Court Opinion

ID: 9551212
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:49:21.286902+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:20.128094
License: Public Domain

MOSK, J.
I dissent.
While the majority’s analysis determines what the law probably should be, it does not comport with what the law presently is.
Plaintiffs filed a complaint for damages arising from injuries sustained by plaintiff Edwin Weinrot at the hands of defendants. The complaint contained a cause of action asserted by plaintiff I. J. Weinrot and Son, Inc., Edwin Weinrot’s employer, seeking recovery of salary paid to him while he was unable to perform his usual duties, reimbursement for amounts paid for his medical expenses, and lost business profits. This claim is based on Civil Code section 49, subdivision (c) (hereinafter section 49(c)), which gives an employer a cause of action for “[a]ny injury to a servant which affects his *342ability to serve his master . . . .” Edwin Weinrot’s injury is not within the coverage of the workers’ compensation law.
Under the well settled approach to the construction of statutes, section 49(c) would be interpreted to give any employer a cause of action for damages resulting from injuries to any of his employees caused by the conduct of a third party. Even if it is granted for argument’s sake that the provision is an “antique statute” and “a law ‘archaic and isolated in the context of the laws of the federal union’ ” (Offshore Rental Co. v. Continental Oil Co. (1978) 22 Cal.3d 157, 168 [148 Cal.Rptr. 867, 583 P.2d 721]), its language remains clear and unambiguous. “It is a settled principle in California law that ‘When statutory language is thus clear and unambiguous there is no need for construction, and courts should not indulge in it.’” (In re Waters of Long Valley Creek Stream System (1979) 25 Cal.3d 339, 348 [158 Cal.Rptr. 350, 599 P.2d 656]; accord, Solberg v. Superior Court (1977) 19 Cal.3d 182, 198 [137 Cal.Rptr. 460, 561 P.2d 1148].) If the statute is believed to be unwise, comment should be directed to the Legislature, not to the court.
Even under the approach adopted by the majority, the employer should retain his cause of action. In the light of certain events that occurred in 1939, section 49(c) cannot properly be treated as merely the codification of the common law action per quod servitium amisit.
In that year, apparently to conform the laws governing personal relations to contemporary standards, the Legislature made changes in former section 49 and added a new section, Civil Code section 43.5, as a companion provision. Section 49 was amended to eliminate an action for “the abduction or enticement of a wife from her husband.” In addition, the action for “seduction of a wife, daughter, orphan sister, or servant” was modified to forbid only “the seduction of a person under the age of legal consent.” Section 43.5 was added specifically to abolish actions for alienation of affections, criminal conversation, seduction of a person over the age of legal consent, and breach of promise to marry. Most significant for our purposes, the Legislature completely eliminated the predecessor of section 49(c)— apparently concluding that both the common law rule and its premise that domestic servants were quasi-chattels did not suit contemporary views and conditions.
On May 10, 1939, Governor Culbert L. Olson signed into law the legislation amending former section 49 and adding section 43.5. (Stats. 1939, *343ch. 128, § 1, p. 1245.) Two days later, however, he sent a message to the Legislature recommending that it correct certain defects he found in this legislation, including its elimination of the predecessor of section 49(c). He explained, “In addition it may be that further consideration should be given to the elimination of [this provision], [f] In workmen’s compensation cases an express right of subrogation is given to an employer for compensation paid by him to an employee for damages caused by a third party. However, all employment relations are not subject to the workmen’s compensation law and it may well be that the effect of the removal of this [provision] will be more far reaching than was intended.” (Governor’s Recommendation to Assem. and Sen. that Assem. Bill No. 1699 be amended (May 12, 1939) 1 Assem.J. (1939 Reg. Sess.) p. 2086.) By July 25, 1939, the Legislature had enacted and the Governor had signed section 49(c) in its present form. (Stats. 1939, ch. 1103, § 5, p. 3037.)
Precisely what the Legislature meant by adopting section 49(c) is difficult to determine. Yet it seems safe to conclude that it did not intend simply to reenact the common law rule. It is hard to believe that the Legislature so suddenly and radically changed its mind on the desirability of the common law action per quod servitium amisit—especially in view of the fact that the Governor’s message, which was plainly the precipitating cause of the enactment, did not even mention the issue. Rather, the Legislature seems to have intended to provide a cause of action at least for employers who do not have “an express right of subrogation” under the workers’ compensation law. This is the gap, the Governor pointed out, that was created by the elimination of the predecessor of section 49(c). The current version of section 49(c) was enacted in response to that message, and should therefore be read as filling the gap in question.1
In sum, although section 49(c) may not be treated as the mere codification of the action per quod servitium amisit, it should be taken at least as giving an employer a cause of action when he has no statutory right of subrogation. Because plaintiff I. J. Weinrot and Son, Inc., has no subrogation right, it has a cause of action under this statute.
*344Although the foregoing conclusion may appear debatable as a matter of policy, it is mandated by the wording and history of the statute. I would reverse the judgment.
Bird, C. J., concurred.

Substantially the same conclusion can also be reached by a different route. In Darmour Prod. Corp. v. H. M. Baruch Corp. (1933) 135 Cal.App. 351, 352-353 [27 P.2d 664], the court construed the predecessor of section 49(c) as providing any employer with a cause of action for damages arising from injuries to any of his employees caused by the conduct of a third party. In enacting section 49(c), the Legislature reenacted the very words of its predecessor. “[W]hen the Legislature enacts a law ‘framed in the identical language’ of a previous law on the same subject, it is presumed that the new law has the same fundamental meaning as the old law.” (State of South Dakota v. Brown (1978) 20 Cal.3d 765, 774 [144 Cal.Rptr. 758, 576 P.2d 473], quoting Los Angeles Met. Transit Authority v. Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (1960) 54 Cal.2d 684, 688-689 [8 Cal.Rptr. 1, 355 P.2d 905].)