Justia California Court of Appeals Opinion Summaries

Johnson sued automotive parts manufacturers for injuries alleged to have been caused by secondary exposure to asbestos or asbestos-containing materials, claiming that he suffered exposure from asbestos contamination brought into his home by his father, a mechanic, and from asbestos released from the mechanical components during times he visited his father at work. The defendant manufacturers argued that Johnson did not have and could not obtain evidence that he or his father were exposed to asbestos from their products. The court of appeal affirmed summary judgment in favor of the defendants. Johnson had no personal knowledge that he or his father were exposed to asbestos from defendants’ products. The potential product identification witnesses named by Johnson either could not be located or had no knowledge that Johnson or his father were exposed to asbestos from defendants’ products. View "Johnson v. ArvinMeritor, Inc." on Justia Law

Haniff was employed as a delivery truck driver when he was injured in a motor vehicle accident while unloading packages from his parked truck on the Stanford campus. According to Haniff, an automobile owned by Kim and parked by Hohman, a Stanford University employee, rolled down a hill and struck Haniff. As a result of the accident, Haniff sustained multiple fractures of his right femur and pelvis and underwent surgery. He has not returned to work and filed a personal injury complaint naming Hohman, Kim, and Stanford University as defendants. During the course of discovery, defendants successfully sought an order compelling Haniff to undergo a vocational rehabilitation examination by their vocational expert. Haniff challenged the order by filing a petition for writ of mandate in the court of appeal, arguing that a defense vocational rehabilitation examination is not one of the six methods of civil discovery expressly authorized by Code Civ. Proc., 2016.010. The court of appeal agreed and vacated the order. Whether a defense vocational rehabilitation examination should be an available discovery method as a matter of fundamental fairness where the plaintiff seeks compensatory damages for wage loss and loss of earning capacity is better addressed to the Legislature. View "Haniff v. Superior Court" on Justia Law

Plaintiffs-appellants Gail Lynn (Mrs. Lynn), individually and as executor of the Estate of Brian Griffin Lynn (Mr. Lynn), and Randy Lynn, (son) appealed the grant of summary judgment entered in favor of defendant-respondent Tatitlek Support Services, Inc. (TSSI) in a wrongful death action. The sole question raised on appeal was whether TSSI’s temporary employee, Abdul Formoli, was acting within the scope of his employment when he caused an automobile accident killing Mr. Lynn and seriously injuring Mrs. Lynn. Plaintiffs argued the “going and coming” rule, precluding employer vicarious liability, did not apply because of the nature of Formoli’s employment preceding the accident. Because of the remoteness of the jobsite, Formoli’s employment required him to undertake a lengthy commute home, after working long hours, over three and a half days. Plaintiffs argued that under such circumstances there was a triable issue of material fact as to whether an exception to the “going and coming” rule applied. After review, the Court of Appeal concluded plaintiffs failed to present evidence supporting exceptions to the going and coming rule. Therefore, the Court affirmed the trial court's judgment. View "Lynn v. Tatitlek Support Services, Inc." on Justia Law

Jane Doe, a minor, was sexually abused by Fabrizio, her former soccer coach. Fabrizio, who had a prior conviction for battery against his spouse, pleaded no contest to continuous sexual abuse of a child and lewd and lascivious acts on a child under age 14, and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison. Jane Doe sued, alleging negligence and willful misconduct against the United States Youth Soccer Association, the California Youth Soccer Association, and West Valley Youth Soccer League. The trial court dismissed on the ground that the defendants had no duty to protect plaintiff from criminal conduct by a third party. The court of appeals reversed, holding that the defendants had a duty to conduct criminal background checks of all adults who would have contact with children involved in their programs. The court noted that the defendants knew that Fabrizio had violated rules and engaged in inappropriate conduct, but had not notified the parents and had allowed Fabrizio to continue to have access to the plaintiff. View "Doe v. United States Youth Soccer" on Justia Law

Plaintiff was injured after a motorcycle crash with defendant Aram Tonakanian, who was driving a green and white taxi marked with United's insignia. After the jury found that Tonakanian was United's agent, but not an employee, the trial court granted United's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict (JNOV) under Code of Civil Procedure 629. The court reversed the trial court's order and reinstated the jury's verdict, concluding that California law does not preclude consideration of controls required by public regulations in finding an agency relationship. In this case, viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff, the court concluded that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to support a jury finding that Tonakanian was United's agent and United was vicariously liable for Tonakanian's acts. View "Secci v. United Independent Taxi Drivers" on Justia Law

After Leigh Anne Flores injured plaintiff in an auto accident, plaintiff filed suit against Flores and Pacific Bell, her employer, for damages. Flores was driving a van Pacific Bell had furnished to her, but that she used for both business and personal purposes. The trial court found Pacific Bell, who self-insured the van, was not vicariously liable for Flores's actions because she was not acting in the course and scope of her employment at the time of the accident. In a subsequent arbitration involving only plaintiff and Flores, plaintiff was awarded over half a million dollars by the arbitrator. Geico, Flores's personal insurer, refused to pay the judgment. Plaintiff then filed suit against Geico, alleging breach of contract, bad faith, and declaratory relief. The trial court granted summary judgment for Geico. The court concluded that, under the circumstances here, because Flores was able to use the van for both business and personal purposes, and her personal use of the van at the time of the accident was not a departure from its customary use, the van was furnished to Flores for her regular use and there is no coverage under the GEICO policy. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Medina v. GEICO Indemnity" on Justia Law

