In re ETHAN C. et al., Persons Coming Under the Juvenile Court Law. LOS ANGELES COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILY SERVICES, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. WILLIAM C., Defendant and Appellant.
No. S187587
Supreme Court of California
July 5, 2012
54 Cal. 4th 610
Andrea Sheridan Ordin, County Counsel, James M. Owens, Assistant County Counsel, Judith A. Luby and Kim Nemoy, Principal Deputy County Counsel, for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Jennifer Henning; Thomas E. Montgomery, County Counsel (San Diego), John E. Philips, Chief Deputy County Counsel, and Tahra C. Broderson, Deputy County Counsel, for California State Association of Counties as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.
Christopher Blake, under appointment by the Supreme Court, for Defendant and Appellant.
William Wesley Patton as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendant and Appellant.
Ronald L. Brown, Public Defender (Los Angeles), Albert J. Menaster and Karen Nash, Deputy Public Defenders, as Amici Curiae on behalf of Minors.
OPINION
BAXTER, J.—Under certain circumstances, found by a preponderance of evidence, and indicating that a minor child is bereft of care or support by a parent or guardian, or has suffered or risks actual or threatened serious injury, illness, emotional damage, or sexual abuse because of a custodial parent’s or
Thus, unless a custodial parent or guardian has abandoned or voluntarily relinquished the child, the court may not remove a dependent child from the parent’s or guardian’s physical custody unless it finds, by clear and convincing evidence, that such action is necessary to protect the child from serious harm. (
Among the findings allowing an initial adjudication of dependency is that “[t]he child’s parent or guardian caused the death of another child through abuse or neglect.” (
We granted the father’s petition for review to address three issues: First, does the lethal neglect to which section 300(f) refers require criminal negligence, i.e., a degree of culpable misfeasance or malfeasance that would support the parent’s or guardian’s criminal conviction for causing a child’s death? Second, does section 300(f) require discrete evidence and findings that the particular circumstances of the child fatality demonstrate a current risk of substantial harm to surviving children in the parent’s or guardian’s care? Third, what is the meaning of “caused,” as used in section 300(f); i.e., is a substantial or contributing cause sufficient, and what is the effect, if any, of any intervening or superseding cause?
Like the Court of Appeal majority in this case, we conclude that section 300(f) does not limit its application to criminal negligence. On the contrary,
Finally, we determine that normal concepts of legal causation apply under section 300(f). Here, we are persuaded, the father’s negligent failure to secure his young daughter in a child safety seat was a substantial contributing cause of her death in an ensuing traffic accident. The father’s counsel conceded as much in the juvenile court. Nor does the evidence permit a conclusion that the accident itself was an unforeseeable intervening or superseding event that absolves the father of causation responsibility. The “superseding cause” doctrine cannot apply where, as here, the duty the father breached is intended to guard against the precise, and thus foreseeable, risk that materialized, i.e., a young child’s injury or death in a traffic collision.
Accordingly, we will affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.
FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND2
Defendant William C. (William)3 and his wife Kimberly G. (Kimberly) had three children, Ethan C. (Ethan), born in January 2006, Valerie C. (Valerie), born in November 2007, and Jesus C. (Jesus), born in November 2008. In March or April of 2009, William and Kimberly separated. Kimberly returned
On June 17, 2009, William left Valerie in the care of his mother and sister. When he returned to the house, he noticed that Valerie’s arm was injured. He decided to take her to the hospital to have the arm examined. During the trip, Valerie was not secured in a child safety seat; she sat on an adult relative’s lap. En route to the hospital, another vehicle collided with William’s car. Valerie died as the result of blunt force injuries. There is no indication William was at fault for the traffic accident itself.4
A week after Valerie’s death, the Department responded to a report that Ethan and Jesus were victims of general neglect by their parents. Investigation revealed that the household in which William was living with the children included as many as 20 persons. The conditions were unsanitary, and the children in the household were dirty and seemed unsupervised. In particular, three-year-old Ethan appeared to be a victim of inadequate care, and he showed signs of delayed development. He lacked language skills, was confused about the difference between day and night, did not know how to use eating utensils, and had several rotten teeth that required extraction.
The Department investigators were told that Kimberly had a history of sometimes suicidal depression, anger management problems, a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, and cognitive impairments that limited her functioning to the level of an 11 year old. They learned the couple had engaged in episodes of domestic violence, with Kimberly as the primary aggressor. Members of Kimberly’s family indicated she could care take care of her children, but only with extensive help and guidance. A psychologist expressed serious reservations about her ability to do so. On the other hand, members of Kimberly’s family insisted that the children had been seriously neglected in the home of William’s relatives, and that Jesus and Ethan would be in danger if they remained there.
William expressed extreme remorse about the fatal accident. He told the investigators that Valerie’s arm injury apparently happened when she fell out of bed while unsupervised. He explained that when he decided to take Valerie to the hospital, his car, which had a child safety seat, was being used by someone else, and he was unable to get another seat from Kimberly, so he drove to the hospital with Valerie sitting unsecured in his sister’s lap. Kimberly indicated she was not sure William ever had a child safety seat.
Initially, William, Kimberly, and the Department agreed to a voluntary plan whereby Ethan and Jesus would be temporarily removed from the physical custody of the parents, who would be allowed monitored visits with the children and would participate in a family reunification program. William began parenting classes and grief counseling. However, the Department’s concern about his failure to leave his mother’s home and establish a safe living environment for Ethan and Jesus, the pending criminal investigation against him in connection with Valerie’s death,5 and Kimberly’s serious mental health, cognitive, anger management, and physical violence issues, led to a departmental recommendation that the juvenile court take jurisdiction.
