City and County of San Francisco v. Superior Court

Opinion

THE COURT.

1

The City and County of San Francisco (City) seeks a writ of mandate to compel respondent superior court to grant its motion for summary judgment. City is defendant in a personal injury action brought by real party in interest Bridget Colbert, who was stabbed while riding on a City-operated bus and now sues City for failing to prevent the incident. City contends it is not liable to real party because the stabbing was sudden and without warning. We agree and issue the writ.

Despite real party’s contention to the contrary, the facts are not in dispute. Real party boarded a City bus shortly after 10 p.m. She sat a few seats behind the driver. At a subsequent bus stop a man boarded the bus and took a seat somewhere behind real party. This man has only been described as a Black male wearing “dirty” or “soiled” clothing. There was nothing about his behavior or his appearance to raise any suspicion; neither real party nor the driver noticed anything unusual about him. Shortly thereafter the driver

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glanced in his mirror and saw the man open a small pocket knife. According to the driver’s declaration in support of City’s motion for summary judgment, the man suddenly — less than five seconds later — began stabbing real party. The driver did not have time to react in any way. Until the man opened his knife, there was no warning or cause for alarm, such as a warning shout from a passenger, to put the driver on notice of an attack. The man then fled the bus. Real party did not effectively dispute the driver’s version of the incident.

Real party’s complaint alleges that City was negligent for failing to prevent the stabbing. City moved for summary judgment, arguing that it could not be found negligent for failing to prevent an attack which occurred without warning. The trial court denied City’s motion.

Any liability of City for failing to prevent the assault would stem from its duty of care as a common carrier to protect the safety of its passengers. The controlling law in this area is Civil Code section 2100 and

Lopez