LOS ANGELES (Legal Newsline) – A woman whose son was killed while riding his bicycle in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., will get a chance to prove the city failed to warn riders about the lack of a bicycle lane in the area of the accident.
The Second Appellate District on Jan. 29 affirmed that Rancho Palos Verdes is afforded immunity on claims that there was no bicycle lane but reversed a trial court in deciding it could be liable for failing to warn about having a road that contained a bike lane on some portions but not on others.
The decision sends the case back to Los Angeles County Superior Court for Betty Tansavatdi to make that argument. Her son Jonathan was going straight through the intersection of Hawthorne Boulevard and Vallon Drive when a tractor-trailer turned right. The collision killed Jonathan.
As a result of a 2009 project, Hawthorne had a bike lane on other portions but not where the fatal accident occurred. This is a concealed trap, Betty argued.
“(T)he city’s entitlement to design immunity for its failure to include a bicycle lane at the site of Jonathan’s accident does not, as a matter of law, necessarily preclude its liability under a theory of failure to warn,” Justice Nora Manella wrote.