According to the Opinion, the Plaintiff alleged personal
injuries as a result of a motor vehicle accident that occurred when she was
struck by another vehicle which had entered into the intersection from a
roadway at which a stop sign was missing.
While the court agreed that issues of fact prevented the
entry of summary judgment on this issue of whether the Defendant Property
Owner’s Association had actual or constructive notice of the missing stop sign,
the court still granted summary judgment after finding that the Defendant homeowner’s
association had no duty to maintain or replace the stop sign.
In his Opinion, Judge Williamson noted that the duties of a
private community association with regards to stop signs did not appear to be
addressed under Pennsylvania case law.
The Defendant association pointed to analogous cases involving municipalities which indicated that there was no duty upon a municipality to erect, maintain, or replace a missing stop sign at an intersection.
The Defendant association pointed to analogous cases involving municipalities which indicated that there was no duty upon a municipality to erect, maintain, or replace a missing stop sign at an intersection.
Although the court acknowledged that the Defendant community
association was not a municipality, the court felt that the municipality cases
were indeed analogous and noted that, if a municipality as no obligation to erect,
maintain, or repair stop signs, then, for the same reasons, the court found
that a private road owner should likewise not have that obligation.
The court also noted that, there were no facts set forth
under which the Plaintiff could recover against the homeowner's association in any event under the law pertaining
to a lack of a stop sign as it appeared that the tortfeasor Defendant driver
allegedly failed to follow the rules of the right-of-way at the intersection.
As stated, the court granted summary judgment in favor of the
property owner’s association.
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