California Court of Appeal

In this personal injury case in which plaintiff alleges that defendant gas company failed to properly supervise, secure, operate, maintain, or control the electrical substation next door to plaintiff's home, which allowed uncontrolled stray electrical currents to enter the home, the jury found in favor of plaintiff on her claims for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), negligence, and nuisance, and awarded her both compensatory and punitive damages. The judgment is reversed as to the IIED and negligence claims and the case is remanded for retrial on the nuisance claim, where: 1) the California Public Utilities Commission has not exercised its authority to adopt a policy regarding the issues in this lawsuit, and therefore does not have exclusive jurisdiction over plaintiff's claims; 2) plaintiff failed to present sufficient evidence to support her IIED and negligence claims, or to support a punitive damages award; and 3) the verdict on the nuisance claim cannot stand because the trial court refused to give defendant's proffered instruction regarding causation of plaintiff's physical symptoms, and therefore the jury relied upon irrelevant evidence in determining that claim.

Appellate Information

• Decided 02/09/2015
• Published 02/09/2015

Judges

• Willhite

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel