Court Opinion

ID: 9697046
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:04:34.252261+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:28.804824
License: Public Domain

HUTCHINSON, Justice,
concurring.
I join the majority opinion. I agree that the real estate exception to the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8542(b)(3), contemplates recovery only for the artificial condition or defect of the land itself and does not impose liability upon government entities for the acts of third parties. I write separately to emphasize that, on these facts, a proximate cause analysis would insulate appellants from liability for negligence. The appellants’ negligence, in failing to properly secure a juvenile detention center, may have been the cause-in-fact of the injuries suffered by the appellees. However, appellants’ omissions are not the legal cause of the harm due to the intervening criminal acts of Opher. Both cause-in-fact and legal causation must be present for a plaintiff to recover on a negligence theory.