Chavez v. County of Merced

In Chavez v. County of Merced (1964) 229 Cal. App. 2d 387 40 Cal. Rptr. 334, a privately owned power line was knocked down and was on or at the edge of a publicly owned street. The public entity was held liable for the dangerous condition of its road even though the danger was created by the presence of privately owned property. (Id. at pp. 394-395.) These case establish that a public entity is liable for a dangerous condition on property it owns even though the danger would not exist but for the presence of privately owned equipment on or adjacent to the public property.