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New CA Tort Case

dangerous conditions goverment liability liability waiver May 22, 2026

New Published California Tort Case

Was the City of Long Beach liable for plaintiff’s injury suffered when he fell from a rented electric scooter after hitting an asphalt patch on a sidewalk?


The California Court of Appeal Court addressed this issue last month. Below is my one-paragraph case summary from my online publication California Case Summaries™

Sargenti v. City of Long Beach (2026) _ Cal.App.5th _ , 2026 WL 1362086: The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court order granting defendant’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff action for personal injuries suffered when he fell from a rented electric scooter after hitting an asphalt patch on a sidewalk. The trial court granted defendant’s summary judgment motion on the ground that plaintiff had signed a user agreement with the scooter rental company that waived and released his negligence claims against defendant City of Long Beach (defendant). The Court of Appeal affirmed but on a different ground, concluding that defendant had neither actual nor constructive notice of the allegedly dangerous condition — rejecting plaintiff’s argument that defendant’s original (but subsequently corrected) interrogatory responses admitting it placed the asphalt patch automatically created a triable issue of material fact, and further holding that the Supreme Court's decision in Sweetwater Union High School Dist. v. Gilbane Building Co. (2019) 6 Cal.5th 931 did not authorize courts to consider inadmissible evidence, such as an unauthenticated Google Street View screenshot, in opposition to a summary judgment motion simply because the proponent claims the evidentiary defect could be cured at trial. (C.A. 2nd, May 15, 2026.)

 


 

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Do well and be well.  


Best regards,
Monty A. McIntyre, Esq.
Ending the Trauma of Litigation &
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