How have courts dealt with allegations that a construction company left large tractors unattended on a levee?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Richardson v. Ham, 285 P.2d 269, 44 Cal.2d 772 (Cal. 1955):
Zuber v. Clarkson Const. Co., 363 Mo. 352, 251 S.W.2d 52, is a case very similar to the one presently under consideration. Defendant construction company owned large motor-driven, earth-moving tractors which it left parked, at the end of the day, on a levee with the machinery in gear and the switches and ignitions unlocked with fuel in the tanks and the brakes off ready to be easily put in operation. The plaintiffs alleged that each evening curious spectators were gathered around watching the machines; that some of these persons had, to the defendant's knowledge, or the knowledge defendant should have had, theretofore started the tractors; that the tractors were left unattended at the close of the working day. It was alleged further that plaintiffs' decedent was killed because of injuries sustained by the unauthorized operation of one of defendant's unattended tractors. The court there said:
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