People ex rel. Dept. of Transportation v. Superior Court

• Decision Date: 10 April 1980
• Parties: , 608 P.2d 673 The PEOPLE ex rel. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Respondent; Art FROST et al., Real Parties in Interest. L.A. 31101.
• Court: California Supreme Court

Page 585

163 Cal.Rptr. 585

26 Cal.3d 744, 608 P.2d 673

The PEOPLE ex rel. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, Petitioner, v. The SUPERIOR COURT OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Respondent;

Art FROST et al., Real Parties in Interest.

L.A. 31101.

Supreme Court of California.

April 10, 1980.

Rehearing Denied May 14, 1980.

Richard G. Rypinski, Harry S. Fenton, Joseph A. Montoya, Robert L. Meyer, Robert W. Vidor, Joel L. Zwick and Ellen D. Tiger for petitioner.

Elwyn L. Johnson, City Attorney (Modesto), and Michael F. Dean, Deputy City Attorney, amici curiae for petitioner.

Yusim, Cassidy, Stein & Hanger, Andrew D. Stein, Jeffrey G. Keane, Shelden & Kulchin, Shelden, Kulchin & Klein, Sydney Kulchin and David E. Klein for real parties in interest.

William A. Dorland and Marcus R. Williamson amici curiae for real parties in interest.

TOBRINER, Justice.

In American Motorcycle Assn. v. Superior Court (1978) 20 Cal.3d 578, 146 Cal.Rptr. 182, 578 P.2d 899, our court explained that when a plaintiff's injury is proximately caused by the negligent acts of a number of joint tortfeasors, although each tortfeasor is "jointly and severally" liable for the injury, the plaintiff enjoys no right to single out only one or a few of the tortfeasors to bear all of the loss. We pointed out in this regard that a named defendant who has been so selected for suit has a right to pursue his own equitable indemnity action against an additional unnamed tortfeasor to obtain indemnity for any liability that should properly be borne by such additional tortfeasor.

In the instant case, the plaintiff, injured in an automobile accident on a public highway, instituted the underlying action against a number of individuals but did not file a timely claim against the State of California (state) under the provisions of the California Tort Claims Act (Gov.Code, § 810 et seq.) and did not join the state as a defendant in the action. Several of the named defendants thereafter filed an equitable indemnity action against the state, pursuant to a cross-complaint, alleging that the state's negligence in blocking several lanes of the highway proximately caused plaintiff's injuries, and asserting that if they were held liable for such injury the state was obligated to indemnify them for at least a portion of the liability.

The state demurred to the defendants' cross-complaint, maintaining that the equitable indemnity action was barred by the tort claims act. The state asserted that because the plaintiff had failed to file a timely claim within 100 days of the accident and thus could not himself pursue his action against the state, the defendants' equitable indemnity action against the state should likewise be precluded. The trial court overruled the state's demurrer, and the state then filed the instant writ proceeding to challenge the trial court's ruling.

In light of the controlling statutory provisions and the well-established principles relating to the accrual of defendants' equitable indemnity action, we affirm the trial court's decision. As we shall explain, the governing authorities, both in California and throughout the country, uniformly hold that a tort defendant's equitable indemnity action is separate and distinct from the plaintiff's tort action. The indemnity action, unlike the plaintiff's claim, does not accrue for statute of limitations purposes when the original accident occurs, but instead accrues at the time that the tort defendant pays a judgment or settlement as to which he is entitled to indemnity.

Moreover, the controlling precedents also teach that a tort defendant does not lose his right to seek equitable indemnity from another tortfeasor simply because the original plaintiff's action against the additional defendant may be barred by the statute of limitations. The defendant's equitable indemnity action is independent of the plaintiff's action and a defendant is entitled to pursue his own indemnity action so long as the statute of limitations on that action has not expired.

Finally, the authorities establish that the above principles apply fully to equitable indemnity actions against government entities. In particular, cases throughout the country hold that the time for filing a claim for equitable indemnity does not expire until after the defendant's equitable indemnity action accrues. Such an action faces no bar simply because the plaintiff cannot pursue an action against the governmental entity because of his own failure to file a timely claim.

