California: UPS Driver May Not Sue Shipper for Injuries Related to Mislabeled Box

A UPS driver, who injured his back when he picked up a box whose weight had been mislabeled by a university employee may not maintain a lawsuit against the university for negligence; the risk of injury from lifting heavy boxes that might be labeled with inaccurate weight information was inherent in the driver’s job, held a California appellate court. The driver recovered workers’ compensation benefits from his employer and then filed a negligence action against the university, but a trial court granted the university summary judgment, finding it had no special duty to warn the driver of the weight of the box. The box, which weighed more than 70 pounds, was mixed in a group of others of the same size. All boxes were labeled as weighing 48 pounds. The appellate court affirmed, utilizing the firefighter’s rule. For public policy reasons, the court said it was unfair to charge the university with a duty of care to prevent injury to the driver that arose from the very condition the university had contracted with the driver’s employer to remedy or confront.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is the co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance. Bracketed citations link to lexis.com.

See Moore v. William Jessup Univ., 2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 1161 (Dec. 28, 2015) [2015 Cal. App. LEXIS 1161 (Dec. 28, 2015)]

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 110.08 [110.08]

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see http://www.workcompwriter.com/california-court-uses-firefighters-rule-to-bar-negligence-action-by-ups-driver/

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law.