Damages Provisions
AB 2365 (Lieu) Veterans affairs: administration. This bill permits a service member to recover actual damages, reasonable attorney's fees, and costs from any person who violates specified rights and protections of the Military and Veterans Code. This bill also grants service members an expedited review of a specified petition for relief, and provides that a court shall not charge a filing fee or court costs for specified actions. Status: Chapter 385, 2010.
AB 2496 (Nava) Cigarette and tobacco products: Master Settlement Agreement. This bill amends several provisions of California's Cigarette and Tobacco Products Licensing Act, the Tobacco Products Tax Law, and other statutes as they relate to the obligations of tobacco manufacturers who were not original signatories to the agreement or who have not agreed to the terms of the Master Settlement Agreement (
AB 2740 (Niello) Civil action: damages. This bill would have limited punitive damages to three times the amount of compensatory damages in tort actions, where it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant has been guilty of oppression, fraud, or malice, instead of continuing to allow courts to determine compensatory and punitive damages. This bill also would have created a new "government standards defense" in tort actions for manufacturers, distributors and sellers. Status: Failed, Asm. Jud.
SB 53 (DeSaulnier) Tobacco settlement moneys: Master Settlement Agreement. This bill authorizes the Attorney General to negotiate amendments to the Master Settlement Agreement, a structured settlement agreement between 46 states (including California) and various tobacco manufacturers, that would not materially adversely alter, limit or impair the rights to receive tobacco assets or in any way materially impair the rights and remedies of bondholders or the security for their bonds. Status: Chapter 28, 2009.
Immunity and Scope of Liability
AB 83 (Feuer) Torts: personal liability immunity. This bill revises California's "Good Samaritan" law to establish that no person who in good faith and not for compensation renders emergency medical or nonmedical care or assistance at the scene of an emergency shall be liable for civil damages resulting from any act or omission, other than an act or omission constituting gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct. In addition, this bill grants broader immunity to specified medical, law enforcement, and emergency personnel who in good faith, and not for compensation, render emergency medical or nonmedical care at the scene of an emergency, providing that such personnel shall not be liable for any civil damages resulting from any act or omission whatsoever. Status: Chapter 77, 2009.
AB 90 (Adams) Torts: personal liability immunity. As introduced, this bill proposed and would have enacted changes to California's "Good Samaritan" law that were substantially similar to those already contained in AB 83. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
AB 142 (Hayashi) Automatic external defibrillators (
AB 226 (Ruskin) Coastal resources: California Coastal Act of 1976. As heard by this Committee, this bill would have imposed a minimum penalty and increased the maximum penalty for violations of the California Coastal Act, allowed the Coastal Commission to impose administrative civil penalties for violations of the Coastal Act, and required it to consider specified factors in determining the amount of civil liability. The bill was later amended in the Senate to address an unrelated issue. Status: Vetoed.
AB 630 (Salas) Immunity: dentistry volunteers. As heard by this committee, this bill would have provided qualified immunity from liability for professional negligence or malpractice to retired dental professionals who in good faith provide dental care on a volunteer basis to persons who are members of dentally underserved populations, as defined, or who live in dentally underserved areas, as defined. The bill was later amended in the Assembly to address an unrelated issue. Status: Dead, Asm. Rules.
AB 634 (Harkey) Hazardous recreational activities: SCUBA diving. This bill adds self-contained underwater breathing apparatus (SCUBA) diving to the list of hazardous recreational activities of which public entities and public employees, under existing law, are generally not liable to persons participating in such activities. As a result, this bill provides a qualified immunity for public entities and public employees from damages for injuries sustained by those divers on public property. Status: Chapter 73, 2010.
AB 804 (Hall) Invasive aquatic species: mussels. This bill would have removed an operator of water delivery and storage facilities from civil and criminal liability for the introduction of dreissenid mussels as a result of their operations if that operator has prepared, initiated, and is in compliance with all elements of a plan required and approved by the Department of Fish & Game. Status: Vetoed.
AB 846 (Torrico) State agencies: civil and administrative penalties. This bill would have required specified agencies administering environmental, health, and workplace safety laws to update the minimum and maximum civil and administrative penalties to account for annual inflation. Upon enforcement of those penalties, this bill would also have required the department or agency to assess liability that, at a minimum, recovered any economic benefits derived by the violator, with specified exceptions. Status: Dead, Sen. G.O.
AB 874 (Saldaña) Recreational activities: skateboarding. This bill would have removed the requirement in current law that city and county owned or operated skateboard parks require users to wear elbow pads and knee pads to enhance safety while retaining the requirement that users also wear safety helmets. Additionally, this bill would have removed the requirement that local public agencies maintain and file records regarding skateboard injuries and would have deleted the requirement that the Judicial Council submit a report to the Legislature on injury incidents. Status: Dead, Sen. Jud.
AB 914 (Logue) Mandatory minimum civil penalties: publicly owned treatment works. This bill would have required a financing plan prepared by a publicly owned treatment works (POTW), specifically a plan authorized by the State Water Resources Control Board (the Board)or a regional water quality control board that provides for completion of a compliance project in lieu of assessment of civil penalties, to require completion of the project within 5 years. In addition, this bill would have authorized the Board, when determining financial hardship, to also consider the impact of the penalties on individual ratepayers if it finds that the review of the specified factors does not adequately represent the range of economic circumstances in a community. Status: Vetoed.
