JENNIFER BUDDY VS. JONATHAN E. KNAPP ET AL. CORRINE BUDDY ET AL. VS. JONATHAN E. KNAPP ET AL. DAMIEN CONNEEN VS. STATE OF NEW JERSEY ET AL. (L-1037-16, L-1046-16, and L-1049-16, ATLANTIC COUNTY AND STATEWIDE) (CONSOLIDATED) (A-4339-18/A-4344-18/A-4492-18)
These appeals arise from two motor vehicle accidents that occurred about a year apart in approximately the same location under similar circumstances. In both instances, a driver traveling westbound on Route 322 in Folsom Borough made an illegal left turn in the direction of one of two driveway entrances to a WaWa convenience store and struck a motorcycle traveling eastbound on the highway. In the first accident, the motorcycle driver was killed and his wife, who was a passenger, seriously injured. In the second accident, the motorcycle driver was seriously injured. The injured parties and the estate of the decedent filed suits against the entity that owns the convenience store and the State, which owns the highway and the land on which the store's driveway entrances are situated, alleging a number of claims sounding in negligence.
The court held that the commercial landowner who operates the convenience store did not owe a duty of care to plaintiffs to prevent drivers on the adjoining State highway from making an illegal left turn into the store's parking lot entrances. In addition, the court declined plaintiffs' invitation to impose on commercial property owners the obligation to warn business patrons of the obvious danger posed by driving over two sets of solid yellow lines to cross two lanes of opposing traffic on a highway with a fifty-five-mile-per-hour speed limit to enter a store parking lot. The court noted a nearby jug handle provided westbound drivers a safe alternative to access the store's parking lot through an intersection controlled by a traffic light.
The court also concluded the State is entitled to immunity for all claims asserted against it under three provisions of the Tort Claims Act: (1) law enforcement immunity, N.J.S.A. 59:2-4, for its alleged failure to enforce its regulations with respect to the design of the parking lot driveway entrances; (2) licensing immunity, N.J.S.A. 59:2-5, for any permitting decision, or alleged absence thereof, related to the construction and maintenance of the driveway entrances; and (3) inspection immunity, N.J.S.A. 59:2-6, for any alleged failure to inspect the driveway entrances during two highway improvement projects after their construction. In addition, the court found the statutory exception to immunity for dangerous conditions of public property did not apply because the driveway entrances, which were in the State's right-of-way, were not dangerous conditions and use of the driveway entrances with due care did not create a reasonably foreseeable risk of the injuries suffered by plaintiffs, which were caused by the illegal activity of the drivers who struck their motorcycles.
