Public Utilities Commission v. Superior Court

INTRODUCTION

This mandate proceeding challenges the trial court’s denial of a motion for summary adjudication or judgment brought by California’s Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in a wrongful death action arising out of a fatal accident at a railroad crossing. The crossing is controlled by flashing lights. Plaintiffs claim that the railroad crossing constitutes a dangerous condition because a 1989 PUC recommendation to upgrade the crossing’s warning devices by installing a gate was not implemented. In responding to the PUC’s motion, plaintiffs conceded that the PUC does not own the property on which the railroad crossing is located, but contended, nonetheless, that the PUC controls the property within the meaning of Government Code section 830 because of its regulatory power over the crossing, including its authority over installation of safety devices. The trial court adopted that analysis and denied the PUC’s motion. Decisional law, however, supports a contrary conclusion: a public entity’s ability to regulate property it neither owns nor possesses is not equivalent to a public entity having control of the property within the meaning of section 830. We therefore…