Facts

In the City of Pomona, there is a bus stop located on the south west side of the intersection of Garey Avenue and Alvarado Street. Garey Avenue is a busy commercial street, and it curves near the intersection. When coupled with the high rate of speed cars travel through the intersection, the curve makes it difficult both for cars to see pedestrians crossing and for pedestrians to gauge the speed of cars. Accordingly, there are only pedestrian crosswalks on the north, east, and west sides of the intersection: a traffic study had shown it was dangerous for pedestrians to cross the street on the south side of the intersection.

On January 23, 2019, Julian Bryant jaywalked across the south side of the intersection of Garey and Alvarado, when he was struck by a car, suffering a traumatic brain injury that left him in a permanent vegetative state. On January 21, 2023, Rochelle and Jerry Bryant, Julian's parents, filed suit against the City of Pomona, which owned the streets, and Foothill Transit, which operated the bus stop. A subsequent amended complaint added a senior city engineer, Ronald Chan, as a defendant.

PLAINTIFFS' ALLEGATIONS: Plaintiffs contended that the defendants had notice that the intersection was dangerous for pedestrians, both because of the traffic study and an email Foothill received from a concerned bus driver; that from 1975 to 2000, signs were posted because of the traffic study indicating pedestrians should not cross on the south side of the intersection; that the signs were removed as part of a rehabilitation project in 2018, but they were never replaced; that the defendants considered moving the bus stop but kept it in its original, dangerous location; that Julian would not have crossed where he did if the signs were still posted; that as a result of the defendants' deliberate indifference, Julian was struck by a car and injured; that as a result of his injuries, they were deprived of his companionship; and that this deprived them of their Fourteenth Amendment rights to substantive due process.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS: The defendants denied any wrongdoing or liability and all the plaintiffs' material allegations.

Result

The court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss.