Court Opinion

ID: 9698833
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 20:00:54.049989+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:43.763892
License: Public Domain

LARSEN, Justice.
I dissent.
The issue presented by these two appeals is whether a political subdivision has a duty to maintain safe playgrounds. It is clear to me that when “city fathers” decide to locate a public playground adjacent to property which poses a hazard to the children who are encouraged to use that playground, they are obligated to erect and maintain barriers on the perimeter of the playground to prevent ingress and egress at a location that brings the children into contact with the adjacent hazard. The majority commits a grave error in holding to the contrary.
In the first appeal, on June 19, 1982, appellant, Robert C. Gardner, a seven year old child, tripped and fell upon the railroad tracks that lay between his home and the ballfield which was owned by appellee, the City of Philadelphia. Appellant, on his way to the ballfield, was struck by a passing train and suffered serious injuries, including the amputation of his right arm. Appellant’s route across the tracks followed a frequently used shortcut which led from the residential community in which he lived on the north *457side of the railroad tracks, through a hole in a retaining wall, across the railroad tracks, and through a hole in the high fence which surrounds the perimeter of the playground.
Appellants brought an action in trespass against the City of Philadelphia, appellee herein, the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) and the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA). The City denied owning the playground and fence in question and asserted defenses under the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act (Act). 42 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 8541-8542. The City filed a motion for summary judgment and in support thereof argued that it could not be held liable for an injury occurring on property that was not owned by the City.
The Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County granted the City's motion for summary judgment on the grounds that a landowner has no duty to guard against dangerous conditions on adjacent property over which he has no control and that the action was barred by the Act. Commonwealth Court affirmed in a memorandum opinion. Commonwealth Court determined that the imposition of liability in these circumstances would “create an undue burden on all property owners.” Slip op. at 6.
In the second appeal, on August 18, 1984, appellant, Robert Lynch, an eleven year old child, left a playground owned by appellee, the City of Philadelphia, to play in a vacant lot located directly across several sets of railroad tracks from the playground. Appellant went through a large hole in the playground’s safety fence and started crossing the railroad tracks along a well-worn path when he slipped and was struck by a train. Both of appellant’s legs were severed below the knee.
Appellants filed an action in trespass against the City, the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (AMTRAK), Conrail, and SEPTA. The City filed preliminary objections, claiming that it had no duty to fence its property to keep individuals from entering adjoining property on which a dangerous condition exists. The Court of Common Pleas of *458Philadelphia County dismissed the claims against the City with prejudice, and Commonwealth Court affirmed, finding that the City had no duty to fence the playground or to maintain the fence once it had been installed.
Mr. Justice Flaherty, writing for the majority, states that “the city has no common law duty to erect or repair its fences, at least as to plaintiffs who are injured on neighboring land, not on or by city property.” Maj. op. at 450. I disagree.
It has long been .the law of this Commonwealth that public parks or playgrounds must be maintained in a reasonably safe condition for those invited to come upon such property. See Paraska v. Scranton, 313 Pa. 227, 169 A. 434 (1933) (city must take care, especially in the case of playgrounds, in keeping property in reasonably safe condition); Novak v. Ford City Borough, 292 Pa. 537, 141 A. 496 (1928) (public places where children usually play should be safeguarded against hazards that are likely to harm them); Weber v. Harrisburg, 216 Pa. 117, 64 A. 905 (1906) (city has duty of seeing that public parks are not dangerous to public). Moreover, we have held that municipalities have a duty to guard pedestrians where the roads on which they walk drop off precipitously into creeks. Haughney v. Mahanoy City Borough, 264 Pa. 482, 107 A. 843 (1919) (borough grossly, criminally negligent for failing to guard street properly; in absence of contributory negligence of pedestrian, borough would have been liable to pedestrian for injuries suffered when she fell from borough street into creek).
It is illegitimate to make a distinction between those cases where it is the condition of the property itself that makes the property dangerous, and those cases where it is the location of the property that renders that property dangerous. I would hold that, in either situation, the governmental entity owning property set aside for playgrounds has a duty to protect children from the dangerous condition. Obviously, if it were not for the location of a playground *459next to a hazard, in all probability, children would not be in proximity to the hazard in the first place.
