Opinion ID: 523618
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Security Guard

Text: 18 Under the FTCA the United States may be liable for the performance of activities private persons do not perform. Wright v. United States, 719 F.2d 1032, 1034 (9th Cir.1983). It is difficult to analyze the United States' liability for actions involving unique governmental functions by simply considering the potential liability of private citizens under state law. In such cases this court has sought to determine what liability state law attaches to similar activities undertaken by analogous entities subject to its jurisdiction. Gallea, 779 F.2d at 1407 (Kennedy, J., concurring). This was the method adopted in Louie v. United States, 776 F.2d 819, 825 (9th Cir.1985) in which we said that the law enforcement function of military police requires that liability be determined by analogy to state and municipal entities. 19 Public entities in California are liable for injuries of the kind sought to be avoided by the enactment of a mandatory duty. Cal.Gov't Code Sec. 815.6. 2 A public entity is defined to include the State, the Regents of the University of California, a county, city, district, public authority, public agency, and any other political subdivision or political corporation in the State. Cal.Gov't Code Sec. 811.2. While the courts of California have not decided whether a police department is a public entity under section 811.2, the Ninth Circuit has concluded that a police department is a public entity. Shaw v. California Dep't of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 788 F.2d 600, 60405 (9th Cir.1986) (reasoning that because the California Supreme Court has decided that a police department is a public entity within the meaning of section 200 of the California Evidence Code, Peterson v. City of Long Beach, 24 Cal.3d 238, 244, 155 Cal.Rptr. 360, 363, 594 P.2d 477, 480 (1979), it would also find a police department is a public entity under Cal.Gov't Code Sec. 811.2). Doggett's complaint thus raises the question whether an agent of a municipal or state law enforcement entity would have a duty to prevent an intoxicated driver from driving on public highways. 3 20 California courts have recognized that certain enactments create a mandatory duty upon law enforcement officers under Cal.Gov't Code Sec. 815.6. See Sullivan v. City of Sacramento, 190 Cal.App.3d 1070, 1080, 235 Cal.Rptr. 844, 847, 848-49 (1987) (generally explaining the rationale of section 815.6 but holding that Sullivan, who sued for negligent infliction of emotional distress when a police dispatcher verbally abused her while she was being burglarized and raped, had not sufficiently alleged violation of a specific regulation); Lehto v. City of Oxnard, 171 Cal.App.3d 285, 292-93, 217 Cal.Rptr. 450 (1985) (holding that allegations of negligence based on a failure to follow state statutory and decisional law and city enactments, regulations and customs were insufficient because no specific enactment was alleged to have been violated) 4 ; Green v. City of Livermore, 117 Cal.App.3d 82, 172 Cal.Rptr. 461 (1981). In Green, officers stopped a drunk driver but neglected to follow mandatory procedures requiring that they remove the keys from the car. Id. at 90-91, 172 Cal.Rptr. at 465. One of the inebriated passengers drove off in the car and had an accident; the court determined that liability could be imposed for the subsequent injuries because of the officers' failure to comply with a mandatory regulation. Id. Despite a retreat from the dicta in Green discussing police officers' general duty to the public, see Harris, 157 Cal.App.3d at 107, 203 Cal.Rptr. at 545, to the extent Green relies on section 815.6 as the source of the officers' duty, it remains the law in California. See Lehto, 217 Cal.Rptr. at 454 (what remains of Green then is its reliance on section 815.6 to relieve a plaintiff from pleading the existence of a special relationship). 21 We must now determine whether the naval base regulation relied on by Doggett meets the standard for creating a mandatory duty by an enactment within the meaning of Cal.Gov't Code Sec. 815.6. The regulation fully set out in footnote 1, supra, indicates that military personnel are under a mandatory duty to detain an intoxicated marine and report him to the Security Office for referral to the Station Dispensary. WPNSTASB Instruction 5510.1 Ch. 7, 7-1-1. The regulations require that [n]o person determined to be under the influence shall be released without escort, and shall not be allowed to drive until determination of sobriety is made. Id. Sec. 7-1-1a. (3). Doggett has alleged the violation of a specific enactment, and thus has avoided the stricture of Sullivan and Lehto and has brought himself under the controlling principle of Green, if the military regulation is in fact an enactment within the meaning of section 815.6. 5 22 Liability under section 815.6 is found only if three required elements are present. Posey v. State, 180 Cal.App.3d 836, 848, 225 Cal.Rptr. 830, 838 (1986). First there must be an enactment which imposes a mandatory, not discretionary, duty. Second, the enactment must be intended to protect against the kind of risk of injury suffered by the individual asserting liability under section 815.6. Finally, the breach of the mandatory duty must be a proximate cause of the injury suffered. Id. (citations omitted; emphasis in original). 