Bigbee v. Pacific Telephone And Telegraph Co.

34 Cal.3d 49 (1983)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

P was severely injured when an automobile driven by Roberts struck the telephone booth in which he was standing. P sued Roberts and the companies allegedly responsible for serving her alcoholic beverages. A settlement was reached as to these defendants. P also sued Ds for the design, location, installation, and maintenance of the telephone booth on theories of negligence and strict liability in tort. On the night of the accident, at approximately 12:20 a.m., P was standing in a public telephone booth located in the parking lot of a liquor store on Century Boulevard in Inglewood, California. Roberts, who was intoxicated, was driving east along Century Boulevard. She lost control of her car and veered off the street into the parking lot, crashing into the booth in which P was standing. P saw the card coming, but the telephone booth was so defective in design and/or manufacture, or so negligently installed or maintained that the door to the booth 'jammed and stuck, trapping' P inside. Had the door operated freely, he averred, he would have been able to escape and would not have suffered injury. Ds demurred to the complaint on the grounds that it failed to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action in negligence or strict liability. The trial court sustained the demurrers without leave to amend. P sought a writ of mandate. The appellate court issued a peremptory writ of mandate directing the trial court to vacate the judgment of dismissal and to overrule the demurrers. After discovery, Ds filed a joint motion for summary judgment, arguing that the undisputed facts demonstrated the absence of two elements essential to plaintiff's case. Ds had no duty to protect phone booth users from the risk encountered by P because the risk was unforeseeable and Roberts' intervening negligent driving constituted a 'superseding cause' of plaintiff's injuries. P introduced declarations which established that this accident was not the first one involving a phone booth at this particular location. The court granted the motion and entered a judgment of dismissal. P appealed.