Judge: Michael E. Whitaker, Case: 24SMCV04009, Date: 2024-10-23 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 24SMCV04009    Hearing Date: October 23, 2024    Dept: 207

TENTATIVE RULING

MOTION

            On  August 16, 2024, Plaintiff Darryl Adrian Hunter (“Plaintiff”) filed suit against Defendants Yvette Denice Thor and Peter P. Wierzbicki, alleging two causes of action for (1) motor vehicle and (2) negligence, stemming from a vehicle collision that occurred on August 17, 2022.

Proposed Plaintiff-in-Intervention County of Los Angeles (“County”) seeks leave to file a complaint-in-intervention, on the grounds that the County is Plaintiff’s employer and Plaintiff was driving a County vehicle in the course and scope of his employment at the time of the collision.  The motion is unopposed. 

ANALYSIS

            Request to Intervene

Per the Code of Civil Procedure, “[a]n intervention takes place when a nonparty, deemed an intervenor, becomes a party to an action or proceeding between other persons by doing any of the following: (1) Joining a plaintiff in claiming what is sought by the complaint[;] (2) Uniting with a defendant in resisting the claims of a plaintiff[; or] (3) Demanding anything adverse to both a plaintiff and a defendant.”  (Code Civ. Proc., § 387, subd. (b).)  “A nonparty shall petition the court for leave to intervene by noticed motion or ex parte application. The petition shall include a copy of the proposed complaint in intervention or answer in intervention and set forth the grounds upon which intervention rests.”  (Code Civ. Proc., § 387, subd. (c).)   

“The court shall, upon timely application, permit a nonparty to intervene in the action or proceeding if either of the following conditions is satisfied:  (A) A provision of law confers an unconditional right to intervene[; or] (B) The person seeking intervention claims an interest relating to the property or transaction that is the subject of the action and that person is so situated that the disposition of the action may impair or impede that person's ability to protect that interest, unless that person's interest is adequately represented by one or more of the existing parties.  [Also] The court may, upon timely application, permit a nonparty to intervene in the action or proceeding if the person has an interest in the matter in litigation, or in the success of either of the parties, or an interest against both.  (Code Civ. Proc., § 387, subd. (d)(1)-(2).) 

County cites to Labor Code section 3852, which grants an employer the right to recover workers compensation benefits paid to its injured employee from a third-party defendant.  Similarly, Labor Code section 3853 grants an employer, like County, the right to intervene in its employee’s lawsuit. 

County advances the declaration of Ronnie D. Chau, who states:

2. The County of Los Angeles is seeking leave to file a Complaint-in-Intervention in the personal injury action of its employee, Darryl Hunter. On August 17, 2022, Darryl Hunter was driving a vehicle owned by the County of Los Angeles on the I10 Freeway Westbound near or around National Boulevard in Los Angeles, California ("Subject Incident") when he was involved in a collision with a vehicle owned/operated by Defendants-in-Intervention Yvette Denice Thor and Peter P. Wierzbicki. Darryl Hunter was in the course and scope of his employment with the County of Los Angeles at the time of the incident. As a direct and proximate result of Defendants-in-Intervention's negligence, the County of Los Angeles has paid and continues to pay workers compensation benefits to and on behalf of Darryl Hunter as a result of this Subject Incident pursuant to Labor Code, Section 3852 which it seeks to recover from the Defendants-in-intervention.

(Chau Decl. ¶ 2.) 

            Therefore, County has provided both a legal and factual basis to support its request to intervene, and no party has opposed the request.

CONCLUSION AND ORDER

Accordingly, the Court grants County’s motion in its entirety.  County shall file and serve the complaint in intervention on or before November 13, 2024.

County shall provide notice of this Court’s order and file the notice with a proof of service forthwith. 

DATED:  October 23, 2024                          ________________________________

                                                                        Michael E. Whitaker

                                                                        Judge of the Superior Court