Yerano Martinez and Jessica Martinez v. Jeffrey Smith, et al.

Summary

The Indiana Supreme Court held that a landowner’s common-law duty under Reece v. Tyson Fresh Meats, Inc. to avoid creating hazardous conditions for passing motorists extends to traffic-control devices located within the public right-of-way. Because the defendant acknowledged that the overgrown bush extended into the county right-of-way and obstructed a stop sign, the Court held that summary judgment for the defendant was improper and reversed. Justice Molter concurred separately, and Justice Slaughter dissented separately.

Holdings

1. The common-law duty recognized in Reece for landowners adjoining highways to refrain from creating hazardous conditions that visit themselves upon the roadway encompasses traffic-control devices located within the public right-of-way, not merely the paved or traveled surface of the road.
2. Smith was not entitled to summary judgment because his admission that the bush's trunk fell within the county right-of-way established that the condition was not wholly contained on his property, and he therefore failed to carry his initial burden of showing the absence of a genuine issue of material fact.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Indiana common law imposes on an adjoining landowner a duty under Reece to prevent conditions on the landowner's property from obstructing a traffic-control device located within a public right-of-way but outside the paved or traveled portion of the roadway.
2. Whether Smith was entitled to summary judgment where he admitted that the bush extended into the county right-of-way and assumed that it created a visual obstruction.

Disposition

reversed