RECENT CALIFORNIA DECISIONS

June 2008

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First District Court Holds School District’s Preparation of EIR Did Not Constitute an Assumption of Responsibility for Student Safety
Cerna v. City of Oakland, ___Cal.App.4th___

Surviving pedestrians and family members filed suit against the City of Oakland (Oakland) and the Oakland Unified School District (OUSD) after a motorist struck the pedestrians as they were crossing an intersection within a marked crosswalk on their way to school. The pedestrians were a family consisting of a woman and her three children, a niece who was killed in the accident, and a nephew. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court judgment granting summary judgment after concluding that the city intersection did not create a dangerous condition and that the OUSD was not responsible for the safety of students outside school premises. The court concluded that nothing in the environmental impact report (EIR) prepared for the school project suggested that the OUSD assumed any responsibility for pedestrian safety at the intersection but left open the issue of whether an environmental EIR could constitute an assumption of a school district’s responsibility for student safety for the purpose of establishing statutory liability.