SALINAS >> The California 6th District Court of Appeal recently upheld a decision in favor of the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula — SCRAMP — and Monterey County, that ended the legal fight brought about by a man who was injured in an accident at the Laguna Seca racetrack.

The State Court of Appeal affirmed Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills’ decision that found Monterey County — owner of WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca — was not responsible for the 2015 motorcycle crash at the track.

On March 14, 2015, Daniel Kim was riding his motorcycle on Laguna Seca Raceway during a track rental day, which allows riders and drivers to use the track during non-event time periods.

Kim, like all riders at Laguna Seca, signed a waiver and release acknowledging the dangers of high-speed driving and agreeing not to sue. However, waivers such as this are not valid if the driver can show gross negligence by the track owner contributed to the injuries.

On that day, Kim struck a row of sandbags that were in place in an area away from the track in order to keep debris and runoff from moving onto the track surface, and he lost control of his motorcycle. Kim sustained serious injuries and later filed suit against Monterey County and Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula, the nonprofit organization that was managing the track at the time, saying the sandbags were a hazard.

In April 2022, the court found there was neither gross negligence nor ordinary negligence by Monterey County or the Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula and that Laguna Seca had met all safety standards for the activity on the track.

In his ruling in favor of Monterey County, Judge Wills noted that the sandbags, which were in place to keep the track surface safe, were reasonable measures and that their location was in an area a rider was unlikely to encounter them. Wills also noted in his 22-page decision that crashing while riding a motorcycle, on or off the track, is an inherent risk that riders take.

Kim appealed the judgment in favor of SCRAMP and Monterey County on his claims of dangerous condition of public property and gross negligence.

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

On Sept. 20, 2022, the trial court filed its notice of entry of judgment denying relief for Kim. Kim filed a motion for new trial, which the trial court denied. This appeal followed.

“On appeal, Kim contended 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),” said the California 6th District Court of Appeal ruling in part. “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.”

The court of appeal concluded that Kim had not shown reversible error as to any of his claims and on Nov. 8, 2024, in an unanimous 45-page decision, the California Court of Appeal affirmed Judge Wills’ decision.