Castro v. State of California

Opinion

TAMURA, Acting P. J.

This appeal involves the peculiar risk exception to the general immunity of an employer for the torts of its independent contractor. Plaintiff, a dump truck driver, was an employee of a construction company engaged by the State of California to install a pipeline to transport Feather River water across the City of Riverside to a reservoir in Perris. Plaintiff sued the state (defendant) for damages for injuries he sustained when a fellow employee backed his truck into him. Trial resulted in a plaintiff’s jury verdict but the court granted defendant’s motion for…