Opinion ID: 1750431
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Robin Center appeal on the issue of contribution.

Text: 3. In seeking contribution from Robin Center, defendants McGrath urge us to adopt a rule that the proprietor of a shopping center has a duty to safeguard the employees of its tenants against runaway automobiles, and whether there is a breach of such duty is a jury question. The specific negligence asserted by the McGraths consists of (1) the physical arrangements which invited drivers to park at right angles to the curb, (2) the failure to provide curbing of adequate height, and (3) the lack of appropriate barriers in vulnerable areas. [3] According to Mrs. McGrath, as she headed into an open space in front of the Ben Franklin office, she was driving slowly. She claims that she may have even come to a stop. As she approached the curb to park, she lifted her foot from the accelerator and put it on the brake. Because the pedal was worn, her foot slipped onto the accelerator with great force and propelled the car across the sidewalk some 6 or 8 feet into the front of the building and across the main area of the office. Robin Center argues that the curbing was designed primarily to let drivers know that their front wheels had reached the sidewalk. Its height is intended to facilitate pedestrian traffic. Perpendicular parking, it is claimed, allows persons to get in and out of their vehicles safely without being exposed to cross traffic. McGrath asserts that Robin Center had knowledge of the dangers inherent in perpendicular parking by virtue of two previous shopping-center accidents and that Robin Center should therefore be held liable for failing to take adequate measures to prevent a recurrence. Over objection the court received evidence that in October 1956 and in July 1958 automobiles which were being parked at right angles jumped the curb, went out of control, and collided with the side of a building, in one instance causing personal injuries. No authority is cited by McGrath for holding a property owner liable for injuries to an occupant of a leased building from a runaway automobile. McGrath cites and relies on Marquardt v. Cernocky, 18 Ill. App.2d 135, 151 N.E.2d 109, 67 A.L.R.2d 956. There the Illinois court approved recovery by an invitee against the proprietor of a picnic area for permitting a parked car to run downhill and injure her. The parking area in that case was not only on hilly terrain but was also without barriers or curbing. The court held that defendant could foresee that an injury would occur unless parking was adequately supervised and provision made to prevent cars from running away on sloping ground near a steep hill. The facts in the Marquardt case are very similar to those in Gresser v. Taylor, Minn., 150 N.W.2d 869, filed herewith. There the runaway vehicle was also parked on the brink of a steep incline, above an area where crowds of people could be expected to gather as players and spectators at a golf tournament. In the Marquardt case the car was released by a small child. Although this was not conclusively shown to be the cause of the accident in the Gresser case, the evidence did indicate that children were playing on the side of the slope where the cars were parked. It could be anticipated that if a child manipulated the levers the parked vehicle would run downhill onto the golf course. Ordinary curbing would have prevented the accident. We think that these cases are clearly distinguishable. In the instant case the parking area was level and the curbing was of normal height. A vehicle left unattended could not have caused any damage by the action of children or of anyone else. The fact that on two previous occasions there had been accidents which resulted in vehicles striking the sides of buildings, did not in our opinion, make the hazard one which was so inevitable or likely to reoccur that the landowner had a duty to protect against it. Two recent decisions support our views. In Watkins v. Davis (Tex.Civ.App.) 308 S.W.2d 906, a truck moved suddenly from a parked position, drove through the front of a grocery store, and injured a customer. The plaintiff claimed that the proprietor was negligent in failing to provide an adequate barrier to prevent cars from running into the store. The Texas court stated (308 S.W.2d 909):    `It has been held in many cases that a wrongdoer is not responsible for a consequence which is merely possible, according to occasional experience, but only for a consequence which is probable, according to ordinary and usual experience. The natural and probable consequences are those which human foresight can foresee, because they happen so frequently that they may be expected to happen again.'    The weight of authority, which to our mind is in accord with sound principles, is to the effect that, where the injury to the traveler results from loss of entire control and direction of an animal or machine, the occurrence falls within the domain of the unusual and extraordinary, and therefore, in contemplation of law, of the unforeseeable. A divided Florida court adopted the holding of the Watkins case in Schatz v. 7-Eleven, Inc. (Fla.App.) 128 So.2d 901. The facts are very similar to those in the case before us. There the car was parked perpendicular to a 5¾-inch curb when the driver negligently caused it to be propelled forward over the curb, across the sidewalk, and into the defendant's store, striking and severely injuring a patron. The plaintiff asserted the proprietor was negligent in permitting cars to be parked at right angles and in failing to provide an adequate curb, barrier, wall, or other obstacle to prevent cars from being driven into the building. The Florida court recognized the rule that proprietors have a duty to provide a reasonably safe place for patrons but are not insurers of their safety. The duty is limited to preventing dangers of which defendant is actually cognizant or which he might reasonably foresee. The test of foreseeability, the court stated, is whether by prudent human foresight the result of the act can be anticipated because it happens so frequently that in the field of human experience it may be expected to happen again. In concluding that perpendicular parking and normal curbing did not give rise to a cause of action against a proprietor for a runaway vehicle, the court acknowledged that at times operators lose control of their automobiles, but held that such incidents do not happen in the ordinary and normal course of events and therefore fall within the category of situations which are unusual or extraordinary and unforeseeable in contemplation of the law. We are in accord with the conclusions reached by the Florida court. [4] The fact that over a period of five years two automobiles had gone over curbs and struck buildings did not, in our opinion, impose on the landowner a duty to anticipate and prevent the possibility of injury from other runaway vehicles. Not only would a higher curb have been ineffective to stop a vehicle driven with the speed of the McGrath car, but it would have increased the inconvenience and hazard to pedestrians who were obliged to use it. To erect an impregnable barrier around all of the buildings would both obstruct normal pedestrian traffic and impose on the owners a burden completely out of proportion to the anticipated risk. We agree that liability cannot be predicated on the fact that out of the many thousands of vehicles which use parking areas in a normal way, one or two may occasionally jump the curb and expose pedestrians as well as tenants to the remote possibility of injury. We therefore hold that third-party plaintiffs McGrath are not entitled to contribution against Robin Center, and judgment in their favor is reversed. Affirmed as to the appeal of defendants McGrath and reversed as to the appeal of third-party defendant Robin Center.