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Ladd v. County of San Mateo3/7/1996
GEORGE, J.
We granted review in this case to decide an issue left unresolved by the decision in Thomas v. City of Richmond (1995) 9 Cal. 4th 1154, 1158-1159 [40 Cal. Rptr. 2d 442, 892 P.2d 1185]: whether the immunity provided public entities and employees by Government Code section 845.8, subdivision (b), from liability for any injury "caused by" an escaping prisoner applies when a prisoner injures herself during an attempted escape. For the reasons that follow, we hold that immunity does exist under such circumstances. We also hold that, unlike the situation underlying the court's decision in Thomas v. City of Richmond, (supra) , 9 Cal. 4th 1154, 1165, the circumstances of the present case do not fall within the provisions of Vehicle Code section 17001, which imposes liability upon a public entity for an injury caused by its employee's negligent operation of a motor vehicle.
I
On March 12, 1991, San Mateo County juvenile hall employees Michelle Silveira and Aaron Turner were transporting 15-year-old plaintiff Kay Maureen Ladd to the San Mateo County juvenile hall. Plaintiff was a ward of the juvenile court who had been placed in the custody of her aunt but, having run away from her aunt's home, had been taken into custody by the Butte County Sheriff. Silveira and Turner had taken custody of plaintiff at the Butte County juvenile hall, handcuffed her with her hands in front of her body, and placed her in the rear seat of a San Mateo County automobile. It was raining. When the vehicle stopped for a red traffic signal near some railroad tracks, plaintiff jumped out of the automobile and ran toward a slow-moving freight train. Despite being handcuffed, plaintiff tried to climb aboard a boxcar, but fell beneath the wheels of the train, resulting in the loss of both her legs.
Plaintiff sued San Mateo County and the county employees responsible for transporting her, alleging the county was negligent in failing to adequately train and supervise its employees and in failing to provide "adequate equipment and a security vehicle." Plaintiff further alleged that the county employees were negligent in failing to properly restrain and care for her, "so as to permit her to flee said automobile and board a moving railroad train." The superior court granted summary judgment in favor of defendants on the ground the county and its employees were immune from liability pursuant to Government Code section 845.8, which states that " either a public entity nor a public employee is liable for: . . . (b) Any injury caused by: (1) An escaping or escaped prisoner," and section 846, which provides: "Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for injury caused by the failure to make an arrest or by the failure to retain an arrested person in custody."
The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment on the ground that defendants were immune from liability pursuant to section 845.8, without reaching the question whether defendants also were immune under section 846.
II
"Conceptually, the question of the applicability of a statutory immunity does not even arise until it is determined that a defendant otherwise owes a duty of care to the plaintiff and thus would be liable in the absence of such immunity." ( Davidson v. City of Westminster (1982) 32 Cal. 3d 197, 201-202 [185 Cal. Rptr. 252, 649 P.2d 894].) On occasion, however, we have proceeded directly to the question of immunity and have resolved the case on that basis. ( Kisbey v. State of California (1984) 36 Cal. 3d 415, 418 [204 Cal. Rptr. 428, 682 P.2d 1093].)
In the present case, we first briefly discuss whether defendants owed a duty of care to plaintiff to protect her from
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