Facts

Carol Leland-Harris went to Rancho San Diego Elementary School to pick up her grandchild. After parking and walking through the parking lot, she fell on a painted black wheel stop in front of an adjacent parking space. Leland-Harris injured herself in the fall and sued the Parent Teachers Association, the California Congress of Parents Teachers and Students Inc., Rancho San Diego Parents Teachers Association, and the Cajon Valley Union School District.

The School District had authorized the PTA to auction the parking spot as part of an annual Fall Festival. A parent won the bidding and painted the parking space and wheel stop. The other defendants settled with Leland-Harris prior to trial, so the suit only proceeded against the Cajon Valley Union School District. Leland-Harris claimed that the wheel stop blended with the asphalt and constituted a dangerous condition in the public lot.

The School District argued that Leland-Harris had not been looking where she was going and that she should have easily seen the wheel stop.

Injuries

Leland-Harris sustained various contusions, a fractured wrist, and a torn rotator cuff.

Result

The jury returned a defense verdict.