Wawanesa Mutual Insurance Company v. Matlock

60 Cal. App. 4th 583 (1997)

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Nature of the Case

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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.