FRANKIE ANTOINE VS. DOES 1 TO 10

Matter on the Law & Motion / Discovery calendar for Tuesday, September 16, 2025, Line 6. DEFENDANT WAYMO LLC's DEMURRER to COMPLAINT.

Defendant Waymo LLC's demurrer to plaintiff Frankie Antoine's complaint is sustained with leave to amend.

Antoine pleads a motor vehicle negligence cause of action against Waymo. He asserts that he was driving while working for "Transdev-Waymo-Google" and that he was "rear ended by [a] hit & run driver." The court takes this to assert negligence by the hit-and-run driver, but any contention he has that Waymo was negligent is not clear.

Moreover, the "California's Workers' Compensation Act (Lab.Code, section 3600 et seq.) provides an employee's exclusive remedy against his or her employer for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment." (Melendrez v. Ameron Internat. Corp. (2015) 240 Cal.App.4th 632, 638 [citation simplified].) If he is suing Waymo as his employer for injuries that occurred in the course of his employment, workers' compensation is his exclusive remedy.

Antoine has not opposed the demurrer and it is not clear that granting leave to amend would be futile. The court grants leave to amend; any amendment must be filed within 20 days of notice of entry of this order.

For the 9:00 a.m. calendar, all attorneys and parties may appear in Department 301 remotely or in person. Remote hearings will be conducted by videoconference using Zoom. (Dept. 301 Zoom ID 161 502 4290; Passcode 700956.) To appear remotely at the hearing, go to the court's website at sfsuperiorcourt.org under "Online Services," navigate to "Tentative Rulings," and click on the appropriate link, or dial the corresponding phone number.

Any party who contests a tentative ruling must send an email to contestdept301tr@sftc.org with a copy to all other parties by 4pm stating, without argument, the portion(s) of the tentative ruling that the party contests. The subject line of the email shall include the line number, case name and case number. The text of the email shall include the name and contact information, including email address, of the attorney or party who will appear at the hearing.

Counsel for the prevailing party is required to prepare a proposed order which repeats verbatim the substantive portion of the tentative ruling and must email it to contestdept301tr@sftc.org prior to the hearing even if the tentative ruling is not contested.