Zavala v. Regents of the University of California

Opinion

WOODS, J. Plaintiff appeals from a judgment in favor of defendants following a jury trial on his action for personal injuries. The bifurcated trial was on the issue of liability only. The jury rendered a special verdict, finding that defendants were negligent and that plaintiff was guilty of wilful misconduct, and apportioned liability 80 percent to plaintiff and 20 percent to defendants. The trial court found that wilful misconduct on the part of the plaintiff barred recovery against the defendants, who were guilty of only ordinary negligence, and entered judgment in favor of defendants. We have concluded that, applying the doctrine of comparative negligence, the trial court should have allowed the matter to proceed to trial on the issue of damages and assessed to plaintiff 20 percent of any damages awarded.

Appellant also cites as error the instruction of the jury on the issue of wilful misconduct, contending that the evidence is insufficient to support a finding of wilful misconduct on the part of the plaintiff.

[618]I

The facts as reflected by the record, and not as distorted by the appellant’s opening brief, are as follows:

On January 21, 1977, plaintiff was a 23-year-old lumber company employee. That evening, he and a friend went to a party on the campus of UC Santa Cruz. On the way to the party, they bought a six-pack of beer, and appellant drank two or three of those beers before they arrived on campus. They went to the room of a friend in the campus dormitory, and appellant had with him a bottle of beer and a pint bottle of apricot brandy. In the room, their friend offered them marijuana and the three men smoked about two pipes full. They then went to a student párty on another floor of the dormitory, sponsored by the resident assistant and the preceptors of the dormitory. Beer was served from a keg, and appellant drank six cups of beer from that keg. Appellant also drank from his bottle of apricot brandy, which by the end of the evening was approximately three-quarters empty.

A second keg of beer was produced, and appellant drank an unknown number of glasses of beer from that second keg. At approximately 1:30, appellant and some friends went to a student’s room located on the fourth floor of the dormitory. After a few minutes, appellant asked directions to the restroom and was told that it was across the hall. He did not go to the restroom, but went outside through a door marked “exit” at the end of the hall. Appellant recalls that he went out for fresh air, feeling as if he needed to vomit.