State of California ex rel. Department of Transportation v. Superior Court

Opinion

CALDECOTT, P. J. Petitioner, the State of California, seeks a writ of mandate, writ of prohibition or “other appropriate remedy” directing respondent superior court to vacate its discovery order of August 29, 1979, compelling production of traffic accident reports and data which petitioner claims are privileged. This court issued an order to show cause and ordered a stay of the discovery order.

On January 24, 1977, plaintiffs (real parties in interest) filed a complaint for personal injuries and damages arising from an automobile accident on State Route 17 in Hayward, California, in which a 1974 Volkswagen van, driven by plaintiff Thomas F. Thomsen, rear ended a 1974 Chevrolet van stalled in a lane of the highway. Named as defendants were the driver of the Chevrolet van, companies charged with maintenance of the Chevrolet, the manufacturer of the Volkswagen and the State of California. Liability of petitioner was predicated on allegations that State Route 17 was in a dangerous condition in that there was “an insufficient emergency lane adjacent to the center roadway driver-barrier, immediately west of the northbound No. 1 lane.” Petitioner answered the complaint on July 29, 1977.

The request for discovery was made on August 31, 1978, and resulted in the order at issue here. Ordered produced were the following;

1. TASAS accident retrieval computer printouts reflecting traffic or motor vehicle accident data on State Route 17 in the area beginning from five miles north to five miles south of the location of the accident for the past five years.

[282]. Documents of prior accidents prepared by the California Highway Patrol for a period of five years in the above location.

3. Any other documents or writings in petitioner’s control relating to the same location and time period as the reports above.

Real parties in interest contend that paragraph “3” of the order specifically includes the accident reports themselves. The order further provided that petitioner could delete or obliterate from the reports the names of the individuals involved.

I

Petitioner contends that the documents and the information therein are privileged under the Vehicle Code. Section 20008 of that code provides in part that “[t]he driver of a vehicle... involved in any accident resulting in injuries to or death of any person shall within 24 hours after the accident make or cause to be made a written report of the accident to the Department of the California Highway Patrol or.. .the police department of the city in which the accident occurred.” Section 20009 provides that supplemental reports may be required of the driver or of witnesses to the accident. Section 20010 provides for reports by . an occupant of the vehicle if the driver is physically incapable and section 20011 provides for a coroner’s report. The confidentiality of these reports is provided for in section 20012 which reads: “All required accident reports, and supplemental reports, shall be without prejudice to the individual so reporting and shall be for the confidential use of the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of the California Highway Patrol, except that the Department of the California Highway Patrol or the law enforcement agency to whom the accident was reported shall disclose the entire contents of the reports, including, but not limited to, the names and addresses of persons involved in, or witnesses to, an accident, the registration numbers and descriptions of vehicles involved, the date, time and location of an accident, all diagrams, statements of the drivers involved in the accident and the statements of all witnesses, to any person who may have a proper interest therein, including, but not limited to, the driver or drivers involved, or the legal guardian thereof, the parent of a minor driver, the authorized representative of a driver, or to any person injured therein, the owners of vehicles or property damaged thereby, persons who may incur civil liability, including liability based upon a breach of warranty aris