Court Opinion

ID: 9647759
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 13:49:41.502765+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:53.215453
License: Public Domain

McGINLEY, Judge,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent to the majority opinion.
The majority concludes that Sections 6122(a) and 6124 of the Vehicle Code1 give DOT the authority to erect traffic *494signals, which authority can be abused if not exercised where a dangerous condition has arisen. Thus, the majority holds that an abuse of this authority is tantamount to a breach of duty under the Judicial Code’s highway exception to sovereign immunity.
Sections 8522(b)(4) and (5) of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8522(b)(4) and (5) provide:
(b) Acts which may impose liability. — The following acts by a Commonwealth party may result in the imposition of liability on the Commonwealth and the defense of sovereign immunity shall not be raised to claims for damages caused by:
(4) Commonwealth real estate, highways and sidewalks. — A dangerous condition of Commonwealth agency real estate and sidewalks, including Commonwealth-owned real property, leaseholds in the possession of a Commonwealth agency and Commonwealth-owned real property leased by a Commonwealth agency to private persons, and highways under the jurisdiction of a Commonwealth agency, except conditions described in paragraph (5).
(5) Potholes and other dangerous conditions. A dangerous condition of highways under the jurisdiction of a *495Commonwealth agency created by potholes or sinkholes or other similar conditions created by natural elements, except that the claimant to recover must establish that the dangerous condition created a reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of injury which was incurred and that the Commonwealth agency had actual written notice of the dangerous condition of the highway a sufficient time prior to the event to have taken measures to protect against the dangerous condition. Property damages shall not be recoverable under this paragraph.
I would interpret a dangerous condition of the highway under Sections 8522(b)(4) and (5) to be limited in scope to defects in the highway itself.
Also, the majority in note 4 on page 5 of its opinion states that Bendas was precluded from proceeding on a defective design theory because the common pleas court would not allow Bendas to amend his complaint after the statute of limitations had expired.. As is noted, Bendas has not appealed and thus has not preserved this issue. Consequently, only Bendas’ allegation that DOT was negligent in failing to erect traffic control devices at the intersection was properly before the common pleas court.
Without an allegation of defective design or dangerous condition of the highway itself, I would find that liability cannot be imposed on DOT under Sections 6122(a) and 6124 of the Vehicle Code for a failure to erect traffic control devices at the intersection in question. I would reverse the order of the common pleas court and direct that DOT’S motion for summary judgment be granted.

. Sections 6122(a) and 6124 of the Vehicle Code, 75 Pa.C.S. §§ 6122(a) and 6124 provide as follows:
§ 6122.
(a) General rule. — The department on State-designated highways and local authorities on any highway within their boundaries may erect official traffic-control devices, which shall be installed and maintained in conformance with the manual and regulations pub*494lished by the department upon all highways as required to carry out the provisions of this title or to regulate, restrict, direct, warn, prohibit or guide traffic.
(1) Local authorities shall obtain approval of the department prior to erecting an official traffic-control device on a State-designated highway except where department regulations provide otherwise.
(2) Local authorities shall obtain approval of the department prior to erecting any traffic signal except in a municipality with a traffic engineer qualified in accordance with department regulations.
§ 6124.
The department on State-designated highways, including intersections with local highways, and local authorities on intersections of highways under their jurisdiction may erect and maintain stop signs, yield signs or other official traffic-control devices to designate through highways or to designate intersections at which vehicular traffic on one or more of the roadways should yield or stop and yield before entering the intersection.