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Davila v. Nickell10/26/2005
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 977(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 977(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 977.
Two construction workers, Daniel Davila and Michael Barraza, fell from the roof of a two story apartment building while working on the roof's edge without safety equipment. Davila fell chest first on an unprotected steel fence post and died after being impaled by the post. Barraza missed the post, but suffered various physical and emotional injuries resulting from the fall. Davila's and Barraza's employer (the general contractor on the project) did not have workers' compensation insurance and was unlicensed. The corporate owner of the building likewise did not have workers' compensation insurance.
Barraza brought a personal injury action; Davila's parents and his girlfriend's children brought wrongful death actions; all plaintiffs sought damages arising from the accident. Plaintiffs named as defendants the general contractor of the construction project (Joadd Construction, Inc. (Joadd)), the corporate property owner (Sun Villa Inc.), and individuals alleged to be liable based on theories of alter ego, agency, and/or joint venture. These individuals included Sun and Kay Louie, who were officers and owners of Sun Villa Inc.
During the six-week trial, the evidence was essentially undisputed that Davila and Barraza were not provided with necessary safety equipment. The primary factual question was whether Joadd and Sun Villa Inc. had transferred the construction contract before the accident to a licensed third party contractor (Joseph Rodriguez), potentially limiting plaintiffs to workers' compensation benefits. Ultimately, the jury found there was no transfer and instead that various defendants had engaged in an elaborate fraudulent scheme to shift responsibility after the accident to avoid tort liability. The trial court found the individual owners of the defendant corporations were personally responsible for the corporations' acts under alter ego theories. The jury found the third party contractor (Rodriguez) was not liable on any theory.
The jury awarded compensatory damages of: (1) approximately $2 million to Barraza; (2) approximately $2.4 million to Davila's girlfriend's children; and (3) $1.8 million to Davila's surviving parents. The jury also made special findings by clear and convincing evidence that Joadd and Sun Villa Inc., and each of the individual owners of these corporations (including the Louies), committed oppression, malice, and fraud by failing to provide adequate safety equipment at the construction site. After a second phase of the trial, the jury awarded punitive damages of approximately $1.9 million to Barraza; $2.9 million to the Davila parents; and $2.8 million to Davila's girlfriend's children. The jury allocated these punitive damages among the various corporate and individual defendants, as detailed below.
After the verdicts were reached, Barraza settled for $500,000 with an additional defendant, Joadd's insurance agent (Henry Kuiper), whose case had been bifurcated from the main action. The court determined the settlement was in good faith and thus that it barred indemnity and contribution claims for comparative negligence from joint tortfeasors. The court additionally entered various postjudgment orders, including: (1) $2.5 million in attorney fees to all plaintiffs under Labor Code section 3709; (2) $80,157 in attorney fees and sanctions to Rodriguez from the co-defendants; and (3) $2.
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