Farmers Insurance Group v. County of Santa Clara

I dissent.

Although Deputy Sheriff Nelson’s conduct was undoubtedly deplorable, it nevertheless fell “within the scope of his employment” for purposes of the indemnification statute (Gov. Code, § 825.2, subd. (b)) because it was “reasonably foreseeable” in the broad sense in which that term is used in the law of respondeat superior, i.e., because sexual harassment of a woman deputy sheriff working in a big-city jail a decade ago was not “so unusual or startling” that it would be unfair to include the resulting expense in the county’s costs of doing business.

The applicable rules of law are not…