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July 21, 2020

Savaikie v. Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (2020) 52 Cal.App.5th 223

In this wrongful death action, a Kaiser Hospital volunteer struck and killed a minor while driving home from providing pet therapy to a Kaiser patient at an assisted living facility. The volunteer was driving his own vehicle and transporting his own pet.

Plaintiffs sued Kaiser, arguing that, although employers are not ordinarily liable for employee acts while they are coming and going from work, the volunteer was required to use his vehicle to provide pet therapy services, Kaiser derived an “incidental benefit” from the volunteer’s use of his personal vehicle, and Kaiser was therefore vicariously liable for the volunteer’s negligence. The trial court granted summary judgment for Kaiser, and the Court of Appeal affirmed. 

The court found there was no evidence that Kaiser required the volunteer to use his own vehicle to transport his dog or to provide pet therapy. The court further held that the incidental benefit derived from the volunteer’s mode of transportation did not create a basis for imposing vicarious liability on Kaiser, because there was no evidence that Kaiser received any different or additional benefit from the volunteer’s use of his own vehicle than it would have received if he used any other method of transportation.