## Facts

- Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report that Darren Burley was assaulting a woman and appeared to be under the influence of drugs.
- Deputies forced Burley into a prone, face-down position; Deputy David Aviles knelt on Burley’s back and neck while Deputy Paul Beserra restrained Burley’s arms.
- After Burley was handcuffed and hobbled, he remained face down; Beserra supervised him and did not perform CPR when Burley’s breathing became labored and he went limp.
- Paramedics arrived to find Burley face down with Beserra’s knee in his back; Burley had no pulse and later was declared brain dead from lack of oxygen after cardiac arrest.
- Burley’s minor child and other heirs sued the County and deputies for wrongful death, including theories of battery by unreasonable force and negligence.
- A jury found Aviles liable for battery (unreasonable force) and Beserra liable for negligence, and assigned comparative fault: 40% to Burley, 20% to Aviles, 20% to Beserra, and 20% to other deputies.
- The jury awarded $8 million in noneconomic damages; the trial court entered judgment making Aviles liable for the entire noneconomic award on the view that an intentional tortfeasor is jointly and severally liable for all noneconomic damages.

## Issues

1. Whether Civil Code § 1431.2 (Proposition 51) requires noneconomic damages in a wrongful-death action based on comparative fault to be allocated in direct proportion to each tortfeasor’s percentage of fault, including an intentional tortfeasor.
2. Whether an intentional tortfeasor remains jointly and severally liable for all noneconomic damages notwithstanding Proposition 51 and a jury’s comparative-fault allocations.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal reversed the judgment to the extent it imposed joint and several liability on Aviles for all noneconomic damages.
- The court held that Civil Code § 1431.2 applies to “each defendant” in actions based on comparative fault and limits noneconomic-damages liability to several-only, proportionate shares, regardless of whether the defendant acted negligently or intentionally.
- The court remanded with directions to vacate the existing judgment and enter separate judgments reflecting noneconomic-damages liability in proportion to the jury’s comparative-fault findings (including Aviles’s 20% share).

## Legal Principles

- In actions for personal injury or wrongful death governed by comparative-fault principles, Civil Code § 1431.2 makes each defendant’s liability for noneconomic damages several only, not joint.
- Under § 1431.2, each defendant is liable for noneconomic damages only in direct proportion to that defendant’s percentage of fault.
- The statutory term “each defendant,” as applied by this court, includes intentional tortfeasors; therefore, an intentional tortfeasor’s noneconomic-damages liability is apportioned by comparative fault rather than imposed jointly and severally.
- Where a trial court enters judgment imposing full noneconomic damages on one defendant despite comparative-fault allocations, the proper remedy is reversal and entry of judgments allocating noneconomic damages proportionately.

## Conclusion

The court required reentry of judgment allocating the $8 million noneconomic award by comparative fault under Civil Code § 1431.2, holding that Proposition 51’s several-only limitation applies even when a defendant is liable for an intentional tort such as battery by unreasonable force.


B.B. v. County of Los Angeles, 25 Cal. App. 5th 115, 235 Cal. Rptr. 3d 457 (Cal. Ct. App. 2018)