The Good Samaritan law is eroded in California.
Dec 22nd, 2008 | By Michael L. Saile, Jr., Esq. | Category: Blogs, Common Injuries from Car AccidentsYou may have heard in national news that the State of California is allowing a victim of a car accident to sue the person who tried to help her at the scene of the car accident.
Last week, the Supreme Court of the State of California ruled that the state’s “Good Samaritan” law did not protect citizens who volunteer to rescue or attempt to rescue someone in a car accident. In this case the Plaintiff sued the Good Samaritan for injuries suffered. The Plaintiff claimed that the Good Samaritan caused more injuries than the victim of the car accident would have otherwise suffered.
Is this a good ruling or not? I bet most people would say this is a horrible court ruling because it would stop all future Good Samaritans from helping people in a tragic situation. I have not read the full court opinion. I think the proper way to handle this type of situation is to uphold the Good Samaritan law for ordinary negligence.
In situations of gross negligence on the part of the Good Samaritan, perhaps some sort of liability should be imposed. This could still have a chilling effect on whether a Good Samaritan will act in an emergency situation.
An innocent car accident victim should have some redress in a situation where a Good Samaritan acts recklessly and without any due care for the situation or the car accident victim.
What do you think?
i think most people know you never move an injured person without taking every medical precaution. like in the nfl, when a player gets hurt, they never move the player, they tell the player to be still. they they have the medical team evaluate what to do.