Mayes v. Bryan

Full title: CORNELL STERLING MAYES et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. DAVID C…

Court: California Court of Appeals, Second District, Third Division

Date published: Jun 21, 2006

No. B172533 (Cal. Ct. App. Jun. 21, 2006)

Opinion

Page 1557a

143 Cal.App.4th 1557a __ Cal.Rptr.3d __ CORNELL STERLING MAYES et al., Plaintiffs and Appellants, v. DAVID C. BRYAN etc., et al., Defendants and Appellants. B172533 California Court of Appeal, Second District, Third Division June 21, 2006

Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. GC027767.

THE COURT.

It is ordered that the opinion filed herein on April 25, 2006 (139 Cal.App.4th 1075; __ Cal.Rptr.3d __), and ordered published on May 25, 2006, be modified as follows:

1. Page 26 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1098, advance report, par. 2, lines 1, 2, and citation on line 3], delete lines 6, 7 and citation on line 8.

2. Page 26, lines 21-22 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1098, advance report, par. 5,lines 2] (4th full paragraph), delete citation ''(Espinoza v. Machonga, supra, 9 Cal.App.4th at pp. 272-273.)" and insert 'DaFonte v. Up-Right, Inc. (1992) 2 Cal.4th 593, 600 [7 Cal.Rptr.2d 238].)"

3. Page 30, lines 6-7 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1101, advance report, par. 1, line13] change citation to 'Dafonte v. Up-Right, Inc., supra, 2 Cal.4th at p. 603.)"

4. Page 31 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1102, advance report, par. 2, line 10] delete line 9 and insert "limited to an amount commensurate with that defendant's personal share of.

5. Page 31 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1102, advance report, par. 4, lines 1-3],delete lines 19-20, and insert: "This proposal ignores the Proposition 51requirement that defendants' liability for noneconomic damages not exceed their 20 percent share based on the jury's determination that they were only20 percent at fault."

6. Page 31 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1102, advance report, par. 5, 6, lines 24-34] delete lines 21 through 29.

7. Page 32 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1103, advance report, fines 1-29], delete lines 1 through 28 (whole page).

8. Page 33 [139 Cal.App. 4th 1103, advance report, par. 3, lines 1-9], delete lines 1 through 8 and insert: "Plaintiffs' "common sense approach"

Page 1557b

offends Proposition 51. Plaintiffs should bear the burden of under contribution of the settling parties. (DaFonte v. Up-Right, Inc., supra, 2 Cal.4th at p. 604, fn. 6.) By comparison, the computation that the trial court employed here maximizes plaintiffs' recovery in that they recover all of the nonsettling defendants' 20 percent responsibility for noneconomic damages, but no more. In sum, plaintiffs have shown no error in the calculation of noneconomic damages. Consequently, plaintiffs may not recover their prejudgment interest based on their Code of Civil Procedure section 998 offer to compromise."