R22 Discussion Group

Ben,
She should have left the bastard to burn. No nice deed ever goes  unpunished. 

Rummy

In a message dated 12/22/2008 11:36:26 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
bcittadino at dcs-law.com writes:

In  the Spirit of the Christmas Season (sarcastic reference) I thought I  
would
reprint this blurb that came across my desk today. Frankly, although  I
practice law as a plaintiff's trial lawyer I think this is a bad  decision,
based upon a flawed interpretation of a statute that was passed  in order to
encourage people to render assistance in an emergency. I am,  quite frankly,
appalled that the Court would be so short-sighted as to  ignore the long term
public policy good intended by the statute in favor of  a misguided attempt
to find money to aid this one victim.  

To  be fair, I haven't read the decision (only the blurb below), and I  hope
there's more to it than appears in the brief summary.  

It  won't stop me, and I expect it won't stop most of you, from rendering  aid
in an emergency but the decision is a troubling one the say the  least:

"CALIFORNIA HIGH COURT ALLOWS SUIT AGAINST GOOD  SAMARITAN
The California Supreme Court ruled 4-3 last Thursday that the  state's
immunity from liability for emergency help doesn't apply to  ordinary
citizens coming to the rescue. The ruling, Van Horn v. Watson et  al., allows
Lisa Torti to be sued by Alexandra Van Horn, a friend whom  Torti pulled from
a crashed car she feared would explode, allegedly causing  or worsening
injuries that left Van Horn permanently paralyzed. The state  law, which bars
suits against anyone who "in good faith, and not for  compensation, renders
emergency care at the scene of an emergency," does  not distinguish between
types of emergency care, but the majority said the  context shows it was
meant to be limited to medical care."

Ben  C.

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Hard Cases Make Bad Law- Rendering Aid in an Emergency.