Molina v. Hot Wheels Trucking CA4/3

Filed 1/9/26 Molina v. Hot Wheels Trucking CA4/3

NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS

California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

DELIA MOLINA,

Plaintiff and Appellant, G064771

v. (Super. Ct. No. 30-2022- 01255732) HOT WHEELS TRUCKING, INC., OPINION Defendant and Respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Sandy N. Leal, Judge. Affirmed. Law Offices of Timothy J. Donahue and Timothy J. Donahue for Plaintiff and Appellant. Lagasse Branch Bell + Kinkead, Zubin Farinpour, Rafayel Aslanyan and Jeffrey Tsao for Defendant and Respondent.

Plaintiff Delia Molina challenges the grant of summary judgment for defendant Hot Wheels Trucking, Inc. on her wrongful death and employment-related claims based on her late husband Eduardo’s work for Hot Wheels.1 She contends there were triable issues on whether the company caused Eduardo’s death and whether he was an employee, rather than an independent contractor. She fails to show any error in the ruling. We affirm the judgment. FACTS After Eduardo died of COVID-19 complications, Delia sued Hot Wheels, asserting wrongful death, related claims, and various Labor Code violations. She alleged the company negligently caused Eduardo to contract the illness and misclassified him as an independent contractor. During discovery, Hot Wheels served 35 special interrogatories seeking all facts supporting Delia’s claims. Delia responded with 35 identical responses, consisting of blanket objections and the following statement: “Defendants cause[d] the wrongful death of Eduardo Molina. Death resulted from dangerous and wrongful conduct of defendants, in defendant’s workplace. Defendants also failed and refused to pay wages and benefits.” Hot Wheels moved for summary judgment, contending Delia had no evidence it had negligently caused Eduardo to contract COVID-19 and the undisputed evidence showed he had been an independent contractor. Hot Wheels presented evidence that Eduardo owned and operated his own truck, was paid per load, set his own hours, could accept or decline work, and maintained his own business license. It claimed the evidence satisfied the