Mann

Plaintiff, Robert Wyant Mann, appeals from a judgment on a directed verdict in his personal injury action in favor of defendant, State of California. The fundamental question presented is whether liability may attach to the state by reason of a state traffic officer, after investigation by him, leaving motorists in a dangerous situation on a freeway where some were subsequently killed and others injured as a result of another motorist’s negligence. We hold that such liability may attach.

Facts

The pertinent facts are these. On December 24, 1971, about 11:30 a.m., State Traffic Officer Harvey Lane (then a probationary officer with the California Highway Patrol), on patrol in his fully equipped and distinctively marked patrol car, saw two cars stranded in the speed-change lane of the San Bernardino Freeway, under the Archibald Avenue overcrossing. He pulled his vehicle in behind them, turned on his rearward flashing amber light, and tried to get the forward car started. In doing so he stood in the speed-change lane himself and failed to instruct the occupants of the stalled cars and other interested motorists such as plaintiff, some of whom had gotten out of their cars,…