News Brief
Robinson and Salfiti Obtain Summary Judgment Finding No Legal Duty of Care to Protect Invitee Crossing Public Crosswalk on Golf Course
Ralph Robinson (Senior Counsel-San Francisco) and Juliana Salfiti (Of Counsel-San Francisco) prevailed on a motion for summary judgment before the Los Angeles County Superior Court in a premises liability case. The plaintiff-husband brought suit against a golf course and its owners after the decedent-wife was struck and killed in a golf cart in a public crosswalk to get to the other side of the course. The driver of the vehicle fled the scene and was never found. The plaintiff contended the golf course owed a duty to ensure that invitees crossed the street safely and was responsible for the design of the crosswalk, which the plaintiff claimed was defectively skewed. Ralph and Juliana brought a motion for summary judgment pursuant to the California Supreme Court case Vasilenko v. Grace Family Church (2017) 3 Cal.5th 1077, which holds that a landowner whose site requires the crossing of a public street by its invitees does not owe a duty to protect those invitees from the obvious dangers of the public street. While the plaintiff argued that numerous exceptions applied, the court disagreed finding there was no evidence of any applicable exception that would create a duty to the plaintiff. The court granted the motion for summary judgment for the golf course and its individual owners in its entirety as to all causes of action.