Wilson v. Cnty. of San Joaquin

250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 563, 38 Cal. App. 5th 1
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal, 5th District
DecidedJuly 30, 2019
DocketC084895
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 563 (Wilson v. Cnty. of San Joaquin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal, 5th District primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wilson v. Cnty. of San Joaquin, 250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 563, 38 Cal. App. 5th 1 (Cal. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

HOCH, J.

*565*4Donald Wilson entered a plea of no contest on a charge of felony child abuse in connection with events culminating in the death on his infant son. He and his wife (plaintiffs) then sued several individuals and entities who undertook to provide lifesaving services for the infant, asserting causes of action for medical malpractice, professional negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

This appeal involves the trial court's grant of summary adjudication as to one of those causes of action (Second Cause of Action) against one of those defendants, San Joaquin County (the County). This cause of action sought to hold the County responsible for alleged negligence on the part of two firefighters employed by the City of Stockton (the City), who provided emergency medical services to the infant during his transport to San Joaquin General Hospital (the hospital).

The trial court concluded Government Code1 section 850.6 provided the County with immunity under these circumstances. We conclude this provision, which applies to "fire protection or firefighting" services ( § 850.6, subd. (a) ), does not apply to the emergency medical services provided by the firefighters in this case. We must therefore reverse the judgment.

BACKGROUND

The Infant's Death

On August 1, 2011, shortly before 10:00 p.m. (21:51), an American Medical Response (AMR) ambulance arrived at plaintiffs' house in Stockton. Inside the house, emergency medical technicians found plaintiffs' infant son in critical condition, with no pulse or heartbeat, not breathing, and unresponsive. They immediately started chest compressions and provided airway and ventilation intervention.

*5One minute later (21:52), one of the City's Fire Department units also arrived on scene. The infant was loaded into the ambulance and transported to the hospital. Two City firefighters, Brian C. Popoff and Jeff Whitlock, rode with him in the ambulance and performed various emergency medical procedures. Whitlock performed bag-valve mask ventilation using an airway device while one of the AMR paramedics continued chest compressions. The cardiac monitor in the ambulance revealed the infant's heart was in bradycardia, meaning it was beating at less than 60 beats per minute. Popoff performed an intraosseous (within bone) infusion into the infant's lower left leg after being unable to start an intravenous line. Whitlock also intubated the infant and Popoff administered epinephrine for the bradycardia, causing the infant's heart to elevate and peak at 160 beats per minute. The firefighters continued rescue breathing until their arrival at the hospital.

The infant was delivered to the hospital's emergency department at 10:04 p.m. (22:04). After he was determined to no longer be in cardiac arrest, emergency room personnel noticed bruises on his body. Dr. Douglas DeMartinis, M.D., the emergency room physician attending to the infant, ordered CT scans of the infant's head, chest, abdomen, and pelvis. The head scan revealed a subdural hematoma, meaning blood had collected outside the infant's brain. The chest scan revealed pulmonary parenchymal consolidation, meaning a portion of both lungs had filled with fluid. Possible causes included edema, pneumonia *566, aspiration, hemorrhage, and non-accidental trauma. Because of the latter possibility, law enforcement authorities were called.

About three hours after the infant was brought to the emergency room, he was air lifted to Sutter Medical Center in Sacramento, where he would die 10 days later. The coroner's report lists the cause of death as "[n]on-accidental trauma in a child" and notes the infant "was possibly shaken." The Stockton Police Department investigated the death as a homicide and the San Joaquin District Attorney's Office charged the infant's father, one of the plaintiffs herein, with four felony counts, including child abuse resulting in death. Eventually, in May 2012, the father entered a plea of no contest to felony child abuse.

The Present Lawsuit and Summary Adjudication

In October 2012, plaintiffs filed the present lawsuit against several individuals and entities who undertook to provide lifesaving medical services for the infant, asserting causes of action for medical malpractice, professional negligence, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The operative Third Amended Complaint was filed in March 2014.

*6As relevant to the issues raised in this appeal, plaintiffs' Second Cause of Action sought to hold the County responsible for medical malpractice and professional negligence allegedly committed by City firefighters Popoff and Whitlock. These firefighters responded to the scene of the emergency pursuant to an agreement between the City and the County authorizing the City's Fire Department to provide emergency medical services as part of the County's Emergency Medical Services system.

The County moved for summary adjudication of this cause of action.2 Citing section 850.6, the County argued it could not be held responsible for the conduct of City firefighters. We set forth the contents of this section in detail in the discussion portion of the opinion. For present purposes, we note it provides public entities receiving "fire protection or firefighting service" from another public entity with immunity from liability "for any act or omission of the public entity providing the service or for any act or omission of an employee of the public entity providing the service." ( § 850.6, subd. (a).) Plaintiffs opposed the motion, arguing the County is not entitled to immunity under section 850.6 because that section "specifically deals with fire protection or firefighting service" and City firefighters Popoff and Whitlock were providing "emergency medical services unrelated to ... fire protection and firefighting." In its reply memorandum, the County argued plaintiffs' reading of the statute is "hypertechnical." According to the County's reading of the provision, " '[f]ire protection' services is specific to the things firefighters do to protect the public from fires," and " 'firefighting service' encompasses all the other things firefighters do," including provision of emergency medical services.

*567The trial court granted the motion, noting plaintiffs had not cited "any authority which would clearly limit the effect of section 850.6 to services directly relating to fighting flames, rather than to a broader category of firefighting services which include the emergency treatment of persons by firefighting personnel." Thereafter, the trial court entered judgment in favor of the County. This appeal followed.

*7DISCUSSION

I

The County's Argument the Appeal Should be Dismissed

The County argues this appeal should be dismissed "because the order from which [plaintiffs] appeal is not an appealable order."3 We disagree.

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

Related

Alarcon v. The Avalon Management Group CA2/3
California Court of Appeal, 2026
Beecham v. City of Azusa CA2/7
California Court of Appeal, 2026
Hughes v. Target Corporation CA6
California Court of Appeal, 2025
Washington v. Burson CA1/1
California Court of Appeal, 2024
Godoy v. Linzner
California Court of Appeal, 2024
Wentworth v. Regents of the Univ. of Cal.
California Court of Appeal, 2024
BMO Harris Bank N.A. v. Hassanally CA1/1
California Court of Appeal, 2022
People v. Whittaker CA5
California Court of Appeal, 2022
Foley Investments v. Alisal Water Corp.
California Court of Appeal, 2021
Sorensen v. Lam CA4/3
California Court of Appeal, 2020

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
250 Cal. Rptr. 3d 563, 38 Cal. App. 5th 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wilson-v-cnty-of-san-joaquin-calctapp5d-2019.