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West v. Sundance Development Co.6/27/1991
Sundance Development Company (Sundance) has appealed from a $650,000 personal injury judgment in favor of Billie Jane West. The accident occurred on a dirt road known as Whispering Pines Drive which was located within the Solitude Pines Subdivision of Gila County near Pine, Arizona. Sundance was the developer of the subdivision and shortly after it acquired land, it rough-cut the road through the forest so that workers and the sales people had access to the subdivision.
Prior to 1985, Sundance prepared plans and specifications for the subdivision and
submitted those documents to Gila County for approval. Among the proposals contained in the plans and specifications was a promise by Sundance to develop Whispering Pines Drive in conformity with county standards. In light of that promise, Gila County approved the Sundance plans and recorded its plat.
Also prior to 1985, Sundance filed a mandatory Arizona subdivision public report pursuant to A.R.S. §§ 32-2181 and 32-2183. Among its representations in that recorded document were: (1) Sundance would provide all-weather road access to all subdivision lots; (2) Sundance would construct all public roads on or adjacent to the subdivision in conformance with minimum Gila County standards for paved roads; (3) Sundance would build all streets within the subdivision in accordance with the minimum standards of Gila County; and (4) Sundance would surface all the subdivision streets with asphalt by August 15, 1985.
Prior to 1985, Sundance did nothing more than blade the road on occasion and remove large pieces of rock from the roadway. At some point long before West's accident in 1987, Sundance stopped maintaining the road at all.
On December 9, 1985, Sundance granted Gila County a written "permit for access" to the subdivision for the purpose of performing courtesy blading and road maintenance through the winter of 1985-1986. The permit identified Sundance as the owner of the property and it was granted to the county after the roads were dedicated by the filing of the approved plat. This permit was also expressly contingent upon Sundance holding and saving Gila County free from damages.
Gila County continued its occasional courtesy blading of Whispering Pines Drive even after the permit for access expired. In fact, the county bladed the road within a day before West's accident.
Sundance was always aware that its road did not meet minimum county standards. It also knew that although numerous people in the area were using the rough-cut roadway, there were no signs, warnings, or other restrictions advising the public that Whispering Pines Drive was hazardous and not in compliance with county standards.
Because Sundance failed to perform the promises of its dedication, Whispering Pines Drive was never accepted into the Gila County road system.
West lived in a subdivision of Gila County which was adjacent to Solitude Pines Subdivision. Whispering Pines Drive was one of the roads she could travel to and from her house. On the evening of March 31, 1987, she had organized and attended a chamber of commerce dinner in Strawberry, Arizona. She arrived sometime after 6 p.m. and departed for home at approximately 9 p.m. Between 7 and 9 p.m. she drank two glasses of white wine with her dinner. The glasses could hold up to six ounces of liquid, but each was only two-thirds full of wine and she had also added two or three spoonfuls of ice to each glass. The accident occurred on the way home from the dinner when the car which West was driving
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