Evangelatos v. Superior Court

Opinion

ARGUELLES, J.

In June 1986, the voters of California approved an initiative measure, the Fair Responsibility Act of 1986 (Civ. Code, §§ 1431 to 1431.5)—popularly known as, and hereafter referred to, as Proposition 51—which modified the traditional, common law “joint and several liability” doctrine, limiting an individual tortfeasor’s liability for noneconomic damages to a proportion of such damages equal to the tortfeasor’s own percentage of fault.1 Just a few weeks after the election, the underlying *1193personal injury action in this case—which arose out of a July 1980 accident and which…