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James v. City of Bakersfield2/19/2003
appeal, plaintiffs attempted to take the case outside the reach of design immunity by characterizing the dangerous condition of the roadway--specifically the failure to post warning signs--as one which was not comprehended within the plan or design. Division Five of the Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, rejected this argument, stating:
"... In our view, however, such an omission cannot as clearly be classified as a failure to consider an element of design. First, in such a comprehensive design as the one submitted to respondent, it is less likely that the omission of some feature commonly associated with a roadway was not a conscious design choice. Second, the banking of a curve is more intimately associated with sound design than is the inclusion of warning indicators appurtenant to the curve. Speed reduction signs, and other indicators warning of an approaching curve, may not be necessary in many cases in which the curve is adequately visible to approaching motorists, and where it may safely be negotiated at the existing speed limit. Finally, there was mention of signing in these plans, at least with regard to approaching street intersections, indicating inferentially, at least, that other forms of signing had been considered and rejected. Thus to avoid the risk of interfering with a discretionary decision of the planning body, we are not willing to conclude that the absence of warning signs prior to the . . . curve was not an element of design." (Anderson v. City of Thousand Oaks, supra, 65 Cal.App.3d at p. 90.)
Here, even more than in Anderson, the intersection modification project encompassed traffic signaling and signage. As the trial court noted in its decision, design immunity is limited to design-caused accidents. The signs chosen by the City for the Stockdale Highway/Village Lane Traffic Signal Modification Plan, were included as part of the design. The design immunity governed the City's decision on signs and the failure to warn was not independent of the design. Summary judgment was properly granted.
DISPOSITION
The judgment is affirmed. Respondent shall recover its costs on appeal.
WE CONCUR:
BUCKLEY, J.
GOMES, J.
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