Facts

On September 5, 2019, at 8:45am, Theresa Moorehouse tripped on the sidewalk while walking in front of 1119-1121 Stanyan Street, in San Francisco, and fell. She suffered a broken right arm. The raised sidewalk measured at 2.25"-3" above the surrounding pavement. Moorehouse brought a complaint against the City and County of San Francisco, Vanessa Evers, Ruth Otey, and Marcela Priwin in the San Francisco County Superior Court, alleging negligence and dangerous conditions of the sidewalk.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS: Plaintiff alleged that defendants violated their duty of care to plaintiff and were negligent in the use and maintenance of the sidewalk. Moreover, plaintiff maintained that the raised sidewalk created an unreasonable risk of harm to those pedestrians walking on the sidewalk. Further, plaintiff contended that defendants knew or should have known that the uneven raised sidewalk was a dangerous condition when they received prior complaints of the defect by other pedestrians on July 15, 2019, and failed to take steps to repair the dangerous uneven sidewalk, protect against the harm from the condition, or give adequate warning of the condition. Finally, plaintiff argued that she fell and broke her right arm and suffered other severe injuries as a result of the dangerous condition.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: Defendants argued that plaintiffs' claims were barred by the applicable statute of limitations. Defendants also contended that plaintiff had actual knowledge of the open and obvious alleged dangerous condition and expressly and voluntarily accepted the sidewalk in that condition. Defendants also alleged that they did not control or own the alleged dangerous condition and did not have either actual or constructive notice of the dangerous condition. Further, defendants contended that no act or omission by them were a substantial factor in bringing about the alleged damages nor was their actions a contributing cause of plaintiff's alleged claims. Finally, defendants maintained that the damages sustained by plaintiff were either wholly or in part caused by persons or entities other than the defendants and that the alleged damages were aggravated by the failure of plaintiff to use reasonable diligence to mitigate them.

Result

Defendant agreed to pay $150,000 to settle all claims.