Lipson v. Superior Court

644 P.2d 822, 31 Cal. 3d 362, 182 Cal. Rptr. 629, 1982 Cal. LEXIS 178
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedMay 17, 1982
DocketL.A. 31474
StatusPublished
Cited by155 cases

This text of 644 P.2d 822 (Lipson v. Superior Court) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lipson v. Superior Court, 644 P.2d 822, 31 Cal. 3d 362, 182 Cal. Rptr. 629, 1982 Cal. LEXIS 178 (Cal. 1982).

Opinions

Opinion

BIRD, C. J.

This case presents questions concerning the parameters of the common law fireman’s rule. The primary issue is whether the rule precludes a fireman, injured in the line of duty, from recovering damages from a party whose negligent or intentional misrepresentation of the nature of an emergency at a chemical manufacturing plant proximately caused the injury. Also at issue is whether the rule bars a fireman’s strict liability claim for damages for injuries proximately caused by a party’s maintenance of an ultrahazardous activity on the premises at which a fire, or other emergency, occurs.

I.

The facts, as alleged in the first amended complaint of real party, John Berger, are set forth below.

Petitioners own and operate a chemical manufacturing plant in Orange County, California. On January 17, 1979, while serving temporarily with the Orange County Fire Department, real party responded to a chemical boilover at petitioners’ plant. In attempting to contain the boilover, which was caused by petitioners’ negligence, real party suffered severe injury.

The first and third causes of action allege that real party’s injury was proximately caused either by petitioners’ negligent or intentional misrepresentation of the nature of the hazard presented by the boilover. Real party asserts that when he arrived at the plant, petitioners informed him that the boilover did not involve toxic chemicals or materials and that there would be no danger in attempting to contain the boilover. In fact, the boilover did involve toxic substances, and real party suffered injury because of his exposure to these toxic substances. This injury would not have been sustained, real party asserts, if petitioners had correctly informed him of the nature of the substances involved because he could and would have taken adequate measures to ensure his safety.

[366]*366The second cause of action alleges that real party’s injury was proximately caused by petitioners’ maintenance of an ultrahazardous activity — the manufacture of dangerous and toxic chemicals — on the premises where the boilover occurred.1 Accordingly, he asserts that petitioners are strictly liable for his damages.

Petitioners moved for summary judgment, arguing that real party’s causes of action were hatred as a matter of law by the fireman’s rule. In support of the motion, petitioners filed excerpts from real party’s deposition which established his status as a fireman at the time he responded to the boilover.

In opposition, real party contended that his misrepresentation and strict liability claims did not fall within the limited scope of the fireman’s rule as that rule has been applied in California. In the alternative, he argued that the fireman’s rule is an anachronism that should be completely abandoned.

The trial court denied petitioners’ motion for summary judgment. Petitioners then sought a peremptory writ of mandate to compel the trial court to grant the motion and to dismiss this action. The Court of Appeal issued an alternative writ, and after briefing and oral argument issued the peremptory \yrit requested. (See generally 5 Witkin, Cal. Procedure (2d ed. 1971) Extraordinary Writs, § 89, pp. 3865-3866.) This court granted real party’s petition for hearing.

II.

The first issue presented to this court by petitioners is whether the fireman’s rule precludes real party from maintaining his negligent and intentional misrepresentation claims. Real party asserts that his claims are not barred b^ the fireman’s rule since petitioners’ misrepresentation was a subsequent act of misconduct, distinct from any act or omission by petitioners that may have caused the chemical boilover. According to real party, the fireman’s rule only bars a firefighter from recovering for injuries resulting from a person’s negligence or recklessness in causing the fire o¡r other emergency which is the reason for the fireman’s presence. Decisions of the California courts applying the fireman’s rule demonstrate the correctness of this contention.

[367]*367California first considered and adopted the fireman’s rule in Giorgi v. Pacific Gas & Elec. Co. (1968) 266 Cal.App.2d 355 [72 Cal.Rptr. 119]. There, a forest fire resulted in the deaths of four firemen and caused bodily injuries to two others. In a joint action, plaintiffs alleged that defendant’s negligent maintenance of a pole and the wires thereon caused the blaze which resulted in the deaths and injuries. The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment for the plaintiffs holding that “a paid fireman has no cause of action against one whose passive negligence caused the fire in which he was injured.” (Id., at p. 360.)

