Daniel Kee-Young Kim v. Cnty. of Monterey

1

DANIEL KEE-YOUNG KIM, JR., Plaintiff and Appellant, v. COUNTY OF MONTEREY et al., Defendants and Respondents

H050647

California Court of Appeals, Sixth District

November 8, 2024

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED

Monterey County Super. Ct. No. 16CV001236

Danner, J.

Appellant Daniel Kee-Young Kim, Jr. appeals from the judgment in favor of the County of Monterey (the County) and the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP) (collectively, defendants) on his claims of dangerous condition of public property and gross negligence. Kim's claims stem from injuries he incurred in 2015 during a winter season "track day" event at the Laguna Seca Raceway when the motorcycle he was riding collided with sandbags that had been placed around a drain near the track. Kim alleges the sandbags created a dangerous condition and unreasonably increased his risk of injury over and above the risks inherent in the sport of amateur motorcycle track riding.

After a bench trial, the trial court rejected Kim's gross negligence and dangerous condition of public property claims struck Kim's posttrial motion to disqualify the trial judge from presiding further over the action, and denied Kim's motion for new trial.

On appeal, Kim contends the trial court failed to properly address the relevant standard of care as identified by this court in its opinion reversing a prior grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants. (Kim v. Monterey County (2019) 43 Cal.App.5th 312 (Kim).) He asserts evidentiary error related to the exclusion of expert testimony and improper use of lay witness testimony. He further maintains that the trial court failed to address the dangerous condition of public property claim and ignored the County's affirmative burden to protect against a dangerous condition in violation of Government Code section 835, subdivision (b). Kim contends that the court deprived him of a fair and impartial trial by allowing personal experience and undisclosed familiarity with the subject racetrack to influence its rulings.

For the reasons explained below, we conclude that Kim has not shown reversible error as to any of his claims. We affirm the judgment.

I. FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

This is the second appeal in this case. In Kim, we reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of defendants after concluding that Kim raised triable issues of material fact as to whether defendants owed a duty of due care to Kim in the use of sandbags at Laguna Seca and whether they breached their duty in a manner amounting to gross negligence.^[1] (Kim, supra, 43 Cal.App.5th at p. 327.)

We briefly summarize the relevant background facts and history of the case, which we set forth in detail in our opinion in Kim. We reference additional facts based on the evidence adduced at trial as relevant throughout our analysis, post.

A. Facts^[2]

The Laguna Seca Raceway (the Raceway or Laguna Seca) is located in Salinas and owned by the County. The Raceway features a 2.238-mile, 11-turn race course. It consists of the paved asphalt surface of the track (hereafter, the track), outer shoulder or "verge" areas that edge the paved surface, and off-track areas that include the "runoff." The runoff is the area between the verge and the "first line of protection," or initial barrier that a vehicle will hit, and is designed to quickly slow the speed of a vehicle in locations where riders are likely to lose the "racing line" and leave the track.^[3] Laguna Seca is promoted as a world-class racing facility that hosts five or six "major events" each year which are sanctioned by professional motor racing bodies like the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). The Raceway has implemented numerous changes and upgrades over the years in order to obtain FIM homologation and hold FIM-sanctioned events. These events are held at the Raceway only during the dry season months of May through October, though the Raceway is used year-round. The incident that is the subject of this appeal did not occur during a FIM-sanctioned event.

At the time of the incident, SCRAMP operated the track pursuant to a concession agreement with the County. The concession agreement authorized SCRAMP to rent out the track for club and promotional events and required defendants to maintain the "[r]aceway" and "[t]rack run-off and shoulders," including "grading [] to facilitate yearround track rental usage." The County expected SCRAMP to "maximize the rental of the track" as much as possible, and SCRAMP maintained "a pretty extensive rental schedule."

SCRAMP's vice president for facilities operations, Bohdan Beresiwsky, who has since retired, was the person responsible for overseeing operations and maintenance of the Raceway, including preparations for both the summer (professional) and winter track seasons. For major events, the FIM would conduct inspections of the Raceway and sometimes require changes and upgrades to the track, verges, and runoffs. Beresiwsky would ensure the track met the FIM standards and requirements prior to major events. This included covering drains and V-ditches located adjacent to the track (which are designed to direct drainage away from the track during the rainy season), removing sandbags put in place during the rainy season for drainage and erosion control, and grading and smoothing runoff areas. After the last major event in October, Beresiwsky's team would uncover the concrete V-ditches around the track, open the drains, and reinstall sandbags. Sandbags were placed in locations around drains "to track the water to run into the drains and not across the track" and to prevent "huge erosion ditch lines" that would otherwise form around the track during the rainy season. Beresiwsky estimated there were close to 500 sandbags in use at the Raceway at the time of Kim's accident, which was close to the "standard" number his team would place each year.

On March 14, 2015, Kim was participating in a winter "track day" event at the Raceway hosted by an organization called Keigwins@TheTrack (Keigwins). Kim" 'ran wide'" at turn 5 of the track, rode off the shoulder as he came out of the turn, and collided with one or more sandbags configured around a drain off the track. Kim's accident reconstruction expert estimated that the sandbags Kim struck were located "as close as [four] feet from the edge of the checkerboard alligators" and "approximately [eight] feet from the stripe" bordering the paved track. Kim was ejected from his motorcycle and suffered serious injuries. Kim had participated in prior track days at the Raceway and had completed several laps around the track before the accident that day.

B. Procedural History

In Kim, this court reversed the trial court's grant of summary judgment in favor of the County and SCRAMP and remanded for further proceedings, including trial. (Kim, supra, 43 Cal.App.5th at pp. 316, 331.) The parties who remained in the case included defendants (the County and SCRAMP), Keigwins, and Kim.^[4] The matter was reassigned to the same judicial officer who had issued the summary judgment.

1. Jury Trial Waiver

In December 2021, the trial court bifurcated the upcoming jury trial into two phases (liability and damages). Jury selection took place over the course of five days in February 2022. However, a jury was not empaneled.^[5] Kim's trial counsel proposed waiving his right to a jury trial for the liability phase of the proceedings. Kim dismissed Keigwins in exchange for a waiver of costs after Keigwins declined to waive its right to jury trial. Kim and the remaining respondents waived their right to jury trial for the liability phase of a bifurcated trial.

2. Bench Trial

The trial court held a two-week bench trial on liability. Both sides presented expert testimony on racetrack design, maintenance, the applicability of FIM standards to nonprofessional track day events, accident reconstruction, motorcycle handling, and human factors. We discuss the expert testimony and additional background in more detail in our analysis, post (pt. II.C.1.).

Kim's evidence at trial also included testimony by a number of other witnesses. County assistant administrative officer (and the County's designated person most knowledgeable), Nicholas Chiulos, testified regarding the County's concession agreement with SCRAMP, the County's duties regarding maintenance and administration of the Raceway, and the County's response to SCRAMP's financial mismanagement. SCRAMP's chief executive officer and general manager, Gillian Campbell, testified regarding SCRAMP's operations processes and its efforts to maintain the track as an "iconic racing facility." Further, SCRAMP board member and track rental supervisor, James Sula, testified regarding track day preparations and the board's oversight of SCRAMP. Keigwins executive vice president of operations, Jesse Carter, and the founder of Keigwins, Lance Keigwin, testified variously regarding Keigwins's protocol for track days at the Raceway, the instructions given to track day participants, and the risks posed by sandbags off the track. Finally, Kim testified regarding his personal and professional background in relation to motorcycle riding, his experience riding in prior track days at Laguna Seca, and his recollection of the moments leading up to his accident.

Defendants' case included additional testimony by Kim and Beresiwsky, and expert testimony by motorcycle racer Jason Pridmore, who testified regarding his experience operating riding schools at Laguna Seca and the presence of sandbags at that and other racetracks.

The parties also stipulated to statements by the director of international competition at the American Motorcyclist Association and bureau member for the FIM, William...