Although the state suggests that this court's decision in American Motorcycle worked a fundamental alteration in these established principles, we shall explain that nothing in the American Motorcycle decision supports the state's assertion, and that recent cases from other jurisdictions which have adopted similar doctrines of comparative or partial equitable indemnity clearly refute the state's argument. Accordingly, we conclude that the requested writ should be denied.

1. The facts and proceedings below

On December 16, 1973, while driving in his automobile, Jack Peters was injured in a three-car accident on the Ventura Freeway, a public highway owned and maintained by the State of California. On October 23, 1974, more than ten months after the accident, Peters filed the underlying personal injury action against Art Frost, Martin Josephson and Roy and Elaine Hunter, the owners and operators of the other two vehicles; Peters had not, however, filed a claim with the state within 100 days of the accident and did not join the state as a defendant in the action. ¹

In April 1978, prior to trial in the underlying action and shortly after this court's decision in American Motorcycle, defendants Frost and Josephson filed a cross-complaint for equitable indemnity against the state, alleging that the state had failed to block adequately two lanes of traffic on the Ventura Freeway or to provide appropriate warnings of the blocked area, and maintaining that the state's negligence had created a dangerous condition of public property which proximately caused plaintiff's injuries. In light of these facts, defendants asserted that in the event they were held liable for plaintiff's injuries, they were entitled to recover at least a portion of such damages from the state under the equitable indemnity principles enunciated in American Motorcycle. Shortly, thereafter, defendants Roy and Elaine Hunter filed a motion for leave to file a similar equitable indemnity cross-complaint against the state.

The state demurred to the Frost-Josephson cross-complaint, and filed an opposition to the Hunters' motion, contending that since the plaintiff's own personal injury action against the state was barred by the tort claims act, the defendants' equitable indemnity actions should similarly be barred. The trial court rejected the state's argument, and, by separate orders, overruled the demurrer to the Frost-Josephson cross-complaint and granted the Hunters' motion.

The state then filed the instant petition for writ of prohibition and/or mandate, challenging the trial court's orders as arbitrary and in excess of the court's jurisdiction. After the Court of Appeal had initially denied the petition without opinion, we issued an alternative writ returnable before the Court of Appeal in light of the general importance of the issue presented. Thereafter, because of a divergence of views among the courts of appeal on this question, we granted a hearing in this case to resolve the issue.

2. Under Government Code sections 911.2 and 901, the time for filing a claim does not expire until at least 100 days after the claimant's cause of action accrues for statute of limitations purposes. Because defendants' equitable indemnity actions have not yet accrued for statute of limitations purposes, the cross-complaints are not barred by the statutory claims provision.

Because the state contends primarily that defendants' equitable indemnity actions against it are barred by the expiration of the period for filing a claim under the tort claims act, we begin our analysis by examining the language of the controlling statutory provisions. Section 911.2 of the Government Code provides in relevant part that "(a) claim relating to a cause of action . . . for injury to person or personal property . . . shall be presented . . . not later than the 100th day after the accrual of the cause of action (and a) claim relating to any other cause of action shall be presented . . . not later than one year after the accrual of the cause of action." (Italics added.) Although there may be some question as to which category of section 911.2 a claim for equitable indemnity arising out of a governmental entity's tortious activity falls, that issue is not relevant in the instant case for the statute clearly provides that with respect to both categories, the time for filing a claim does not expire until at least 100 days after the date of the accrual of the claimant's cause of action.

Government Code section 901, in turn, specifies the relevant "date of accrual" for the purpose of the governmental claims provisions. Section 901 provides: "For the purpose of computing the time limits prescribed by Sections 911.2, 911.4 and 912, and 945.6 the date of the accrual of a cause of action to which a claim relates is the date upon which the cause of action would be deemed to have accrued within the meaning of the statute of limitations which would be applicable thereto if there were no requirement that a claim be presented to and acted upon by the public entity before an action could be commenced thereon." (Italics added.) Thus, the relevant question in this case turns on when the defendants' equitable indemnity actions would be deemed to accrue for purposes of the statute of limitations "if the action were between private litigants." (Van Alstyne, Cal. Government Tort Liability (Cont.Ed.Bar 1964) § 8.27, pp. 385-386.)

Past California cases provide a clear and...