Casaccia v. Green Valley Disposal Co.

Opinion

BROWN (H. C.), J.

Appellant’s husband, an employee of the Green Valley Disposal Company, Inc., was injured, allegedly due to the negligent operation and maintenance of the garbage truck on which he was working. He suffered disabling injuries, and appellant, in this action, sought damages for loss of consortium. Her complaint was dismissed following the sustaining of a general demurrer.

*

Until the decision of the Supreme Court in

Rodriguez

v.

Bethlehem Steel Corp.

(1974) 12 Cal.3d 382 [95 Cal.Rptr. 623, 486 P.2d 151], a wife in California had no right to recover damages for loss of consortium in a case where her husband was injured, although she could recover for this damage in a wrongful death action. In

Rodriguez,

however, the Supreme Court overruled its prior decisions precluding a wife’s recovery, carefully explaining why the reasons underlying its earlier decision to the contrary no longer obtained.

[612]

Plaintiff, in the instant case, argues that the Supreme Court’s recognition of a cause of action in the wife allows her to pursue this cause of action against an employer where the injury to the husband is compensable under workers’ compensation. The Third District of the Court of Appeal has decided not. “The question is not whether Mrs. Williams’ loss of consortium is compensable, but whether it may be pursued by means of a damage action in the courts of general jurisdiction. Labor Code section 3600 . . . declares that where the conditions of compensation exist, the employer’s liability to pay compensation is in lieu of liability ‘to any person.’ This broad provision bars Mrs. Williams’ attempt to fasten liability for tort damages on the employer.

(Gillespie

v.

Northridge Hosp. Foundation,