Teichert & Son, Inc. v. Superior Court

Teichert & Son, Inc. v. Superior Court (1986) 179 Cal.App.3d 657 involved a serious injury caused by a construction truck; unlike trucks in the earlier cases, the truck in Teichert was unladen and was not engaged in construction work at the time of the accident. There, a child was killed when his bicycle collided with a dump truck turning from a public street into a gravel plant owned by Teichert. The child's father sued Teichert and the dump truck's driver; Teichert moved for summary judgment, asserting that because the driver was an independent contractor, it was not liable for his negligence. (Id. at p. 660.) The appellate court held that Teichert was entitled to summary judgment because the peculiar risk doctrine did not apply as a matter of law. (Id. at p. 661.) It explained: "Plaintiff has failed to identify any peculiar risk inherent in the work the driver was engaged in, apart from the ordinary risk that he would not use due care in the driving of his dump truck. There was no direct relationship between the particular work performed by driver, i.e., hauling a truck load of asphalt, and the accident. The incident could have occurred just as easily if driver were driving a standard passenger vehicle or an 'eighteen-wheeler.' Nor did the frequency of truck traffic into Teichert's plant create a special risk. The collision between decedent and driver's truck would have happened in the same way regardless of whether that truck was the first or the hundredth to enter the facility on that day." (Id. at p. 662.) The court went on to discuss a relevant comment to section 416 of the Restatement Second of Torts. "In disposing of this portion of plaintiff's case we find particularly apropos the illustration set forth in comment d to section 416 of the Restatement Second of Torts. That comment reads: 'A "peculiar risk" is a risk differing from the common risks to which persons in general are commonly subjected by the ordinary forms of negligence which are usual in the community. It must involve some special hazard resulting from the nature of the work done, which calls for special precautions. (See 413, com. b.) Thus if a contractor is employed to transport the employer's goods by truck over the public highway, the employer is not liable for the contractor's failure to inspect the brakes on his truck, or for his driving in excess of the speed limit, because the risk is in no way a peculiar one, and only an ordinary precaution is called for. But if the contractor is employed to transport giant logs weighing several tons over the highway, the employer will be subject to liability for the contractor's failure to take special precautions or anchor them on his trucks.' " (Teichert, supra, 179 Cal.App.3d at p. 662.) Thus, the court concluded, "Driver's negligence, if any, entailed nothing more than ordinary failure to exercise due care in the operation of a motor vehicle. This is not sufficient to invoke the 'special risk' exception to the rule of nonliability for the negligence of an independent contractor." (Id. at p. 661.)