Scott v. E. L. Yeager Constr. Co. (1970) 12 Cal.App.3d 1190 [91 Cal.Rptr. 232], extended the application of the fireman’s rule to prohibit a fireman from suing a person whose active negligence led to the fire that caused the fireman’s injuries. The Court of Appeal restated the fireman’s rule as follows; “[W]here the defendant’s negligence, whether active or passive, creates an apparent risk, which is of the type usually dealt with by firemen, and which is the cause of the fireman’s presence, and which is the direct cause of the fireman’s injury, the defendant is not liable to the fireman.” (Id., at p. 1199.)

In Scott, a fireman responded to a call that a gas main had been ruptured. When the gas escaping from the main ignited, the fireman sustained severe burns. In the trial court, the fireman recovered judgment for his damages based on the negligence of defendant’s employee in rupturing the gas main.

The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment. It held that plaintiff’s claim was barred as a matter of law by the fireman’s rule since defendant’s only misconduct was the negligent creation of the very hazard to which the fireman responded in the course of his duty. In reaching this decision, the court in Scott emphasized the narrowness of its holding. “We ... do not deal with . . . situations in which there is some hidden danger known to the defendant but not to the fireman, nor situations in which the fireman is injured as a result of some risk beyond those inevitably involved in firefighting. Neither do we deal with those situations in which the defendant’s negligence occurred after the fireman arrived on the scene and materially enhanced the risk of harm or created a new risk of harm. None of those situations are presented by the case at bench.” (Ibid.) The narrow fact situation in Scott involved a defendant whose negligence preceded and was responsible for a fireman’s presence at the moment the gas escaping from the main ignited.

[368]*368This court endorsed the fireman’s rule in Walters v. Sloan (1977) 20 Cal.3d 199 [142 Cal.Rptr. 152, 571 P.2d 609]. There, the court stated that “negligence in causing a fire furnishes no basis for liability to a professional fireman injured fighting the fire.” (Id., at p. 202.) Since firefighting is an occupation which by its very nature exposes firemen to particular hazards, firemen cannot complain of negligent or reckless conduct which forms the basis for their being summoned. (Ibid.)

In Walters, a policeman was injured while attempting to arrest an intoxicated and disruptive minor at a party at defendants’ residence.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Moore v. William Jessup University
243 Cal. App. 4th 427 (California Court of Appeal, 2015)
Gregory v. Cott
331 P.3d 179 (California Supreme Court, 2014)
Cabral v. Ralphs Grocery Co.
179 Cal. App. 4th 1 (California Court of Appeal, 2009)
Priebe v. Nelson
140 P.3d 848 (California Supreme Court, 2006)
Baldonado v. El Paso Natural Gas Co.
2008 NMCA 010 (New Mexico Court of Appeals, 2006)
Cornwell v. State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance
396 F. Supp. 2d 1020 (S.D. Iowa, 2005)
No. 01-55326
292 F.3d 1049 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Vasquez v. North County Transit District
292 F.3d 1049 (Ninth Circuit, 2002)
Renee J. v. Superior Court
118 Cal. Rptr. 2d 118 (California Court of Appeal, 2002)
City of Oceanside v. Superior Court
96 Cal. Rptr. 2d 621 (California Court of Appeal, 2000)
Calatayud v. State of California
959 P.2d 360 (California Supreme Court, 1998)
Rennenger v. Pacesetter Co.
558 N.W.2d 419 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1997)
Davis v. Consolidated Freightways
29 Cal. App. 4th 354 (California Court of Appeal, 1994)
Holland v. Crumb
26 Cal. App. 4th 1844 (California Court of Appeal, 1994)
Kelhi v. Fitzpatrick
25 Cal. App. 4th 1149 (California Court of Appeal, 1994)
Cohen v. McIntyre
16 Cal. App. 4th 650 (California Court of Appeal, 1993)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
644 P.2d 822, 31 Cal. 3d 362, 182 Cal. Rptr. 629, 1982 Cal. LEXIS 178, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lipson-v-superior-court-cal-1982.