ISSAKHANI v. SHADOW GLEN HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION, INC. (2021) 63 Cal.App.5th 917 [PREMISES LIABILITY]

Plaintiff visited a condominium complex. All the guest spaces were taken so she parked her car on the far side of a five-lane street. Rather than use the crosswalk, she jaywalked (at night), was struck by a car, and sustained a traumatic brain injury. As part of the condominium's development, the City required 34 guest parking spaces. At the time of the accident, only 6 parking spaces were marked as visitor spaces. Plaintiff sued the association for negligence and premises liability claiming that the failure to maintain the number of parking spaces required by the ordinance created a foreseeable risk of harm for the association’s guests. This appeal therefore presented the following questions:  Does a landowner owe a duty of care to invitees to provide adequate onsite parking, either (1) under common law principles, or (2) by virtue of a 1978 city ordinance that rezoned the complex’s specific parcel for multifamily dwellings and conditioned that rezoning on providing a specific number of guest parking spaces? The court concluded that the answer to both questions is “no.” The appellate court stated “We conclude that a landowner’s common law duty of care does not encompass a duty to provide onsite parking for invitees in order to protect them from traffic accidents occurring off site as they travel to the premises. The court stated: “Imposing a duty to provide sufficient onsite parking for all invitees would also impose an unacceptably heavy burden, as every business and every multifamily residential dwelling complex would be required to provide parking for every guest, or else face liability for damages incurred when those guests cannot find onsite parking and are injured when trying to access the property from off site.”