September 7, 2022

Hoffman v. Young (Aug. 29, 2022, S266003) __ Cal.5th ___ [2022 WL 3711715]

After being invited to defendants’ home by their teenage son, the plaintiff was injured riding a motorcycle on a track in the backyard. Plaintiff sued the teenager’s parents, alleging negligent design of the track. The parents asserted recreational use immunity based on Civil Code section 846, under which a landowner generally owes no duty of care to a person who enters or uses the property for a recreational purpose. In opposition, plaintiff invoked the express invitee exception, which eliminates immunity when the landowner expressly invites the plaintiff to enter her land. The trial court ruled that the exception did not apply because there was no evidence the landowners personally invited the plaintiff to their land. A divided Court of Appeal reversed, holding that an invitation by the landowners’ live-at-home child operated as an invitation from the landowners triggering the exception, unless the child was prohibited from making the invitation.

The California Supreme Court reversed, holding that a plaintiff claiming the express invitee exception must show that the landowner, or an agent authorized to extend an invitation, expressly invited the plaintiff to enter the property. The Court found plaintiff had failed to show the parents authorized their son to invite plaintiff to their house and remanded to the Court of Appeal to address the plaintiff’s other arguments.

Horvitz & Levy is counsel for defendants and respondents.