Background
Gerald McBride attended a public event at Northeastern Junior College’s campus gym. As he left, he walked on a pedestrian pathway beside the gym and adjacent parking lot, caught his foot on a concrete slab that had sunk about two and a half inches, and fell. He sought more than $100,000 in damages from the college and the Colorado Community College System.
The defendants moved to dismiss based on governmental immunity. The district court denied the motion, concluding that the pathway was a qualifying sidewalk and the misaligned slab was a dangerous condition under the Colorado Governmental Immunity Act (CGIA). McBride had also invoked other CGIA waiver theories involving a recreation facility and an exit from a public building, but the district court did not decide them.
The Court’s Holding
The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the order denying dismissal on the sidewalk theory. Although the pathway was intended for pedestrians, it was not a “sidewalk” as statutorily defined by the CGIA, which requires a pedestrian route to be a portion of a public roadway between the roadway’s curb or lateral lines and adjacent property lines.
The court concluded, after consulting legislative history, that the adjacent parking lot was not a “public roadway” for CGIA purposes. Nor was the pathway sufficiently close to the campus road or U.S. Highway 138 to be a portion of either roadway. The court therefore held that the defendants had not waived immunity under the CGIA’s dangerous-condition provision for sidewalks and remanded for the district court to address McBride’s other asserted waiver theories.
Key Takeaways
- A pedestrian pathway is not automatically a CGIA sidewalk merely because it is designed and used for pedestrian travel.
- A parking lot is not a “public roadway” under the CGIA sidewalk definition.
- A pathway must be close to the curb or lateral lines of a qualifying public roadway to be a portion of that roadway.
Why It Matters
The decision narrows the circumstances in which public entities may face CGIA liability for defects on campus pedestrian pathways. Courts must apply the statute’s technical sidewalk definition rather than a common-sense understanding of the term.
The ruling leaves unresolved whether the college may still face suit under the other CGIA exceptions McBride raised, including theories tied to a recreation facility or a public-building exit.