argue that it was never the intent of the Legislature in enacting section 831.2 to cover this type of situation and that the city is liable on the ground that it negligently performed a duty it had voluntarily assumed.

The plaintiffs’ principal contention is that the Legislature never intended section 831.2 to apply to anything other than recreational areas. To buttress their contention, the plaintiffs cite the Legislative Committee comment on section 831.2. This comment states:

“This section provides an absolute immunity from liability for injuries resulting from a natural condition of any unimproved public property. Thus, for example, under this section and Section 831.4, the State has an absolute immunity from liability for injuries resulting from natural conditions of a state park area where the only improvements are recreational access roads (as defined in Section 831.4) and hiking, riding, fishing and hunting trails.

“This section and Section 831.4 continue and extend an existing policy adopted by the Legislature in former Government Code Section 54002. It

[881]

Winterburn v. City of Pomona

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KINGSLEY, J.

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