California Supreme Court Puts the Brakes On Passing the Buck
In 1968 the California Supreme Court issued a landmark opinion written by the renown and still revered Chief Justice Roger Traynor. Generally, a person is not liable if he or she used ordinary care to prevent harm to another. In other cases, one may be shielded from liability if the person hired an independent contractor whose negligence is the root cause of harm to a third party.
However, in Maloney v. Rath the plaintiff, Maloney, was injured when her car was hit by Rath's (the defendant) vehicle because Rath could not stop her car because the brakes failed. The trial court denied plaintiff's motion for a judgment notwithstanding the verdict on the issue of liability. What that means is the verdict was in favor of the defendant who had established she had taken proper measures to hire an independent brake repair, had inspected the brakes, and essentially did what a prudent person would do to maintain the safety of her vehicle in compliance with the vehicle code.
The California Supreme Court held that even though the defendant had done when a prudent person would do, the defendant was still liable because the vehicle code requires the owner/driver of a vehicle to maintain it in a safe condition and that responsibility is non-delegable. Non-delegable duty means the responsibility can't be passed on to an independent contractor repair shop. No passing the buck here. It is not strict liability, but a public policy arising out of the legislative mandate to maintain vehicles in a safe condition.
So faulty brakes gets to the California Supreme Court and great law is pronounced by a brilliant jurist writing for the majority of the Court. In an astounding opinion succinctly expressed in 4 pages, new law was established which is still the law. The law says there are some responsibilities no matter how carefully fulfilled will not allow the person responsible for safety of a motor vehicle to point the finger at someone else. The buck stops with the person who puts the action in motion. If your brakes don't stop your car and you hit another car, there is no passing the buck - you're it.
There it is - Maloney v. Rath - forever known as the seminal case firmly establishing the doctrine of non-delegable duty. This case is studied by every law school student in California and important to every driver or passenger on the road. Think of it as the buck stops with you.
