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Kraus v. Hy-Vee11/9/2004
stop sign for drivers exiting parking lot and without a stop line telling drivers where to stop due to limited sight distance); Nagy v. Mo. Highway & Transp. Comm'n, 829 S.W.2d 648, 652 (Mo. App. E.D. 1992) (failure to adequately warn motorist of "what was essentially a new intersection"); Cole, 770 S.W.2d at 297 (petition alleged that MHTC "'failed to warn and to properly warn through proper signing and road marking and through other appropriate steps of the obscured and sudden curvature'" in the road).
Although the allegations in this case likewise involve the failure to post adequate signing and traffic controls, MHTC argues that our decision in Hedayati v. Helton compels the dismissal of the claim against it in this case. See 860 S.W.2d 795 (Mo. App. W.D. 1991). We disagree.
The wrongful death claimant in Hedayati alleged that the road "was in a dangerous condition because there were no traffic control devices on Providence Road and there were no signs or other traffic control devices on the [intersecting] private road warning persons of the danger of crossing Providence Road." Id. at 796. He also alleged that "people commonly crossed from one side of Providence to the other at the point where the private road entered Providence Road." Id. This court concluded that the allegations were insufficient to show that the intersection was in a dangerous condition and that the decedent's death directly resulted from such dangerous condition. Id. at 797. The court said:
It will first be noted that the petition does not contain any allegation of any physical defect in either road. The only defect alleged is the absence of traffic control devices and a sign warning persons of the danger of crossing Providence Road . . . . The dangerous condition alleged in this case, as in Johnson [v. City of Springfield, 817 S.W.2d 611 (Mo. App. S.D. 1991], related only to the volume of pedestrian and vehicle traffic. Under Alexander, the petition must allege facts which show that the condition of the public entity's property "was dangerous because its existence, without intervention by third parties." There is no allegation in the petition in this case which pleads facts to show that Providence Road and the private road were in a dangerous condition because of their very existence which posed a physical threat to [the decedent].
Id. at 796-97 (internal citation omitted).
Hedayati in turn relied upon the southern district's decision in Johnson, 817 S.W.2d 611. The claimants in Johnson alleged that a city street was in an unreasonably dangerous condition as follows:
(a) it had a high volume of vehicle and pedestrian traffic, (b) vehicles parked along the street blocked motorists' view of children and children's view of vehicles, and when children walked from behind parked vehicles into [the road] motorists traveling at the posted 30 m.p.h. speed limit could not stop in time to avoid striking them, (c) many children played in the area, (d) [the pedestrian claimant] was not warned of the dangerous condition of the street, (e) motorists were not warned to reduce speed, (f) parked vehicles prevented motorists from keeping a careful lookout, (g) motorists were not warned of children playing in the area, and (h) a safe speed limit was not posted.
Id. at 612.
The southern district found these allegations insufficient to state a claim for relief under the dangerous condition exception and said:
The plaintiffs argue that East Avenue was in as dangerous a condition as the bridge in Wilkes, the sudden and obscured curve and intersection in Cole, and the shoulder of the road in Brown [v. Missouri Highway & Transportation C
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