WAWANESA MUTUAL INSURANCE COMPANY V. MATLOCK
60 Cal. App. 4th 583 (1997)
NATURE OF THE CASE: Matlock (D), appealed a judgment, which awarded damages to Mutual (P)
for negligence relating to a fire caused by a lighted cigarette provided D, a minor, to
another minor during an act of trespass.
FACTS: D, age seventeen, bought two packs of cigarettes. D gave one of the packs to Eric,
age fifteen. Smoking as they walked, the two trespassed onto a private storage where a
couple of hundred telephone poles were stacked up high upon the ground, held in place by two
vertical poles sticking out of the ground. The two had climbed on the logs many times
before. Two younger boys, about 10 or 11 years old, walked with them on the logs. Eric was
smoking a cigarette held in his left hand. D began to tease the younger boys, telling them
the logs were going to fall. The boys started to run, and ran right into Eric's left arm.
Eric dropped his cigarette down between the logs. Eric tried to retrieve the cigarette, but
he couldn't reach it. He stood up and tried to extinguish it by spitting on it. They went
into some bunkers about 50 feet away; when they came out again after about 20 minutes, they
saw flames at the base of the logs. They were seen running from the location. The Woodman
Pole Company suffered considerable property damage because of the fire. Eric was insured
under a $100,000 policy with P. P paid the $100,000. P now subrogated to Eric's rights,
filed this suit against d and his father for contribution. After a bench trial, the court
awarded P $ 44,500. The judge stated that the statute that makes it unlawful to give
cigarettes to minors, Penal Code section 308, and that the court relied on it to find
liability. D appealed.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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