Immunity

A real estate broker whom the court appointed to determine the listing price and sell the property in a partition action is entitled to quasi-judicial immunity from one of the co-owner's claims for breach of fiduciary duty and other torts. The broker was appointed by the court for his expertise to carry out the court’s order to sell the property… Read More

The Legislature amended H&S Code 1799.102 after Van Horn v. Watson (2008) 45 Cal.4th 322 to extend the statutory immunity for Good Samaritans who render emergency medical or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an emergency.  For these purposes, H&S Code 1797.70 defines "emergency" to mean "a condition or situation in which an individual has a need for… Read More

A shopping center landlord was not entitled to immunity from an independent contractor's personal injury suit under Privette v. Superior Court (1993) 5 Cal.4th 689 because the landlord did not hire the contractor.  A shopping center tenant did.  Also, the landlord did not delegate to the tenant the landlord's responsibility for maintaining in safe condition the portion of the premises… Read More

The Feres doctrine (Feres v. United States (1950) 340 U.S. 135, 146) which holds that the Government is not liable under the [FTCA] for injuries to servicemen where the injuries arise out of or are in the course of activity incident to military service does not immunize a general or the Government from liability for the general's alleged sexual assault… Read More

Langford, a CHP officer, killed Silva's son while speeding to respond to an emergency call.  Langford was statutorily immune from liability under Vehicle Code 17004, but the CHP was not.  Gov. Code 815.2(b) immunizes a government entity when its employee is immune except as "otherwise provided by law."  Vehicle Code 17001 otherwise provides, making an entity liable for death or… Read More

A plaintiff who accomplishes no more than to defeat a defendant’s motion for qualified immunity is not entitled to attorney’s fees pursuant to § 1988(b), because the plaintiff has not yet prevailed on any claim. Read More

Plaintiff's complaint alleged a viable Sherman Act section 1 antitrust conspiracy among dentist members of the Dental Board of California to harass and intimidate plaintiff which sought to engage in a disruptive new direct to consumer model of marketing clear dental aligners to members of the public.  The members of the dental board were not immune from antitrust liability merely… Read More

Plaintiff was injured while jogging across defendant's property while in training to run a marathon.  This case holds that jogging for that purpose is a use of the property for a recreational purpose, and so Civ. Code 846 immunized the owner of the property from liability for plaintiff's injuries. Read More

Plaintiff owner of a gated residential community sued defendant, a private water company, for repeated failures of a 12-inch water main that defendant constructed at plaintiff's request to serve two fire hydrants in the development as well as the domestic water needs of the residents.  This decision affirms the defense judgment.  The inverse condemnation claim failed because the water main… Read More

Indian tribes and their business entities are entitled to tribal immunity from suit in state court.  However, the tribe's officers and employees may not invoke tribal immunity if the suit seeks to recover damages or other relief from them individually.  Tribal judges, however, are entitled to common law judicial immunity from suit for actions taken in their official role as… Read More

A bicyclist was killed when he collided with a truck making a right turn in a section of a city street that lacked a marked bicycle lane, unlike most of the rest of the street which had a bike lane marking.  The city established the three elements of its design immunity defense under Gov. Code 830.6.  The city had approved… Read More

The trial court properly dismissed this personal injury suit by a bicyclist against Orange County under Gov. Code 831.4 which provides government entities absolute immunity from suit for injuries sustained while engaged in bike riding or while on a bike trail.  Plaintiff was injured when he rode his bike into a fence separating two parts of a bike trail.  The… Read More

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (47 USC 230(c)(2)) grants immunity from liability to an interactive service provider for providing the means of restricting access to materials that are of a violent or sexual nature or is “otherwise objectionable.” This decision holds that "otherwise objectionable" is not broad enough to encompass software that is objectionable only because it is… Read More

A governmental entity is immune from suit for the conduct of its employees or agents which could constitute a tort only if done by the governmental entity itself, in this case an abuse of process suit based on its employees and agents allegedly misuse of discovery in a civil action to audit the plaintiff's records for unclaimed property. Read More

By failing to raise it in the trial court, the defendant tribe waived its sovereign immunity defense as to an equipment rental agreement under which attorney fees had been awarded to the plaintiff. Read More

Defendant city government is immune from liability for accidents caused by police vehicular pursuits if it has promulgated a suitable written pursuit policy and requires annual training and certification by all officers that they have received, read, and understood the policy; the officers need not have actually signed the required certifications. Read More

Community college is not immune from liability to a student on a visiting community college team who suffers an injury on the defendant college's playing fields. Read More

Civilians are entitled to worker’s compensation, but not tort recovery, for injuries suffered while assisting law enforcement in responding to 911 call. Read More

In order to claim design immunity, a public entity does not need to show that the employee who approved the challenged design actually considered the safety feature that plaintiff claims should have been included in the design and then omitted it; rather it only needs to show substantial evidence supporting the design’s reasonableness. Read More

Under the Government Code’s “trail immunity” provision, the City of Pasadena was immune from plaintiff’s negligence claims after he slid over an unguarded ten-foot retaining wall while trying to reach a pedestrian trail in the middle of the night. Read More