Vasilenko v. Grace Family Church CA3
Plaintiff Aleksandr Vasilenko was hit by a car while crossing a public street between the main premises of defendant Grace Family Church (the Church) and the Church’s overflow parking lot. Vasilenko claimed the Church owed him a duty of care to assist him in safely crossing the street, and that the Church was negligent in failing to do so. The Church argued that it had no control over the public street and therefore did not owe Vasilenko a duty under the principle that landowners have no duty to protect others from dangers on abutting streets unless the landowner caused those dangers. The trial court agreed with the Church, and entered summary judgment in the Church’s favor. Vasilenko appealed, and we reversed, finding that the location of the overflow lot, which required the Church’s invitees to cross a busy thoroughfare in an area that lacked a marked crosswalk or traffic signal in order to get to the Church, gave rise to a duty under Civil Code section 1714.
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