Lane v. City of Sacramento

In Lane v. City of Sacramento (2010) 183 Cal.App.4th 1337, the plaintiffs sued the city for damages due to a collision with a concrete street divider. The city sought summary judgment based on evidence that no prior claims had been filed against the city for a collision with the same street divider. (Lane, supra, 183 Cal.App.4th at p. 1340.) The Court held the absence of similar claims did not establish that the condition of public property was not dangerous: the absence of claims was not the same as the absence of accidents, and even an absence of accidents would not be dispositive on the issue of dangerousness. (Lane, supra, at pp. 1345-1347.) The court further held that proof that the property was not being used with due care was insufficient to show that the plaintiffs could not establish their claim for a dangerous condition of public property. (Id. at p. 1347.)