23 The threshhold question is whether the regulation meets the statutory requirements of an enactment as defined in section 811.6. The regulation at issue is an enactment of the United States Navy adopted by the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station and incorporated into the Base Security Manual pursuant to authority vested by 32 C.F.R. Sec. 700.1150(b). The regulation thus has the force of law because it was promulgated pursuant to authorization to implement security regulations enforced or administered by the promulgator. See Posey, 180 Cal.App.3d at 849, 225 Cal.Rptr. at 838. The Seal Beach Security Regulations are not an informal guide or recommended procedure or policy manual, see id., but rather are regulations with the force of law. 24 We turn to the first element required for imposing liability under section 815.6, whether there is a mandatory duty. The question of whether an enactment is intended to impose a mandatory duty is a question of interpretation for the courts and the intent is determined from a reasonable construction of the statutory language. Sullivan v. City of Sacramento, 190 Cal.App.3d 1070, 1080, 235 Cal.Rptr. 844, 849 (1987). The regulation here creates a mandatory duty because the duty to detain intoxicated service personnel is obligatory, not permissive. See Posey, 180 Cal.App.3d at 848, 225 Cal.Rptr. at 838. The regulation says that persons thought to be under the influence shall be detained, and although the word shall does not always create an obligatory rather than permissive obligation, see Stout v. City of Porterville, 148 Cal.App.3d 937, 947 n. 5, 196 Cal.Rptr. 301, 307 n. 5 (1983), we think it does in this case. Of course the obligatory duty to detain only arises when naval personnel have reason to believe someone is under the influence of alcohol because of appearance, actions or behavior. WPNSTASB Instruction 5510.1, Sec. 7-1-1. We express no opinion as to the possibility that Doggett can prove this duty actually arose when the guard allowed Gorman to leave the base. 25 We also think the second element is satisfied because this regulation is intended to protect against the kind of risk of injury suffered by Doggett, who asserts liability under section 815.6. Although the regulation indicates that the welfare and protection of the intoxicated person is of primary concern, id. Sec. 7-1-1a. (3), the regulations as a whole reflect a concern that intoxicated persons not be permitted to drive vehicles on or off base, id., Sec. 7-1-1b. (2). 26 We also think that if the guard had reason to know that Gorman was under the influence, his failure to follow the regulation creating a mandatory duty to detain an intoxicated service person was a proximate cause of the accident that occurred some twenty minutes later, and thus the third element set out by the Posey court is satisfied. California courts consistently note that proximate cause is legal cause, as distinguished from the laymen's notion of actual cause, and is always, in the first instance, a question of law. State v. Superior Court of Sacramento County, 150 Cal.App.3d 848, 857, 197 Cal.Rptr. 914, 920 (1984) (citations omitted). Proximate cause is that cause which, in natural and continuous sequence, unbroken by any efficient intervening cause, produced the injury ... and without which such result would not have occurred. Id. Ultimately the determination of whether a particular negligent act is the proximate cause of a resulting injury is a question of fact for the jury. Myers v. Quesenberry, 144 Cal.App.3d 888, 895, 193 Cal.Rptr. 733, 737 (1983); 4 Witkin, Summary of California Law: Torts, Sec. 621, at 2903 (8th ed. 1974 & Supp.1984). 27 When the performance of a mandatory duty would not necessarily have altered the course of events, California courts have found the breach of duty was not the proximate cause of the injury. See, e.g., Superior Court of Sacramento County, 150 Cal.App.3d at 857, 197 Cal.Rptr. at 920 (real estate commissioner's failure to investigate complaints concerning real estate licenses not the proximate cause of licensee's unlawful appropriation of funds because even if commissioner had investigated he would not necessarily have imposed sanctions that would have prevented plaintiff's losses); Whitcombe v. Yolo County, 73 Cal.App.3d 698, 707-08, 141 Cal.Rptr. 189, 194-95 (1977) (County's alleged breach of duty to present reports about a probationer to the court did not proximately cause injuries of the probationer's assault victims because the court would not necessarily have revoked probation even if it had received the reports). However, when performance of a mandatory duty would have altered the course of events, the breach of duty may be a proximate cause of injury. See, e.g., Morris v. Marin County, 18 Cal.3d 901, 907-11, 136 Cal.Rptr. 251, 255-57, 559 P.2d 606 (1977) (county's failure to require employer seeking a building permit to file certificate of workmen's compensation insurance created liability for a worker's uncompensated injuries); Sullivan v. Los Angeles County, 12 Cal.3d 710, 117 Cal.Rptr. 241, 527 P.2d 865 (1974) (breach of mandatory duty to release prisoner when criminal action dismissed created liability for damages to unreleased prisoner). We conclude that if the guard had reason to believe Gorman was under the influence the guard had no option but to detain him and prevent him from driving until a determination of sobriety was made. WPNSTASB Instruction 5510.1, Sec. 7-1-1a. (3). Under those circumstances whether the alleged breach of a mandatory duty was a proximate cause of Doggett's subsequent injuries is a question properly to be resolved by the jury. 28 In sum, we conclude that the base regulation defines the standard of conduct of the security guard because his function is analogous to that of a police officer and liability may therefore be imposed on the United States to the extent it would be on a state or municipal entity. See Louie, 776 F.2d at 825. The complaint should not have been dismissed insofar as it was predicated on the conduct of the security guard.