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Duty of Care

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Shipp v. Western Engineering, Inc. (2020)

A contractor repairing a highway owes a duty of care to motorists using the highway.  The duty of care extends to protecting motorists from dangers on property adjacent to the repairs the contractor is performing.  See Ray v. Silverado Constructors (2002) 98 Cal.App.4th 1120, 1134; Thirion v. Fredrickson & Watson Construction Co. (1961) 193 Cal.App.2d 299, 304-305,  Here, the contractor… Read More

Murray v. UPS Capital Ins. Agency, Inc. (2020)

Generally, an insurance agent owes only a regular agent's duties of reasonable care, diligence, and judgment in procuring the insurance requested by an insured.  However, an insurance agent may assume a greater duty to the insured when one of the following three exceptions arise: “(a) the agent misrepresents the nature, extent or scope of the coverage being offered or provided,… Read More

Hanouchian v. Steele (2020)

A sorority did not owe a duty of care to guests of its off-campus party to protect them from assault and battery by uninvited persons crashing the party.  The measures that plaintiff claimed the sorority should have taken to prevent the harm--hiring private security personnel and maintaining and enforcing an invited guest list--were highly burdensome.  To justify that degree of… Read More

University of Southern California v. Superior Court

by Jan T. Chilton |

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

Jabo v. YMCA of San Diego County

by Jan T. Chilton |

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

Novak v. Continental Tire North America

by Jan T. Chilton |

Only damages proximately caused by the defendant’s tort are recoverable; here, that principle barred recovery for wrongful death in 2011 from a second accident to which injuries sustained due to defendant’s 2004 tort allegedly contributed. Read More

Regents of the University of California v. Superior Court

by Jan T. Chilton |

A college owes its students a duty of care to protect them from foreseeable harm (here, an attack by a mentally troubled student) in the classroom during a college course, since students are dependent on their colleges for a safe environment and colleges have a superior ability to provide that safety for activities and facilities under their control. Read More

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