Goss

Harry Goss, plaintiff in this personal injury action, appeals from a summary judgment for the defendant, State of California. The issue is whether the hole into which the plaintiff fell, located on County of Kern property a substantial distance off the right-of-way of a freeway owned by the state, constituted a dangerous condition of state property.

The state filed two declarations with accompanying engineering maps in support of its motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff filed none. The facts are undisputed. The complaint alleges that in the early morning hours of July 29, 1976, plaintiff had parked the truck of his employer, a trucking company, on the shoulder of Highway Interstate 5 at Fort Tejón, Kern County, had alighted from the truck to inspect its brakes and tires, and while making the inspection he fell into an open “concrete hole” and suffered injuries. It is alleged that the hole was not visible at night and was not guarded by any protective device.

The concrete hole was a “drop inlet” (apparently serving a drainage purpose) located adjacent to a county road reached by way of an off-ramp from the state highway, roughly 150 feet from the state highway by way…