Fielder

*721 Opinion

Defendant appeals from the judgment for the plaintiff. The judgment is reversed.

On December 21, 1973, the plaintiff, Nancy Ann Fielder, age 79, was shopping in a heavily traveled commercial district of the City of Glendale. As she was proceeding southbound on the west side of Brand Boulevard near the intersection of Wilson Avenue, she tripped on the raised edge of a segment of the sidewalk. The plaintiff suffered a fractured femur as a result of her fall. Plaintiff'testified that she had been shopping in this same area several times in the past.

Jack Cotter, plaintiff’s witness, testified that approximately two months after the date of the injury, the depression in the sidewalk, at the scene of the accident, measured about three-fourths of an inch at its deepest point. This point was located about seven or eight feet from the side of the adjacent building. Mr. Cotter further testified that the sidewalk depression tapered from its three-fourths inch maximum depth to a negligible height at the base of the wall of the adjacent building. However, when the witness was shown a photograph of the sidewalk which had been taken with a measuring tape inserted into the…

The majority reverses the judgment in favor of plaintiff on the ground that, as a matter of law, the defect in the sidewalk which caused *735 plaintiff’s injury was “trivial” within the meaning of sections 830 and 830.2 of the California Government Code, and, hence, created no liability on defendant City of Glendale. I disagree with the majority in its conclusion that as a matter of law, viewing the evidence most favorably to plaintiff, the risk created by the sidewalk defect was of such a minor, trivial or insignificant nature in view of the surrounding circumstances, that no reasonable person would conclude that the condition created a substantial risk of injury to a person using the sidewalk with due care.

The majority reaches this result by taking a tortuous and laborious path of analyzing and seeking to distinguish, rationalize and reconcile the numerous cases dealing with the question of what constitutes a trivial as distinguished from a substantial defect, for the purpose of determining whether a condition of public property constitutes a dangerous condition. Since the jury rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff, there is no power in an appellate court to hold, as a…

KINGSLEY, Acting P.J.

Defendant appeals from the judgment for the plaintiff. The judgment is reversed.

On December 21, 1973, the plaintiff, Nancy Ann Fielder, age 79, was shopping in a heavily traveled commercial district of the City of Glendale. As she was proceeding southbound on the west side of Brand Boulevard near the intersection of Wilson Avenue, she tripped on the raised edge of a segment of the sidewalk. The plaintiff suffered a fractured femur as a result of her fall. Plaintiff testified that she had been shopping in this same area several times in the past.

Jack Cotter, plaintiff's witness, testified that approximately two months after the date of the injury, the depression in the sidewalk, at the scene of the accident, measured about three-fourths of an inch at its deepest point. This point was located about seven or eight feet from the side of the adjacent building. Mr. Cotter further testified that the sidewalk depression tapered from its three-fourths inch maximum depth to a negligible height at the base of the wall of the adjacent building. However, when the witness was shown a photograph of the sidewalk which had been taken with a measuring tape…