Police immunity from injuries incurred by innocent bystanders is not automatic as the public agency entity must comply with §17004.7(b)(1) of the Vehicle Code, which states the entity must adopt and promulgate a written policy regarding pursuits and provide regular and periodic training to its officers on those policies. This is also supported by the recent decision in Morgan v. Beaumont Police Department (2016) 246 Cal.App.4th 144.

In Catherine Flores v. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, the plaintiff was a hospital patient who was injured when one of the rails on her hospital bed collapsed. The rail had been raised according to doctor’s orders following a medical assessment of her condition. Plaintiff sued the hospital, claiming that it negligently failed to inspect and maintain the equipment.

In a recent decision, the Supreme Court of California revisited the standard for pleading and establishing proximate causation in civil actions. On June 1, 2015, the supreme court, in State Dept. of State Hospitals, held that the State Department of Mental Health’s breach of its duty to designate a second evaluator pursuant to the Sexually Violent Predator Act (SVPA) for evaluation of a prisoner was not a proximate cause of rape and murder committed by a prisoner four days after his release.