Sheks Construction Co. v. City of South S.F. CA1/5

BACKGROUND

On August 1, 2016, Ramon Gomez (Plaintiff) fell while skateboarding across an intersection (the Intersection) in a residential neighborhood in the City. Plaintiff does not remember the accident. When police responded,

1 there was a hose stretched diagonally across the Intersection, connecting a fire hydrant to a residential construction site (the Site). No cones or signs warned of the hose. Appellants were the plumbing subcontractor at the Site, and the hose had been placed in the Intersection that morning by one of Appellants’ employees, to fill the pipes in advance of an inspection scheduled for that day. Approximately a year before the accident, the City issued a permit authorizing use of the fire hydrant for work at the Site. The permit was valid from August 10, 2015 to October 10, 2015 and, by its own terms, expired at the end of that period. The permit was not extended or renewed after October 10, 2015. After the permit expired, water from the hydrant continued to be used at the Site for construction purposes. Plaintiff sued Appellants, as well as the Site’s owner/general contractor (Owner), other companies and individuals associated with the Site, and Doe…