Musgrove v. Silver (August 25, 2022, B311504) __ Cal.App.5th __ [2022 WL 3655373]
A personal assistant to a Hollywood producer drowned on a work trip when the producer’s personal chef provided alcohol and cocaine to the assistant before she went swimming and drowned. The trial court granted summary judgment for the producer on the wrongful death claim filed by the assistant’s parents.
The Court of Appeal affirmed. The court held the producer was not directly liable for the following reasons: (a) he had not placed the assistant in peril by paying for alcohol on the trip because California law protects individuals from tort liability for furnishing alcohol to other adults (Civ. Code § 1714, subd. (c)), (b) the producer did not personally employ the assistant, who was employed by the production company, and (c) the assistant was not working when she consumed the alcohol late at a time when she had no ongoing employment responsibilities.
The Court of Appeal further held that the producer was not vicariously liable for his assistant’s death even though the producer’s personal chef provided the alcohol and cocaine. The court concluded that (a) the chef’s decision to meet the assistant late at night in her private bungalow to drink and do drugs was not an inherent risk of employment as a family chef, (b) furnishing the drugs and alcohol was not a foreseeable risk of the chef’s employment, (c) the producer did not benefit as an employer by having his chef provide the drugs and alcohol, and (d) it was inequitable to shift the losses associated with the assistant’s death to the producer who did not benefit from the chef’s behavior which was far removed from his job duties.
