California Court of Appeal

In plaintiff's suit against a city for sustaining serious injuries when his motorcycle collided with a dump truck owned and operated by a defendant, trial court's judgment in favor of the plaintiff is affirmed as to jury's finding of liability with respect to the defendant-driver, but reversed and remanded in jury's finding of vicarious liability with respect to the city where: 1) the trial court erred by misinstructing the jury about the factors relevant to determining whether the defendant was an employee or an independent contractor, allowing the jury to find that the work in which the defendant was engaged involved a peculiar risk of harm, and instructing the jury that the city was the motor carrier as a matter of law; and 2) substantial evidence did not support the jury's finding that defects in the dump truck's brakes were a proximate cause of the accident

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/01/2010
• Published 07/01/2010

Judges

• SUZUKAWA, J.

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Stephen S. Talt, Robert S. Gerstein