Plaintiff was injured during a high school football game and was provided ambulance services by defendant. Plaintiff filed suit alleging that the standby ambulance crew was grossly negligent in not properly assessing his condition and immediately transporting him to the hospital in the standby ambulance. The trial court granted defendant's motion for summary judgment. The court denied judicial notice of a court record by defendant because it was not relevant or necessary to the resolution of the appeal; the trial court did not abuse its discretion in sustaining defendant's objections to the challenged portions of an expert's declaration; plaintiff failed to demonstrate that he raised a triable issue of material fact on the issue of causation and the court found no reversible error; and the court denied defendant's motion for sanctions, finding that the appeal was not so obviously lacking in merit that any reasonable attorney would agree it was totally and completely without merit. Accordingly, the court affirmed the judgment. View "Sanchez v. Kern Emergency Medical Transportation Corp." on Justia Law

After the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal of plaintiffs-appellants William and Linda Hensley from a nonappealable stipulated judgment pursuant to a settlement agreement, the Hensleys and defendant-respondent San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E) entered into an amended stipulated judgment that they asserted constituted a final disposition of all of their claims. They contended the amended stipulated judgment was final and appealable in that it was entered to facilitate an appeal following the trial court's adverse in limine determination of a critical issue: the Hensleys' legal ability to recover damages for William's emotional distress on trespass and nuisance causes of action arising from a wild fire that damaged their house and property. The Court of Appeal concluded the amended stipulated judgment was final and appealable and, with respect to the trespass and nuisance claims only, was not advisory. On the merits, the Court held the Hensleys were legally entitled to present evidence of William's emotional distress on their claims for trespass and nuisance as annoyance and discomfort damages recoverable for such torts. Because the trial court excluded evidence of emotional distress damages in their entirety, the Court reversed. View "Hensley v. San Diego Gas & Electric Co." on Justia Law

In 2013, a golf ball struck Miguel Leyva in the eye while he and his wife, Socorro Leyva, walked along a public path adjacent to the Bonita Golf Club. The Leyvas appealed summary judgment entered in favor of Crockett and Company, Inc., the owner and operator of the Club. The Leyvas contended Crockett was not entitled to summary judgment because the immunities designated in Government Code section 831.41 and Civil Code section 846 did not apply to their tort claims. After review, the Court of Appeal concluded section 831.4 barred their action, therefore affirming the trial court’s judgment. View "Leyva v. Crockett & Co." on Justia Law

This matter arose from Whitney Engler's use of a medical device, the "Polar Care 500," manufactured by Breg, Inc. (Breg) and prescribed by David Chao, M.D. Engler suffered injuries as a result of her use of the Polar Care 500, and she brought various tort claims against Chao, his medical group Oasis MSO, Inc. (Oasis), and Breg, among others. At trial, the jury considered Engler's claims for medical malpractice, design defect (under theories of negligence and strict liability), failure to warn (also under theories of negligence and strict liability), breach of fiduciary duty, intentional misrepresentation, and intentional concealment. With a few exceptions, the jury generally found in favor of Engler, and against the defendants, on these claims. The jury awarded $68,270.38 in economic compensatory damages and $5,127,950 in noneconomic compensatory damages to Engler. It allocated responsibility for Engler's harm: 50 percent to Chao, 10 percent to Oasis, and 40 percent to Breg. The jury made findings of malice, oppression, or fraud as to each defendant on at least one claim. In the punitive damages phase of trial, the jury awarded $500,000 against Chao and $7 million against Breg. The jury declined to award any punitive damages against Oasis. Breg, Chao, Oasis, and Virginia Bigler-Engler, as administrator of Engler's estate, appealed, raising numerous challenges to the judgment. In the published portions of its opinion, the Court of Appeal considered: (1) whether Engler's counsel committed prejudicial misconduct during trial; (2) whether the jury's awards of noneconomic compensatory damages and punitive damages were excessive; (3) whether the evidence supported the jury's verdict against Breg for intentional concealment in the absence of a transactional relationship between Breg and Engler (or her parents); (4) whether Oasis fell within the medical provider exception to the doctrine of strict products liability; (5) whether Breg was entitled to an instruction on the learned intermediary doctrine; (6) whether the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act of 1975 (MICRA) and Proposition 51 applied to the jury's verdict; and (7) whether Engler's pretrial settlement offer under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 complied with the statute. In the unpublished portions of the opinion, the Court considered additional challenges to the sufficiency of the evidence, the trial court's jury instructions, and the trial court's evidentiary rulings. After review, the Court of Appeal reversed the judgment in part, concluding the jury's verdict as to several claims was not supported by the evidence, including Engler's intentional concealment claim against Breg and her strict products liability claim against Oasis. In light of this reversal of Engler's intentional concealment claim against Breg, the jury's punitive damages award against Breg had to be reversed too. Furthermore, the Court concluded the jury's award of noneconomic compensatory damages and the jury's award of punitive damages as to Chao were indeed excessive. Those awards were reversed and remanded for a new trial unless Bigler-Engler accepted reductions in those awards to $1,300,000 and $150,000 respectively. In all other respects, the judgment was affirmed. View "Bigler-Engler v. Breg, Inc." on Justia Law