Opinion ID: 1177228
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Darryl's Cause of Action

Text: (5a) Darryl, incorporating the allegations of LaNita's cause of action by reference, alleges that he was born on June 5, 1976. He was seated next to his mother when she was shot by Stephen. She threw herself over him thereby saving his life and preventing serious physical injury to him, but, as a result of the attack he has suffered serious emotional injuries and psychological trauma. Darryl alleges that because it was foreseeable that Stephen's threats, if carried out, posed a risk of harm to bystanders and particularly to those in close relationship to LaNita, petitioners' duty extended to him, and that this duty was breached when they failed to act to protect LaNita and such foreseeable individuals. Because Darryl commenced his action before his eighth birthday, the action was filed within the period expressly allowed by section 340.5, and was not barred by section 340 since the limitation period was tolled during his minority (§ 352). The demurrer to his cause of action asserted only that, and may be sustained only if, the allegations failed to state a cause of action because petitioners owed him no duty. Petitioners claim that because Stephen made no threat against Darryl, and they had no duty to warn him of the threat against LaNita, his complaint fails to state a cause of action in negligence. (6) Duty is primarily a question of law in which the foreseeability of risk to another is the principal consideration. ( Weirum v. RKO General, Inc. (1975) 15 Cal.3d 40, 46 [123 Cal. Rptr. 468, 539 P.2d 36].) (7) Although foreseeability is most often a question of fact for the jury, when there is no room for a reasonable difference of opinion it may be decided as a question of law. ( Bigbee v. Pacific Tel. & Tel. Co. (1983) 34 Cal.3d 49, 56 [192 Cal. Rptr. 857, 665 P.2d 947].) (5b) The question here is whether a therapist who negligently fails to fulfill his duty to warn an identifiable potential victim that a patient has threatened violence may be liable not only to the person against whom the threat is made, but also to persons who may be injured if the threat is carried out. [7] We need not decide here whether a duty exists as to all bystanders who might be injured, the foreseeability of such injury is not before us. The question posed by Darryl's claim is narrower because there can be no reasonable difference of opinion that the risk of harm to him was foreseeable. Foreseeability therefore exists as a matter of law. ( Bigbee v. Pacific Tel. & Tel. Co., supra, 34 Cal.3d 49, 56.) Darryl was both foreseeable and identifiable as a person who might be injured if Stephen assaulted LaNita. The conclusion that a young child injured during a violent assault on his mother may state a cause of action under Tarasoff as a foreseeable and identifiable potential victim is compelled by Dillon v. Legg (1968) 68 Cal.2d 728 [69 Cal. Rptr. 72, 441 P.2d 912, 29 A.L.R.3d 1316]. In Dillon, a mother alleged that she was present when the defendant, driving negligently, ran over and killed her young child, and that she suffered emotional trauma and physical injury as a result. (8), (9) Noting that [i]n the absence of `overriding policy considerations ... foreseeability of risk [is] of ... primary importance in establishing the element of duty' [citations] (68 Cal.2d at p. 739), we stated: In determining, in such a case, whether defendant should reasonably foresee the injury to plaintiff, or, in other terminology, whether defendant owes plaintiff a duty of due care, the courts will take into account such factors as the following: (1) Whether plaintiff was located near the scene of the accident as contrasted with one who was a distance away from it. (2) Whether the shock resulted from a direct emotional impact upon plaintiff from the sensory and contemporaneous observance of the accident, as contrasted with learning of the accident from others after its occurrence. (3) Whether plaintiff and the victim were closely related, as contrasted with an absence of any relationship or the presence of only a distant relationship. (68 Cal.2d at pp. 740-741.) We found in Dillon that all three factors were present, observing: Surely the negligent driver who causes the death of a young child may reasonably expect that the mother will not be far distant and will upon witnessing the accident suffer emotional trauma. (68 Cal.2d at p. 741.) (5c), (10) (See fn. 8.) It is equally foreseeable when a therapist negligently fails to warn a mother of a patient's threat of injury to her, and she is injured as a proximate result, that her young child will not be far distant and may be injured or, upon witnessing the incident, suffer emotional trauma. [8] Nor is it unreasonable to recognize the existence of a duty to persons in close relationship to the object of a patient's threat, for the therapist must consider the existence of such persons both in evaluating the seriousness of the danger posed by the patient and in determining the appropriate steps to be taken to protect the named victim. In the analogous circumstance of a physician who treats a patient suffering from a communicable disease it is well established that the physician's breach of his duty to warn or protect others from the danger posed by the patient may result in liability to close family members and others who the practitioner knows or should anticipate will be in close proximity to the patient. (See, e.g., Wojcik v. Aluminum Co. of America (1959) 18 Misc.2d 740 [183 N.Y.S.2d 351, 357-358]; see also Davis v. Rodman (1921) 147 Ark. 385 [227 S.W. 612, 13 A.L.R. 1459]; Hofmann v. Blackmon (Fla.App. 1970) 241 So.2d 752; Skillings v. Allen (1919) 143 Minn. 323 [173 N.W. 663, 5 A.L.R. 922]; Jones v. Stanko (1928) 118 Ohio St. 147, 152 [160 N.E. 456].) This court, too, has recognized that because a negligent misdiagnosis of a communicable disease may foreseeably cause injury to close members of the patient's family, the physician's duty extends to them. ( Molien v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, supra, 27 Cal.3d 916, 923.) The possibility of injury to Darryl if Stephen carried out his threat to harm LaNita was no less foreseeable than the harm to the mother in Dillon v. Legg and to the husband in Molien. We conclude, therefore, that in alleging his age and relationship to LaNita, and defendants' negligent failure to diagnose and/or warn LaNita of the danger posed by Stephen, Darryl has stated a cause of action. [9] The alternative writ is discharged, and the petition for writ of mandamus is denied.