General Electric Co. v. State ex rel. Department of Public Works

According to the complaints of the three separate actions from which the instant appeals have arisen, an automobile driven by James Bailey in which his wife Sharon was a passenger was rear-ended by another vehicle. The Bailey car was thereby propelled across a center dividing “island” into oncoming traffic, causing a head-on collision with a vehicle driven by Wallace Moore. The vehicle which had first struck the Bailey automobile was being operated by John O’Connell in the course of his employment by General Electric Company; it was owned by General Electric Company and Lease Plan, Inc. James Bailey, his wife Sharon, and Wallace Moore commenced separate actions against these parties for injuries and damages resulting from the accident.

Thereafter John O’Connell, General Electric Company, and Lease Plan, Inc., filed cross-complaints in each action against the State of California *921 and the County of Alameda. In each it was alleged that the state and county cross-defendants had knowingly maintained the highway at the point of the accident “in a dangerous, defective and hazardous condition for people driving on that road in that there was no median divider, tension cable,…