LOS ANGELES – A state appeals panel has upheld a ruling that the city of Los Angeles isn’t liable for injuries suffered in a 2015 MacArthur Park bicycle injury.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Christopher Lui granted summary judgment in favor of the city, nullifying the complaint of Sells Reed III, who was injured when he rode his bicycle into a rope attached to a badminton net stretched across a paved path. Reed appealed to the California 2nd Appellate District Court, Division One. Justice Victoria Gerrard Chaney wrote the panel’s opinion; Presiding Justice Frances Rothschild and Justice Helen Bendix concurred.
According to the panel’s opinion, the rope knocked Reed backward off his bike, causing several injuries. He said it wasn’t the city that put up the badminton net, but alleged the net was up often enough the city either knew or should’ve known it would be there. In arguing for summary judgment, the city said the trail immunity doctrine protected it from such complaints and further said it didn’t know about the net, rendering Reed’s negligence claim improper.
The panel agreed with Reed’s presentation of trail immunity law, which doesn’t apply when the issue is trail design or location but does apply if injuries result from a condition unrelated to the trail’s purpose. However, Chaney wrote, “we disagree with his assessment of the category into which his own case falls.”
Reed’s argument, Chaney said, is closely related to a 2017 California 5th Appellate District Court opinion in Leyva v. Crockett & Co., which involved a plaintiff struck in the eye by an errant golf ball from a nearby course. In that instance the trail location introduced the danger, not the course itself.
“A badminton net is not a dangerous object in its ordinary context,” Chaney wrote. “But a badminton net stretched across a trail may create a dangerous condition. That is only true because it impedes the regular use of the trail. Because the danger here is inherently connected to and exists only because of its connection with the trail, we conclude the doctrine of trail immunity bars Reed’s claims against the city and its employees.”
The panel affirmed Lui’s judgment and awarded the city the costs of defending Reed’s appeal.
Reed was represented by the Law Office of Donald R. Hammond and Jeff Lewis Law.
The city was represented by the city attorney’s office.