Facts

On the morning of April 30, 2016, plaintiff Charlotte Essex, 74, was walking on a residential Pasadena sidewalk when she tripped and fell. The incident occurred in broad daylight. Plaintiff was an out of town visitor from Miami and she was on her way to attend a garage sale in Pasadena. Plaintiff filed suit against the City of Pasadena.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended she fell over an offset, which the City of Pasadena had notice of since 2014. The subject offset was the non-alignment of two horizontal sidewalk slabs. Plaintiff contended that the offset constituted a dangerous condition of public property. Plaintiff argued that the height differential of the offset measured 1.5 inches, that there was a rough and jagged edge presenting greater danger to traversing pedestrians, and that a nearby tree shadowed the offset at the time of incident.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS: Defendant acknowledged that it had notice of the offset for years prior to plaintiff's incident. Nonetheless, despite notice, defendant contended that the offset was not a dangerous condition of public property. Defendant presented evidence that the offset measured between one inch and 1.375 inches, not 1.5 inches. Regardless, it did not matter what the precise measurements were because under the new case "Huckey v. City of Temecula," the offset was in plain sight and could be considered trivial as a matter of law. Defendant also argued that there was no jagged, overhanging lip on the offset, as the rough material on the upper part of the offset did not protrude more than a minuscule amount. Moreover, defendant showed that there was no reasonable inference that a tree shadowed the offset at the time of incident. As such, plaintiff had not presented any admissible evidence of disputed facts concerning aggravating factors that would make the offset non-trivial.

Injuries

Plaintiff hit her face on the concrete upon her fall. As a result of plaintiff's fall, she sustained injuries to her neck, upper shoulder area, right eye, concussive syndrome, and traumatic brain injury. Plaintiff had neck surgery. Despite her surgery, plaintiff will have chronic neck pain for the rest of her life.

Result

The court granted the city's motion for summary judgment, finding that the offset was trivial as a matter of law and therefore not a dangerous condition of public property.

Other Information

Plaintiff is appealing the judgment.