In Quigley v. Garden Valley Fire Protection District, published April 19, 2017, the Third District Court of Appeal affirmed nonsuit in favor of the defendant district in a personal injury lawsuit brought by a firefighter. During the Silver Fire, the United States Forest Service set up a base camp at Plumas County Fairgrounds. It set up a shower unit in the infield of the fairgrounds' racetrack, and arranged for an independent contractor to service the unit. A nonfirefighting team, which became employees of the defendant district, managed the base camp. The plaintiff, a Forest Service firefighter, obtained permission to sleep in the infield during a break from fighting the fire. The infield was not roped off or signed as a sleeping area. While she was sleeping, a truck servicing the shower unit ran over the plaintiff, seriously injuring her. She sued the district and the management team for failure to warn, negligence, and dangerous condition of public property. The trial court granted nonsuit based on (among other grounds) Government Code section 850.4's firefighting immunity.
The appellate court agreed with the trial court that the defendants did not waive the section 850.4 immunity, even though they did not plead it. Governmental immunity is jurisdictional and can be raised at any time. The court disagreed with the holding in McMahan’s of Santa Monica v. City of Santa Monica (1983) 146 Cal.App.3d 683 that section 850.4 immunities, unlike other immunities, must be pleaded or else waived. Absolute immunities such as section 850.4, unlike qualified immunities that depend on specific facts being true, cannot be waived. The court further rejected the argument that the immunity applied only when firefighting facilities are being used for firefighting. The statute's wording and legislative history establish that it alternatively applies to firefighting facilities and equipment, even when not being used to fight fires.
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