AB 1312 (Swanson) Automatic external defibrillators. This bill would have made existing law requiring health studios to purchase, maintain, and train staff in the use of automatic external defibrillators applicable to amusement parks and golf courses. In addition, this bill would have extended the current sunset date on these requirements for two more years, until July 2014. Status: Vetoed.
AB 1730 (Emmerson) Personal rights: monetary liability. This bill adds marriage and family therapists to the list of health-related professions for which qualified immunity from liability is provided to peer review committee members, for any act or proceeding undertaken or performed in reviewing the quality of professional services rendered by marriage and family therapists. Status: Chapter 82, 2010.
AB 1835 (Logue) Unfair competition: exemption. This bill would have exempted a small business, as defined, from liability under existing law barring unfair competition and trade practices if the business engages in unfair competition by acting pursuant to a contract for services with a public entity that the business entered into in good faith, without knowledge that acting pursuant to that contract would constitute unfair competition. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
AB 1929 (Hall) Invasive aquatic species: mussels. This bill provides that an operator of water delivery and storage facilities who has prepared and is in compliance with an approved plan to control and eradicate dreissenid mussels in accordance with existing law is immune from civil or criminal liability for introduction of mussels as a result of operation of those facilities, and exempts such operators from prohibitions on possession, importation, shipment or transport of mussels and related requirements. Status: Chapter 152, 2010.
AB 2145 (Ammiano) Drug overdose treatment: liability. This bill expands a seven county pilot program that provides licensed health care providers with a qualified immunity from civil liability or criminal prosecution when they prescribed naloxone, a prescription drug to counteract an opiate overdose. Specifically, this bill removes the existing restriction limiting this to only those seven counties, extends the sunset date from January 1, 2011 to January 1, 2016, and adds a new qualified immunity for unlicensed trained persons that administer an opioid antagonist in emergency situations where they believe, in good faith, that the other person is experiencing a drug overdose. Status: Chapter 545, 2010.
AB 2486 (Feuer) Social host liability: furnishing alcohol to underage persons. This bill, the Teen Alcohol Safety Act of 2010, provides that a social host, as narrowly defined, who is 21 years of age or older and who knowingly furnishes alcoholic beverages to a person under 21 years of age, may be held legally accountable for damages suffered by that young person, or for injury to the person or property, or death of, any third person resulting from the consumption of those beverages. Status: Chapter 154, 2010.
AB 2557 (Salas) Government tort claims: dentists. This bill would have provided that a licensed dentist, as defined, is entitled to all of the immunities from liability provided a public employee when treating or diagnosing a patient at no cost to the patient, as specified. Instead, this bill would have allowed the state to be held liable for any injury or damages resulting from that treatment or diagnosis. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
SB 39 (Benoit) Personal liability immunity: disaster service workers. This bill revises existing immunity protections for disaster service workers who perform disaster services during a state of emergency to clarify that such workers are not liable for civil damages resulting from an act or omission while performing disaster services anywhere within the jurisdiction covered by the emergency, other than an act or omission that is willful. Status: Chapter 27, 2009.
SB 108 (Walters) Charter schools: government tort claims. This bill would have prohibited a joint powers authority for risk-pooling from refusing to admit to membership or provide coverage to a charter school, including a charter school organized pursuant to Education Code Section 47604, or a school district which operates a charter school, solely on the basis that it operates as a charter school. Status: Dead, Asm. Jud.
SB 127 (Calderon) Automatic external defibrillators (
SB 143 (Cedillo) Hazardous materials: California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act of 2004. This bill extends the sunset date for the California Land Reuse and Revitalization Act until January 1, 2017, and makes a corresponding change to make the provisions authorizing continued immunity after repeal of the Act operative on January 1, 2017. The bill also authorizes a prospective purchaser who is in contract to acquire a brownfield site, as defined, and who qualifies as a bona fide purchaser to enter into a specified agreement with an agency. However, a prospective purchaser who enters into such an agreement is prohibited by this bill from receiving immunity until the prospective purchaser acquires the site. Status: Chapter 167, 2009.
SB 743 (Health) Health facilities: psychiatric patient release. This bill clarifies that the immunity from civil and criminal liability that is granted under existing law to certain hospitals and staff for the detention of any person that cannot be safely released from the hospital because they are a danger to themselves or others, or are gravely disabled, applies whether or not the detained person qualifies for a 72-hour evaluation. This bill also clarifies that these immunities apply for actions after release of a person who was detained up to 24 hours and who meets specified criteria. Status: Chapter 612, 2009.
SB 953 (Walters) Podiatrists: liability for emergency services. This bill clarifies that specified immunity from liability that generally applies to physicians rendering emergency care also applies to doctors of podiatric medicine. This bill also states legislative intent that nothing in this bill is intended or shall be construed to enlarge, reduce, or otherwise modify the scope of practice of podiatrists. Status: Chapter 105, 2010.
SB 1269 (Oropeza) Food donation liability. This bill would have required the California Department of Food and Agriculture and California Department of Public Health to post on their Internet Web sites, and when possible disseminate through existing publications, information about state and federal laws that provide tax deductions and liability exemptions relating to the donation of food for charitable purposes. Status: Vetoed.
SB 1284 (Ducheny) Water quality: mandatory minimum civil penalties. This bill exempts certain Water Code violations of waste discharge reporting requirements from existing mandatory minimum penalties. This bill also extends the time limit under which dischargers must come into compliance with a permit requirement from five years to 10 years. Status: Chapter 645, 2010.