Court Opinion

ID: 9782414
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 18:30:41.298986+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:12:25.002405
License: Public Domain

KENNARD, J., Dissenting.
Civil Code section 3333.4, an initiative measure that the voters passed in 1996, precludes uninsured motorists who are injured in accidents from recovering noneconomic damages for their pain and suffering.1 In Day v. City of Fontana (2001) 25 Cal.4th 268 [105 Cal.Rptr.2d 457, 19 P.3d 1196] (Day), a majority of this court applied that provision against two public entities that failed to correct or warn of a dangerous condition on public land. I disagreed and joined Justice Stanley Mosk’s dissent. Today, relying on Day, the majority applies section 3333.4 in an action against private contractors responsible for a dangerous property condition. Again, I dissent.
The front tire of plaintiffs motorcycle caught on a three-inch high elevated lip of a bus pad defendants built on Bundy Drive at Santa Monica Boulevard for the City of Los Angeles. The motorcycle slipped and plaintiff fell on his kneecap. The majority bars recovery for the pain and suffering plaintiff experienced from the injury. But as Justice Mosk pointed out in Day, the voters who enacted section 3333.4 “did not intend to limit damages for injuries to motorists based on a dangerous condition of property . . . .” (Day, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 283 (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.).)
Drawing on this court’s earlier decision in Hodges v. Superior Court (1999) 21 Cal.4th 109 [86 Cal.Rptr.2d 884, 980 P.2d 433] (Hodges), Justice Mosk explained in Day that the voters’ intent in enacting section 3333.4 was “to resolve inequities involving the allocation of costs between motorists who carry automobile liability insurance and motorists who do not.” (Day, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 285 (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.).) “The former—scofflaw uninsured motorists—are held accountable as both a punishment and incentive” by the limitation on damages; “the latter—motorists who obey the financial responsibility laws—are the beneficiaries” because they are relieved of paying noneconomic damages for injuries to uninsured motorists. (Ibid.) *232Justice Mosk also noted that in Hodges this court “found nothing in [section 3333.4’s] ballot materials suggesting ‘that such punishment or incentive was also intended—or should be permitted—to benefit’ other defendants ‘not reasonably included among “those who play by the rules” or “take personal responsibility” or “pick up the tab” for the “skyrocketing] ” costs of automobile insurance.’ ” (Day, supra, at p. 285 (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.).)
I agreed with Justice Mosk’s dissent in Day that it “followed] ineluctably from our analysis in Hodges” that liability for a dangerous condition on public property did not come “within the purview of Civil Code section 3333.4.” (Day, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 285 (dis. opn. of Mosk, J.).) Public entities that fail to maintain a safe roadway and do not “contribute to the relevant insurance pool” are not “among those who ‘play by the rules’ or ‘take personal responsibility’ or ‘pick up the tab’ for skyrocketing automobile insurance costs.” (Ibid.) Justice Mosk also stressed that public policy was better served by fully “[compensating the victims of injuries caused by unsafe design or maintenance of public streets” because doing so would “operate [] as a strong incentive for cities and counties to prevent or abate dangerous conditions, thus minimizing risks to the public.” (Day, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 285.)
So too in this case in which the duty to prevent or abate a dangerous condition on property fell to private contractors rather than public entities. The majority’s holding here weakens the incentive for such contractors to protect the motoring public from dangerous roadway conditions that the contractors themselves have created. Furthermore, the majority’s holding is contrary to the voters’ intent in enacting section 3333.4’s limitation on damages. Accordingly, I dissent.

Further undesignated statutory references are to the Civil Code.