Hergenrether v. East

In Hergenrether v. East (1964) 61 Cal.2d 440, employees of a roofing contractor parked the defendant's two-ton truck on the street with the key in the ignition and the doors unlocked. They left guns and a barrel of gasoline in the bed of the truck. (Id. at p. 442.) The truck was parked in a neighborhood that was populated by "drunks and near drunks" and which was "frequented by persons who had little respect for the law ... ." (Id. at p. 445.) The truck was stolen during the night and, the next morning, the thief collided with the plaintiff's vehicle causing injury. Hergenrether observed that "each case must be considered on its own facts to determine whether the joint effect of them in toto justifies the conclusion that the foreseeable risk of harm imposed is unreasonable, and that the defendant owner or one in charge of a vehicle has a duty to third persons in the class of the plaintiffs to refrain from subjecting them to such risk." (Hergenrether, supra, 61 Cal.2d at p. 44.) Hergenrether found the truck had been made easily available to persons who were known or should have been known to the defendants to be intoxicated. Also, although the truck, a partially loaded two-ton truck, did not have the same potential for doing harm as a bulldozer, "nevertheless it possessed unusual potentiality." (Hergenrether, supra, 61 Cal.2d at p. 445.)