Opinion ID: 1221995
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: CAARP's Common Law Obligations.

Text: (5) Plaintiff contends that, regardless of the presence or absence of any statutory obligations, CAARP owed a common law duty of care toward plaintiff and all other members of the motoring public. Plaintiff's reasoning is that CAARP was obligated to take affirmative steps to assure that incompetent drivers such as Warkentin would be denied liability insurance, thereby inhibiting their desire to drive. A failure to take such steps, it is urged, constitutes the breach of a general duty of care owed to all those who, in reasonable anticipation, might be adversely affected by the breach. Given the various policy considerations discussed above, however, we cannot agree with such a contention. The general principles applicable in such situations were recently expressed by us as follows: [W]hen the avoidance of foreseeable harm requires a defendant to control the conduct of another person, or to warn of such conduct, the common law has traditionally imposed liability only if the defendant bears some special relationship to the dangerous person or to the potential victim. ( Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California (1976) 17 Cal.3d 425, 435 [131 Cal. Rptr. 14, 551 P.2d 334]; see Weirum v. RKO General, Inc. (1975) 15 Cal.3d 40, 48-49 [123 Cal. Rptr. 468, 539 P.2d 36]; Rest.2d Torts, § 315.) Plaintiff has cited no authority, and we are aware of none, which suggests that an insurer (or other person to whom an application for insurance is tendered) either stands in a special relationship with the applicant or his potential victims, or alternatively owes any affirmative duty of inquiry or disclosure regarding the applicant. (See Matthias v. United Pacific Ins. Co., supra, 260 Cal. App.2d 752, 755-756 [no special relationship between liability insurer and either insured or victim of insured's negligence].) Plaintiff urges that such a special relationship with the general motoring public arises from the quasi-public nature of the agency charged with administering the state's assigned risk plan. As we have seen, however, the applicable statutes do not expressly create any such distinctive connection or duty of care. Assuming without concluding that the defendant, statutorily authorized, is a public (or quasi-public) agency, that fact alone is an insufficient basis upon which to predicate a common law duty to the motoring public in general, or to plaintiff in particular. (See, e.g., Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California, supra, 17 Cal.3d 425, 444 [police officers have no special relationship or duty of care to either the tortfeasor or his victim].) Thus, either on statutory or common law grounds, we conclude that plaintiff's complaint failed to state a cause of action against CAARP for its failure to inquire regarding Warkentin's ability to operate a motor vehicle, or to reject Warkentin's application, or to notify the DMV thereof.