A lawyer for a mother who sued Ogden City and the state after her homeless adult daughter was struck and killed in a crosswalk says he will appeal a ruling throwing out the lawsuit.
The lawsuit stemmed from the Nov. 21, 2013, death of 32-year-old Tiffany Phipps, who was hit by a Jeep Wrangler while crossing Wall Avenue at night in the crosswalk at the intersection of Binford Street to reach St. Anne’s Center on the other side. The crosswalk was installed in the summer of 2013, after a number of fatal auto-pedestrian accidents in the area.
Holly Wood, Phipps’ mother, alleged in a personal injury suit filed in 2015 that the crosswalk was defective because it “did not adequately alert or warn approaching motorists about the presence of pedestrians in the crosswalk.”
The suit — which sought an unspecified amount of money in damages — said Ogden and the state were aware there had been other homeless people who had been hit and injured or killed while crossing Wall Avenue’s five lanes in the vicinity of where Phipps was struck.
Earlier this month, 2nd District Court Judge W. Brent West dismissed the suit, ruling the city and state were protected by the Governmental Immunity Act and that the public duty doctrine also barred the case. Under the doctrine, a person cannot recover damages for breach of a duty owed to the general public but must show that a duty is owed to him or her as an individual.
Attorney Stephen Farr, who represents Wood, said Tuesday that the public duty doctrine does not apply in the case and he “absolutely” will appeal West’s ruling. The crosswalk was designed and constructed to serve homeless people, such as Phipps, and the defendants did not do enough to make it safe, according to Farr.
Farr alleged in court documents that Ogden and the Utah Department of Transportation — which was involved in building the crosswalk because Wall Street is a state road — had agreed to install lights to illuminate the crosswalk and flashing LED crosswalk warning signs 300 feet from the crosswalk, but had not done so at the time of Phipps’ death.
Lawyers for the government entities say there was no evidence of a particular condition in the roadway that made it hazardous, or of an agreement to install lights.
They also say the crosswalk at the time was clearly marked with two painted white parallel lines; 30-inch yellow warning signs had been installed for both northbound and southbound traffic 300 feet before the crosswalk; and 30-inch yellow pedestrian crosswalk signs had been placed at the crossing location for each direction of traffic with corresponding arrow signs pointing at the crosswalk.
A few months after Phipps’ death, UDOT added overhead lights that illuminated the street and flashing lights on the pedestrian crossing signs. St. Anne’s Center moved to a new location in 2015 and closed its old building on Binford Street.