Our client loved cycling. Fiesta Island in San Diego is a scenic one-way loop through a city park, used every week by cyclists, joggers, and families. He rode it with a group and did everything right. Then a driver went the wrong way around a blind curve, impaired by methamphetamine, and struck him head-on. He was paralyzed from the chest down, and five other riders were seriously injured. The driver went to prison for 19 years, but the crash was not only her fault. The City of San Diego had let overgrown bushes and high earthen berms block every sightline at that curve, with no signage and no mirror. This California government liability injury case shows what can happen when a public entity ignores a known danger. In September 2021, with a damages trial looming and exposure that exceeded $60 million, the City resolved the matter and paid $23.75 million.
$23.75M
Recovery from the City of San Diego
6 months
California deadline to file a government tort claim
$60M+
Estimated damages exposure before the trial
Fiesta Island is a man-made island in Mission Bay, San Diego. The City operates it as a public park with a one-way, mixed-use road that loops the island, and it promotes the loop as a recreational destination for cyclists, skaters, dog walkers, and runners. In 2014, our client joined a group ride on the island, the kind of ride hundreds of people made every week. A driver was traveling the wrong direction on that one-way road, impaired by methamphetamine, and as she rounded a curve she collided head-on with our client and several other cyclists. Six people were seriously injured. Our client suffered the worst outcome, complete paralysis from the chest down, leaving him unable to use his arms and legs for the rest of his life. The driver was charged criminally and sentenced to 19 years in state prison, then defaulted in the civil case.
The question at trial was not only about the impaired driver. Over the years, vegetation had grown unchecked alongside the road, and bushes and high earthen berms extended right to the road edge. At the curve where the collision happened, a cyclist traveling in the correct direction and a vehicle traveling the wrong way could not see each other until the moment of impact. The City had notice. Fiesta Island was a heavily trafficked recreational road that the City managed, and a city utility supervisor acknowledged in deposition that the City had received prior requests for warning signs after close calls with distracted motorists. Maintenance records and the observable condition of the vegetation told the story: the City allowed this dangerous condition to exist and worsen over time.
The City conceded nothing and pointed to the criminal driver, so the trial team proved the City's own conduct made the crash foreseeable.
Under California law, when a public entity's dangerous condition creates a foreseeable risk that a third party, even a criminal one, will cause harm, the entity cannot escape responsibility by pointing to that third party. A properly maintained road with clear sightlines gives everyone the chance to see danger and react. The blind corner eliminated that chance.
A city district manager admitted under oath the City's own practice of waiting until somebody gets hurt before fixing a known unsafe condition. Prior requests for warning signs after close calls established that the City knew about the danger before this crash ever happened.
The City invoked Government Code section 831.7, which immunizes public entities for injuries during hazardous recreational activities. The jury disagreed. Fiesta Island's road is a designated, multi-use public road that the City designed, promoted, and maintained for cyclists, and that immunity does not apply when a public entity invites the activity that led to the injury.
The jury found the City of San Diego responsible for the dangerous condition of the Fiesta Island roadway.
Under California Government Code section 835, a public entity is liable when a dangerous condition of its property is a substantial factor in causing injury and the entity created the condition or had notice of it in time to protect against it. The blind curve at Fiesta Island met that standard. Families need to understand one catch immediately. Claims against a city, county, or other public entity require a formal government tort claim within just six months of the injury, far shorter than the two years that generally applies to claims against private parties. This deadline does not pause for surgery, recovery, or the time it takes to find the right attorney, and missing it almost always bars the claim permanently. Evidence in these cases is perishable as well, because vegetation gets trimmed and roads get repaved once a lawsuit is filed, so investigating the dangerous condition while it is still visible can be decisive.
After a two-year investigation and litigation campaign, the case went to trial in San Diego County Superior Court, and the jury found the City of San Diego responsible for the dangerous condition of the Fiesta Island roadway. With a damages trial looming and exposure estimated to exceed $60 million, the San Diego City Council approved a recovery of $23.75 million in September 2021, before the damages trial could begin. Our client's wife was a co-plaintiff, bringing a claim for loss of consortium, the loss of companionship, care, and partnership that paralysis takes from a spouse. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. The Homampour Law Firm handles dangerous condition cases against public entities on a contingency fee basis, advancing the costs of the case, so clients pay nothing unless there is a recovery.
The breakdowns below cover the Government Code 835 tough-facts doctrine, comparative fault when a co-defendant defaults, government tort claim strategy on the six-month clock, and preparing a catastrophically injured client to testify against an institutional defendant.
Government Code 835 despite third-party crime
Comparative fault when a defendant defaults
The six-month tort claim clock
We try catastrophic injury cases against government defendants as counsel or co-counsel and pay statutory referral fees.
Refer a caseIn 2014, our client was riding his bicycle on Fiesta Island, a popular one-way mixed-use park road in San Diego, when a driver high on methamphetamine drove the wrong way around a blind curve and struck him head-on, paralyzing him from the chest down while five other riders were also seriously injured.
Yes. When the city's own road design or maintenance creates a dangerous condition that contributes to the crash, the city can be held liable even if a drunk or drugged driver was also at fault, because the dangerous condition can make the resulting harm foreseeable.
You generally have only six months from the date of your injury to file a government tort claim against a California city, a much shorter window than the two years generally available for claims against private parties, and missing it almost always bars the case entirely.
