Peters v. Calhoun County Commission

In Peters v. Calhoun County Commission, 669 So. 2d 847 (Ala. 1995) a motorist sued the county commission for damages based on injuries he had received in a single-vehicle accident. He alleged that the road on which his accident occurred had recently been resurfaced and the shoulder of that road had not been built up to the level of the roadway; he alleged that the fact that the roadway had been built up created a dangerous condition and that that condition had caused his accident and his injuries. In that case, the trial court held that there was no evidence that the alleged unreasonably dangerous condition of the roadway caused the motorist's automobile to leave the road and that it was unforeseeable that the motorist's automobile would leave the road without any explanation as to the cause. The Court held in Peters that the trial court erred in basing its summary judgment on the lack of evidence demonstrating how the plaintiff had left the roadway, stating: "A jury should decide whether Mr. Peters's leaving the road, under the circumstances, was so far outside the bounds of reasonable driving as to be unforeseeable by the Commission." Id. at 850.