McGettigan

*1014 Opinion

Appellant James R. McGettigan appeals from a judgment of dismissal in favor of respondent San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) after respondent’s demurrer to appellant’s complaint was sustained without leave to amend. We affirm the judgment of dismissal.

I. Procedural and Factual Background

Appellant seeks damages for injuries he sustained at the Richmond BART station on September 18, 1995. His March 16, 1996, complaint alleges three causes of action. In a first cause of action for general negligence, appellant alleges that he was asleep on a Richmond-bound BART train. When the train reached the end of the line, he was awakened by a train operator who ordered him to leave. Although he was “obviously unable to care for his own safety,” respondent’s employees “negligently moved the train and otherwise failed to protect [him].” After the train left the station, appellant was found lying on platform 1 with his legs sticking out into the trackway. He sustained lacerations on his chin, a laceration and compound fracture to his right ankle, and a laceration on his right eye. Appellant alleges that respondent’s employees “attempted] to cover up” their…

Dissenting. Torts 101B (second semester). Objective exam. Plaintiff’s complaint for negligence against San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) alleges that plaintiff, a paying passenger, was ordered off a BART train at the Richmond station. At that time plaintiff was inebriated to the point of incapacity and BART was fully aware of this. Plaintiff was injured at the station because BART “negligently moved the train and otherwise failed to protect [him].” BART files a general demurrer.

The demurrer should be: (a) sustained without leave to amend because as a matter of law once plaintiff alighted from the BART train he was no longer a passenger and BART owed him no further duty; or, (b) overruled.

*1025 According to the majority you flunked the course if you picked (b). I would vote to flunk you if you picked (a) and therefore I respectfully dissent.

A common carrier, of course, owes its passengers the highest degree of care. That duty does not end mechanically when the passenger alights safely from the carrier’s vehicle. Instead, it ends “ ‘when the passenger is discharged into a relatively safe space . . . .’” (Riggins v. Pacific Greyhound Lines (1962) 203…

Appellant James R. McGettigan appeals from a judgment of dismissal in favor of respondent San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) after respondent's demurrer to appellant's complaint was sustained without leave to amend. We affirm the judgment of dismissal.

Appellant seeks damages for injuries he sustained at the Richmond BART station on September 18, 1995. His March 16, 1996, complaint alleges three causes of action. In a first cause of action for general negligence, appellant alleges that he was asleep on a Richmond-bound BART train. When the train reached the end of the line, he was awakened by a train operator who ordered him to leave. Although he was "obviously unable to care for his own safety," respondent's employees "negligently moved the train and otherwise failed to protect [him]." After the train left the station, appellant was found lying on platform 1 with his legs sticking out into the trackway. He sustained lacerations on his chin, a laceration and compound fracture to his right ankle, and a laceration on his right eye. Appellant alleges that respondent's employees "attempt[ed] to cover up" their negligence in connection with his…