Laabs

I. INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff Amanda Laabs was a passenger in a car that collided with another car in an intersection and then struck a light pole installed and owned by defendant Southern California Edison Company (SCE). Laabs sued various *1264 parties, including SCE and Edison International (Edison), for damages. Relative to SCE and Edison, Laabs alleged that these defendants were negligent and proximately caused her injuries by placing and maintaining the light pole too close to the curb. SCE and Edison moved for summary judgment on the ground that they owed no duty of care to Laabs as a matter of law. The court granted the motion and entered judgment in their favor. Laabs appealed. Because Laabs presented no argument against summary judgment in favor of Edison, we affirm the judgment as to that party. For reasons explained below, we reverse the judgment in favor of SCE.

II. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Laabs was a passenger in a car driven by James Dimeo. Dimeo was driving northbound on Ridgecrest Road, which has a posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour. He was driving at an excessive rate of speed. Dimeo’s car was struck by another car at an intersection with…

I concur with the majority opinion affirming the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of Edison International (Edison), but disagree with the majority opinion reversing the grant of summary judgment in favor of Southern California Edison Company (SCE). As SCE so eloquently observed, “This is a case in search of a viable defendant.”

*1280 I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 24, 2002, at approximately 2:00 p.m., Amanda Laabs (Plaintiff) suffered injuries resulting from a car accident on Ridgecrest Road where it intersects with Pebble Beach Drive. Ridgecrest Road is a four-lane north/south roadway. 2 The southbound lanes are owned and controlled by the City of Victorville (City), while the northbound lanes are owned and controlled by the County of San Bernardino (County). Plaintiff was one of three passengers in a northbound car (1999 Porsche Carrera) driven by James Dimeo. Dimeo took the Porsche (his parents’ car) without permission to show his friends how fast the car could go. He reached a speed of 100 to 110 miles per hour.

The accident occurred when Dimeo’s car hit a westbound, left-turning car driven by Dorothy Specter. As a result of hitting…

KING J.—

Plaintiff Amanda Laabs was a passenger in a car that collided with another car in an intersection and then struck a light pole installed and owned by defendant Southern California Edison Company (SCE). Laabs sued various parties, including SCE and Edison International (Edison), for damages. Relative to SCE and Edison, Laabs alleged that these defendants were negligent and proximately caused her injuries by placing and maintaining the light pole too close to the curb. SCE and Edison moved for summary judgment on the ground that they owed no duty of care to Laabs as a matter of law. The court granted the motion and entered judgment in their favor. Laabs appealed. Because Laabs presented no argument against summary judgment in favor of Edison, we affirm the judgment as to that party. For reasons explained below, we reverse the judgment in favor of SCE.

Laabs was a passenger in a car driven by James Dimeo. Dimeo was driving northbound on Ridgecrest Road, which has a posted speed limit of 55 miles per hour. He was driving at an excessive rate of speed. Dimeo's car was struck by another car at an intersection with Pebble Beach Drive. The impact caused Dimeo's car to travel…