Negligence

In Thing v. La Chusa (1989) 48 Cal.3d 644, the Supreme Court held that to state a claim as a bystander for negligent infliction of emotional distress suffered as a result of seeing injury to another person, the bystander plaintiff had, among other things, to be present at the scene of the accident when it occurs and be aware at… Read More

Summary judgment was improperly entered against plaintiff on claims for negligence and intentional tort arising from a violent collision between plaintiff and defendant during an adult "no check" ice hockey league game.  Plaintiff produced evidence that, if believed, showed that defendant had not only violated league rules but had intentionally injured plaintiff or engaged in conduct so reckless as to… Read More

Plaintiff, the tenant in a commercial building, was injured when his head struck a low beam at the entrance to an upstairs door and as a result he fell down the stairs.  This decision affirms a summary judgment for the landlord based on an exculpatory clause in the lease which absolved the landlord of liability for personal injuries suffered as… Read More

Plaintiffs alleged that defendant had agreed to cremate plaintiff's two dogs individually, but sent them random ashes rather than those of their dogs.  Plaintiffs sought to recover for the emotional distress they suffered as a result.  Held:  Plaintiffs didn't state a breach of contract claim as their vet, not they, had contracted with defendant, but on remand plaintiffs should be… Read More

Landowners could not invoke Civil Code 836 recreational use immunity to bar a personal injury action by a minor female who was injured riding her motorcycle on the landowners' motocross track because the landowners' 18-year old son who lived with them had invited the plaintiff onto the property to use the motocross track.  When a child of the landowner is… Read More

In this case, a pedestrian tripped and fell in a pothole located on city-owned property where the lip of a driveway and the gutter meet. The decision holds that the commercial business leasing the property that the driveway services did not exercise control over the location of the pothole (so as to create a duty of care to passersby) when… Read More

Assuming that long-distance, non-competitive bicycle riding is a sport to which the primary assumption of the risk doctrine applies, the County owed the cyclist a duty not to increase the inherent risks of that sports by failing to properly maintain its roads on which the cyclist traveled.  Imposing such a duty on the County would not significantly increase its burdens… Read More

Police officers owe a duty of care to a person they have arrested and taken into custody to assure that person's safety and well-being.  As the arrestee cannont care for himself, police must do so.  Here, the arrestee swallowed a large dose of drugs to keep the police from finding it as they searched him before the arrest.  He repeatedly… Read More

A landlord was not liable for the wrongful death of a hair dresser whose employer, a tenant in the property, had stored flammable hair treatment liquid on the premises, which ignited and incinerated the hair dresser/  The landlord had no actual or constructive knowledge that the employer was storing inflammable liquids on the premises and had no duty to investigate… Read More

Professional football players failed to allege a viable negligence claim against the NFL on a theory of negligence per se in distributing prescription pain killers and other drugs to enable injured players to continue competing.  The complaint did not allege facts showing that the NFL directly or indirectly supplied players with drugs or coordinated activities of clubs to do so,… Read More

A university does not owe a non-student a duty of care with respect to physical safety at unsponsored, unauthorized third party activities off-campus such as a fraternity party, even if the university exercises some minimal control through university policies and police patrols. Read More

Sheriff’s office could be sued for negligence after it voluntarily assumed the duty of searching for a missing biker but negligently delayed the search effort until the following morning, by which time the biker had died. Read More

Neither statutory nor common law imposed a duty of care on the YMCA to administer a heart defibrillator to a participant in a soccer league that rented one of the YMCA's fields when the participant suffered a heart attack while playing soccer.  Read More

Skier assumed the inherent risks of that sport and could not sue for ski patrol’s allegedly negligent rescue efforts from which she suffered further injuries. Read More

Defendant was entitled to summary judgment because it was the only party who obtained expert declarations on the elements of a standard of care and causation of damage, neither of which could be established solely from plaintiff’s own testimony. Read More

An employer-hired safety consultant owes employees a duty of care even if he does not assume all of the employer’s safety obligations to employees. Read More

Snowboarder who was injured when she ran into a snow cat pulling a "tiller" on an open ski run (when the snow cat failed to use its turn signal before slowly turning) had signed a release of claims including negligence, and there was no gross negligence present that would have allowed her to get around the release. Read More

The defendant store was properly awarded summary judgment in a slip-and-fall lawsuit when the plaintiff presented no evidence to show that there was anything on the floor or that it was wet or slippery. Read More

A hotel and restaurant owe a duty of care to its patrons to protect them against black widow spiders on the premises. 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