In both of the within cases, the City put a playground on property which bordered railroad tracks carrying high speed commuter trains. In both cases, the City was alleged to have installed fences to separate the playground from the hazardous railroad tracks. In both cases, holes were created and were allowed to remain in the fences for long periods of time, so that neighboring children established routes between the playgrounds and their residences that went through the holes in the fences and across the railroad tracks. Because the City does have a duty to make its playgrounds safe, it was for a jury to decide whether the City was negligent in failing to properly maintain the fences through which the appellants gained access to the playgrounds and whether the facilitation of access to the railroad tracks was a proximate cause of the injuries to appellants.
Appellants argue in the alternative that the City is liable for their injuries in that the City, by erecting fences, acted affirmatively to protect the children using the City playgrounds from the hazard posed by the adjacent railroad tracks, and in so acting failed to properly maintain the fences, thereby increasing the risk of harm to appellants. This theory of liability is set forth at Section 323 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts. The majority herein bolsters its finding that the City owed no duty to the appellants by stating that Section 323 does not create a duty where none exists. Maj. op. at 453-454, citing Morena v. South Hills Health System, 501 Pa. 634, 462 A.2d 680 (1983).
I believe that the majority is misconstruing our opinion in Morena wherein we discussed the application of Section 323, the so-called “good Samaritan” section that provides for the imposition of liability on those who act affirmatively to protect another and in so acting fail to exercise reasonable care, which failure increases the risk of harm to the other. In Morena, supra, the “good Samaritans” had done *460all that they were required to do in transporting the plaintiff to a medical facility for treatment, and others had assumed the responsibility for further assisting the plaintiff. Thus, the “good Samaritans” had ceased acting on behalf of the plaintiff prior to when the harm occurred, and there was no longer any duty that the “good Samaritans” owed to the plaintiff.
In this regard, Dean Prosser states that:
If there is no duty to come to the assistance of a person in difficulty or peril, there is at least a duty to avoid any affirmative acts which make his situation worse. When we cross the line into the field of ‘misfeasance,’ liability is far easier to find. A truck driver may be under no obligation whatever to signal to a car behind him that it may safely pass; but if he does signal, he will be liable if he fails to exercise proper care and injury results. There may be no duty to take care of a man who is ill or intoxicated, and unable to look out for himself; but it is another thing entirely to eject him into the danger of a railroad yard; and if he is injured there will be liability. But further, if the defendant does attempt to aid him, and takes charge and control of the situation, he is regarded as entering voluntarily into a relation which is attended with responsibility.
Prosser, Law of Torts (4th ed. 1971) at 343. A municipality is under no obligation to establish playgrounds. Clearly, however, once it does so, it has an obligation to ensure that the playgrounds are not located in a place that presents a hazard to those using the playground. And if the playground is located adjacent to a foreseeable hazard, the municipality is obligated to erect and maintain barriers on the perimeter of the playground to prevent ingress and egress at a location that brings the children into contact with the adjacent hazard. The municipality should not escape liability for an injury occurring due to a breach in the barricade by arguing that it was not responsible for the hazardous condition of the neighboring property. The municipality was responsible for luring those using the play*461ground into the vicinity of the hazard. Accord Ballard v. Polly, 387 F.Supp. 895 (D.D.C.1975) (school had duty to maintain fence to keep small children using playground off busy street adjacent to playground).
Mr. Justice Flaherty states that Section 323 of the Restatement (Second) of Torts cannot apply to government because “government does not act either gratuitously or for consideration.” Maj. op. at 453-454. This is fallacious reasoning. It is clear that Section 323 applies to an undertaking to render services to another, and government does undertake to render services to another. Other courts have not hesitated to hold government responsible for harm caused by its actions pursuant to Section 323. See, e.g., Rosa v. United States, 613 F.Supp. 469, 476 (M.D.Pa.1985) (principle of liability set forth in Section 323 “has been held specifically applicable to the United States.”)1 Thus, I would hold that political subdivisions have a duty 1) to erect barriers when locating a playground adjacent to a known hazard, and 2) to exercise reasonable care in maintaining those barriers once erected for the protection of the children who use the playground.
Accordingly, I would reverse the orders of Commonwealth Court entered in the within cases, and I would remand for further proceedings.

. The majority further supports its decision by citing Scarborough v. Lewis, 523 Pa. 30, 565 A.2d 122 (1989), and by stating that it would be "jurisprudentially unsound and in violation of the fundamental principle of stare decisis for this Court to unsettle an area of law which we settled only four months ago.” Maj. op. at 451. Justices Marshall, Holmes, Cardozo, and Brandéis never allowed such a highfalutin concept to leave litigants unjustly traumatized ... nor should we.