Crawford v. Pacific Western Mobile Estates

548 S.W.2d 216 (1977)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Ps were residents of Pacific Western's trailer park which accommodated 143 residential trailers. The southwest part of the park was reserved for non-family residents, while the southeast part was reserved for families with children. At the extreme northern part of the trailer park, and closer to the family portion than to the non-family section, D maintained a sewage treatment plant of which the settlement tank was a part. The nearest trailer was approximately 200 yards from this sewage treatment facility. The settlement tank itself resembled a swimming pool. The water level was maintained at a depth of 6 feet, which means that the surface of the effluent was 1 1/2 feet below the top ledge of the tank (which is at ground level). There was no ladder or other device which would aid anyone who fell into the tank to climb out. The architect designed the tank with a cypress deck to completely cover the top of the tank. The tank has never been covered. The architect designed a fence to be built around the tank, and a six-foot-tall solid wooden flat fence had been erected and was in place. Adjacent to this wooden fence and borrowing one side thereof, a rectangular area was fenced off with a chain-link fence for use as a storage area. The chain-link fence had a gate and there was also a gate between the storage area and the tank area. These gates were kept locked at all times. D acquired the trailer park, and concrete blocks that had been used to support trailers that had been removed were gathered up and piled against the wooden fence which enclosed the sewage settlement tank. These blocks were stacked in such a way so that 'they were sort of like stairs going up' and reached to within 6 inches of the top of the fence. This 'stairway' of concrete blocks could be easily ascended by a child and there remained only a short jump to the ground inside of the sewage tank area. A number of children played throughout the trailer park. There were no warning signs posted anywhere on the grounds to alert parents of any dangerous condition inside the wooden fence, nor were the tenants notified of the existence of the treatment facility. P testified that he did not know what was inside the fence until after the fatal accident. A neighbor who had lived in the court testified that she also was unaware of the sewage facility inside the fence until after the accident. On the afternoon of the accident a number of children, aged six to ten, were playing in the trailer park in the vicinity of the wooden fence and they were seen playing on the concrete blocks piled next to the wooden fence. Eventually, Mark’s dead body was discovered. In the course of these rescue attempts, P saw a wooden ladder-like contraption lying across the width of the tank and which served as a bridge. Also lying across the width of the tank was a metal latticework that would probably not have borne the weight of a grown man but which might have borne the weight of a small child. Mr. Crawford also noticed small handprints on one side of the concrete tank on the 1 1/2 foot vertical concrete wall above the surface of the effluent. Ps sued Ds. Ps got the verdict but the court set it aside. Ps appealed.