California Court of Appeal

In plaintiff's wrongful death suit against the defendant, arising from an accident where a pickup truck driven by plaintiff's deceased husband collided with a tractor-trailer driven by defendant's employee, a jury verdict for plaintiff is reversed and remanded where: 1) as a matter of law, the employee owed no duty to the decedent to avoid stopping in the emergency parking area; 2) the employee's negligence did not proximately cause the accident, and notwithstanding the conclusion that the record does not contain substantial evidence that the employee's negligent act or omission caused plaintiff's injuries, plaintiff cannot recover against defendant based on the facts in the record as a matter of public policy; and 3) the trial court erred in admitting the testimony of plaintiff's expert on causation and as such, the evidence is insufficient to support the verdict.

Appellate Information

• Decided 11/10/2009
• Published 11/10/2009

Judges

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• Bell, Orrock & Watase, Stanley Orrock;  Greines, Martin, Stein & Richland, Timothy T. Coates and Lillie Hsu, for Defendant and Appellant., Shernoff Bidart Darras Escheverria, Frank N. Darras, Lissa A. Martinez, Ontario;  Donahue and Horrow and Michael B. Horrow, El Segundo, for Plaintiff and Respondent.