Calif. Supremes Allow Suit Against Would-Be Rescuer
The California Supreme Court has ruled that a statute protecting rescuers from liability only applies to those providing medical care in an emergency.
The court’s 4-3 ruling allows a lawsuit against a woman who pulled her friend out of a car in which they were riding after it crashed on Halloween night in 2003, the Recorder reports. The plaintiff, Alexandra Van Horn, was left a paraplegic after the accident. She contends the rescue attempt by Lisa Torti made her injuries worse, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Torti says she pulled Van Horn from the car because she feared it was about to explode, the stories say.
Concurring and dissenting Justice Marvin Baxter said the majority decision means that a rescuer who risks his life to save a person from a burning building could be sued for accidental injury, but the rescuer would be immune from liability for providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the sidewalk.
Law professor Michael Shapiro of the University of Southern California told the Los Angeles Times that the majority had the better argument. The court’s message is that emergency care “should be left to medical professionals,” he said.
The decision is Van Horn v. Watson.
