Dangerous Beach Pathway Causes Severe Injury
Janice Silva was a victim of negligence in the city of San Clemente, California. On July 26, 2009, Janice and her husband, Robert, were strolling through a beach access tunnel at Linda Lane beach. They found the walkway of the tunnel hard to travel through, because the passage was covered in a variety of debris, including 8 to 10 inches of seaweed. As they continued through the dangerous public property the path only became worse. The mess was so thick that even the curb was not discernible.
There was no other walkway to the parking lot they needed to get to, so Janice and Robert proceeded with caution. Suddenly, the debris below Janice collapsed, allowing her foot to sink and become entangled. The momentum of Janice's gait forced her body forward, resulting in numerous broken bones in her leg.
At the time when Janice and Robert attempted to travel this walkway, it was practically unusable, though no warning signs were posted. Regularly used beach access tunnels have to be maintained in order to be safe and clear of the debris that gathers from floods. This is not a new phenomenon on San Clemente beaches, so the condition of this walkway shows that the city had neglected to regularly clear the passage so as to avoid personal injury dangers for beach-goers.
What's more, is that many employees of San Clemente had knowledge of the unusable nature of this walkway prior to Janice's injury. Yet, nothing was done to make the walkway safer before someone was badly injured. By not maintaining this area, the city is responsible for creating a condition that posed serious risks to Janice, her husband, and anyone else who walked there.
Janice suffered severe bodily injury, including physical and mental pain, because the city of San Clemente was negligent to correcting a dangerous public walkway, though being fully aware of the hazardous conditions.
