Shiver v. Laramee

*397The sudden emergency doctrine, aka the imminent peril doctrine, shields a defendant from liability in a negligence action. The rule is aptly restated in jury instruction CACI 452. Here we have the rare case when the rule applies at a summary judgment motion. A freeway driver with the right of way is not required to anticipate an act of road rage that unexpectedly causes merging traffic in front of him to come to almost a dead stop. As we shall explain in detail, that is what happened here and why the defendants are not liable.

Appellant Joshua Shiver brought a negligence action against…