Depressing opinion. Concise holding:
"A 72-foot diseased tree fell on a sleeping child’s tent pitched in a campground that
is located within a vast public wilderness park. The park’s owner, the County of San
Mateo, contends it is immune as a matter of law for this allegedly dangerous condition of
its property under Government Code section 831.2, commonly referred to as the “natural
condition immunity.” It states: “Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable
for an injury caused by a natural condition of any unimproved public property, including
but not limited to any natural condition of any lake, stream, bay, river or beach.”1
(See
§ 831.2.)
The trial court denied the County’s motion for summary judgment under section
831.2, and we now deny the County’s petition for a writ of mandate seeking to overturn the summary judgment ruling. We conclude there are triable issues of fact as to whether
the property here was “unimproved.” . . .
On July 25, 2012, Zachary Rowe and his family were camping in San Mateo
County Memorial Park, where they occupied campsite D-1 of Sequoia Flat Campground.
Twenty feet from Zachary’s tent stood a 72-foot, diseased tanoak tree suffering from a
species of fungus called Armillaria that caused it to fail. In the early morning hours,
while Zachary was sleeping, the massive tree fell on Zachary’s tent, crushing him and
inflicting catastrophic injuries. . . .
San Mateo County Memorial Park is property owned by San Mateo County,
consisting of approximately 499 wooded acres, with trails. Its campsites are located in a
heavily wooded campground area, portions of which were cleared of trees. The
campground area contains dozens of campsites as well as amenities such as paved roads,
telephones, restrooms (with electricity, sinks and flush toilets), showers, dedicated
parking areas, a dumping station and a store. . . .
A professional land surveyor determined there were
34 man-made improvements within 126 feet of where the tree stood, including roadways,
bumper logs (which are large trees laid on the ground to keep cars out of camping areas), restrooms, picnic tables, bear boxes, fire pits/barbeque pits, road signs, conductor poles
with transformers and a parking bollard. According to the survey map he prepared,
which is reproduced as Figure 2 in the appendix to this opinion, the man-made objects
closest to the tree were a picnic table and a fire pit in a neighboring campsite, both some
13 feet away from the tree. The map depicts many man-made objects within the tree’s
72-foot striking distance, including a power line within 37 feet at its closest point; two
access roads, one of which was 22 feet away at its closest point and the other 61 feet
away; and various amenities located in Zachary’s campsite and several neighboring
ones. Also close by, but not within the tree’s 72-foot striking distance, were two
restrooms, one 113 feet away from the tree, and the other 126 feet away."
Given all this, it's somewhat surprising that the Court of Appeal decided to hear the writ.
