Facts

Plaintiff Margaret Hardgrave filed a lawsuit against defendants Ramallah Club Inc., and the City and County of San Francisco, in relation to alleged personal injuries that arose on a city sidewalk. Plaintiff asserted causes of action for negligence and premises liability.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff contended Defendant City and County of San Francisco caused Plaintiff's injuries because it failed to address and remedy two different uneven and uplifted parts of the public sidewalk. Plaintiff contended the consecutive trips from the uneven pavement caused her to lose balance, fall into the street and onto Plaintiff's face.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants denied Plaintiff's contentions. Defendant San Francisco filed a motion for summary judgment based on the defense that the small uplift caused by a tree root was a trivial defect entitling it to a defense award as a matter of law. Defendant San Francisco contended it was entitled to immunity and could not be sued as a public entity.

Result

The court granted San Francisco summary adjudication on the general negligence claim because there was no evidence it owned the property adjacent to the public sidewalk. However, as to the premises liability cause of action, the court determined that because there were two uplifts, not just one, the matter should be submitted to a jury trial rather than decided by the court and denied summary adjudication on that claim. The parties then entered into a settlement agreement for $75,000.