Ethics Newsline®

“One who dives into swirling waters to retrieve a drowning swimmer can be sued for incidental injury he or she causes while bringing the victim to shore, but is immune for harm he or she produces while thereafter trying to revive the victim. Here, the result is that defendant Torti has no immunity for her bravery in pulling her injured friend from a crashed vehicle, even if she reasonably believed it might be about to explode.”

– California Supreme Court justice Marvin Baxter, writing in dissent after his colleagues ruled last week that a California woman could be sued for pulling a coworker from a car wreck in 2004, possibly injuring her. A majority of the state’s Supreme Court “appeared to signal that rescue efforts are the responsibility of trained professionals. It was also thought to be the first ruling by the court that someone who intervened in an accident in good faith could be sued,” reports the Los Angeles Times. The paper is among those noting that last week’s ruling could chill so-called Good Samaritan acts, with Lisa Torti now facing possible liability for injuries sustained by her former colleague, who was rendered a paraplegic in the accident.

Source: Los Angeles Times, Dec. 19.