Cuevas v. Truline Corp.

Opinion

RUBIN, Acting P. J .

Denise Cuevas, through her guardian ad litem Anna Cuevas, and John and Anna Cuevas appeal from the dismissal of their negligence claim against Truline Corporation and Jose Leonidas Martinez. We reverse and remand.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

In October 1997, appellant Denise Cuevas was a passenger in a car being driven by David Thomas Garcia, Jr. Garcia ran a stop sign, and a big rig tractor trailer plowed into the car. Cuevas suffered catastrophic brain injuries, leaving her incompetent. Cuevas and her parents, appellants John and Anna Cuevas, sued Garcia and the owners of the car he was driving, Jose and Nora Sauceda, for negligence. They also sued the big rig’s owner, respondent Truline Corporation, and its driver, respondent Jose Leonidas Martinez, for negligence.

The Cuevases offered to settle with Garcia and the Saucedas for the $30,000 limits of their auto liability policies. The insurers rejected the offer, following which Garcia and the Saucedas sued the insurers for bad faith. Because resolution of the bad faith suit required a judgment against Garcia and the Saucedas in the underlying negligence lawsuit

(Hamilton v. Maryland Casualty Co.

(2002) 27 Cal.4th 718, 725-726 [117 Cal.Rptr.2d 318, 41 P.3d 128]), they and the Cuevases agreed to arbitrate their liability for negligence. The arbitrator found Garcia was 99 percent responsible for the accident. Because Garcia was the Saucedas’s agent and they gave Garcia permission to drive their car, they were vicariously liable to the same degree. The arbitrator also found that respondents Truline Corp. and Martinez, neither of whom participated in the arbitration, were 1 percent responsible. Despite the

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arbitrator’s finding of divided responsibility, the arbitrator awarded appellants $14,500,000 in damages against only Garcia and the Saucedas. The court entered the arbitrator’s award against Garcia and the Saucedas as its judgment.

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More than a year later, respondents Truline and Martinez moved for summary judgment. Asserting there was no evidence Martinez contributed to the accident because he was not speeding and had the right of way, they laid blame for the accident squarely on Garcia for running the stop sign. The Cuevases opposed summary judgment. They argued Martinez contributed to the accident by not being sufficiently observant to have seen, and thus avoided, Garcia as he ran the stop sign. In support, the Cuevases noted two other cars avoided hitting Garcia’s car when he ran the stop sign.