## Facts

- The City of Aberdeen excavated a ditch in a parking strip immediately adjacent to a public sidewalk at an intersection to lay underground electric wiring.
- The City initially erected barricades to prevent pedestrians from falling into the excavation.
- A city employee removed the barricades to perform work in the ditch and, when leaving to work elsewhere, failed to replace them, leaving the ditch unprotected.
- Don Fletcher, blind since childhood, approached the area using a cane to feel his way and carried piano-tuning tools.
- With the barricades absent, Fletcher did not detect the excavation and fell into the ditch, suffering personal injuries.
- Fletcher and his wife sued the City for negligence; a jury returned a verdict for plaintiffs, and judgment was entered accordingly.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was legally sufficient to permit a finding that the City negligently failed to maintain the sidewalk and adjacent parking strip in a reasonably safe condition when its employee removed and did not replace barricades.
2. Whether the jury instructions improperly imposed a higher duty on the City regarding parking strips or an impermissibly heightened standard of care toward physically disabled pedestrians.

## Decision

- The Washington Supreme Court affirmed the judgment for the plaintiffs.
- The court held there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find negligence because the excavation was left unprotected during the interval when the barricades were removed.
- The court upheld the challenged instructions as consistent with the reasonable-care standard and as not making the City an insurer of safety.

## Legal Principles

- A municipality’s duty to maintain sidewalks and adjacent areas in a reasonably safe condition for pedestrian use is a continuing duty.
- A city does not discharge that duty by initially providing adequate safeguards if, through its own acts or omissions, the safeguards are removed and a hazard is left without reasonable warning.
- Reasonable care by a municipality is measured in light of foreseeable users of public ways, including persons who are blind or otherwise physically disabled.
- A physically disabled person must exercise the care that a reasonable person with the same disability would exercise under similar circumstances.
- Reasonable warning measures must be sufficient to provide effective notice of danger to foreseeable users, including physically disabled pedestrians.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed a verdict against the City, holding that the City’s obligation to keep sidewalks and adjacent parking strips reasonably safe is ongoing and that reasonable care requires precautions and warnings that account for foreseeable use by physically disabled pedestrians, without making the City an insurer of safety.


Fletcher v. City of Aberdeen, 54 Wn.2d 174, 338 P.2d 743 (Wash. 1959)