TENTATIVE RULING: The Motion of Defendant THE OFFICE BAR's Motion for Summary Judgment or, in the Alternative, Summary Adjudication on Plaintiff's First, Second, Third, and Fourth Causes of Action and Defendant's Eleventh Affirmative Defense of Assumption of the Risk is GRANTED, in part. "With some exceptions, an employer is vicariously liable for the negligent acts of its employees, but not of its independent contractors." (Bowman v. Wyatt (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 286, 299.) Determining whether Total Control Security, LLC ("TCS") was indeed an independent contractor or whether the individual security guards with TCS were employees of Defendant depends on a fact intensive inquiry requiring a consideration of the totality of the circumstances. (Vernon v. State (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 114, 124–25.) "The determination of employee or independent-contractor status is one of fact if dependent upon the resolution of disputed evidence or inferences," but "[i]f the evidence is undisputed, the ques
Hearing Date
October 26, 2017
Category
Civil - Unlimited
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TENTATIVE RULING: The Motion of Defendant THE OFFICE BAR's Motion for Summary Judgment or, in the Alternative, Summary Adjudication on Plaintiff's First, Second, Third, and Fourth Causes of Action and Defendant's Eleventh Affirmative Defense of Assumption of the Risk is GRANTED, in part. "With some exceptions, an employer is vicariously liable for the negligent acts of its employees, but not of its independent contractors." (Bowman v. Wyatt (2010) 186 Cal.App.4th 286, 299.) Determining whether Total Control Security, LLC ("TCS") was indeed an independent contractor or whether the individual security guards with TCS were employees of Defendant depends on a fact intensive inquiry requiring a consideration of the totality of the circumstances. (Vernon v. State (2004) 116 Cal.App.4th 114, 124–25.) "The determination of employee or independent-contractor status is one of fact if dependent upon the resolution of disputed evidence or inferences," but "[i]f the evidence is undisputed, the ques