On August 18, 2009, the Department filed a dependency petition alleging that Ethan and Jesus came within the juvenile court’s jurisdiction under the provisions of section 300, subdivisions (a), (b), (f), and (j). Under subdivisions (a) and (b), the petition alleged that the parents’ history of domestic violence placed the children at risk of serious harm (allegations a-1, b-2). The petition further alleged under subdivision (b) that the children were placed in an endangering situation, and were at risk of serious harm, because Kimberly’s cognitive limitations required the provision of extensive services to enable her to properly supervise and care for her children (allegation b-3). Finally, the petition alleged under subdivisions (b), (f), and (j) that William had placed Ethan and Jesus at serious risk by driving their sibling, Valerie, without the use of a child safety seat, which omission resulted in Valerie’s death in a traffic accident (allegations b-1, f-1, j-1).
After a detention hearing that same day, and finding statutory cause, the juvenile court ordered Ethan and Jesus removed from the parents’ physical custody pending a jurisdictional/dispositional hearing. The court authorized the Department to place the children with any suitable relative, or in foster care, and the parents were granted monitored visits.
The jurisdictional/dispositional hearing occurred on October 22, 2009. As noted, both parties waived trial and submitted on the basis of the reports prepared by the Department’s social workers. William’s counsel was permitted to argue, and did argue, that the allegations under section 300, subdivisions
In making this argument, William’s counsel first asserted the Department reports were mistaken in claiming that Valerie was thrown from the car in the accident. Counsel represented that the Department’s attorney “was willing” to enter a stipulation to that effect. According to counsel, “[Valerie] was not thrown from the car. [William’s] mother was thrown from the car from the front seat. [Valerie] sustained head injuries in the backseat and died from blunt force trauma to the head.” However, counsel agreed, “it is true, as alleged, that [Valerie] died from injuries sustained as a result of not being strapped in a safety seat. That is what it says.” (Italics added.)
Nonetheless, counsel urged, dependency jurisdiction over surviving children cannot be based on a parent’s mere ordinary negligence causing death to another child; the parent’s acts or omissions, he insisted, must have risen to the level of criminal negligence. William’s failure to secure Valerie in a child safety seat, counsel argued, was no more than ordinary negligence, and thus would not support jurisdiction.
At the conclusion of the hearing, the court ordered allegations a-1 (domestic violence raising danger of nonaccidental injury to children) and b-1 (danger to siblings from Valerie’s death while not restrained in child safety seat) dismissed or stricken. However, the court sustained, by a preponderance of evidence, allegations b-2 (risk of harm to children from parents’ domestic violence) and b-3 (danger to children from Kimberly’s cognitive impairments) and the remaining allegations based on the fatal traffic accident (allegations f-1, j-1). On the safety seat issue, the court observed, “the law is absolutely clear about buckling a child in a child safety seat. I mean, I can’t even imagine what the argument could possibly be. . . . The [section] 300([f]) count says the following: The child’s parent or guardian caused the death of another child through abuse or neglect. He neglected to put his one-year-old child in a child safety seat. . . .”
The court adjudged Ethan and Jesus to be dependent children. By clear and convincing evidence, the court further found that returning physical custody to William and Kimberly would create a substantial risk of danger to the children’s physical and emotional well-being, and that there were no reasonable means of protecting them without removing them from the parents’ physical custody. Accordingly, the court placed the children under the Department’s physical supervision. With the Department’s approval, the court further ordered that William and Kimberly should be allowed monitored visits with the children, and should receive family reunification services.
William appealed, urging that the allegations under subdivisions (f) and (j) of section 300 (allegations f-1 and j-1, respectively) could not be sustained on the basis of his mere civil negligence in failing to secure Valerie in a child safety seat.6 William also argued there was insufficient evidence to sustain the allegations under subdivision (b) of section 300 concerning danger to the children from the parents’ domestic violence and Kimberly’s cognitive impairments (allegations b-2 and b-3, respectively). The Department also appealed, asserting that the trial court had improperly dismissed the allegations under subdivision (b) of section 300 that were also based on the safety seat incident (allegation b-1).
In a split decision, the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District, Division One, rejected William’s arguments and accepted the Department’s. The Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s dismissal of allegation b-1, but otherwise affirmed.
In the Court of Appeal, William made two arguments that Valerie’s traffic death while she was unrestrained in a child safety seat could not be a basis for dependency jurisdiction. First, William urged, as in the trial court, that the “abuse or neglect” leading to a child fatality, as specified in section 300(f), requires criminal negligence—flagrant, aggravated, or reckless conduct—not a mere ordinary breach of care such as his single failure to secure Valerie properly in his vehicle. Second, he insisted that the lack of a safety seat was not a “substantial contributing cause” of Valerie’s death, which was the result of a traffic accident in which another driver was entirely at fault.
In rejecting the first argument, the Court of Appeal majority noted that section 300(f) requires only a parent’s or guardian’s “abuse or neglect” (italics added) as a cause of another child’s death. Nothing in the statute’s plain words, the majority noted, suggests that “neglect” means anything more than ordinary negligence. If there is ambiguity, the majority concluded, it is resolved by the legislative history of section 300(f), on which William’s argument also relied.
As both William and the Court of Appeal noted, prior to 1996, dependency jurisdiction under section 300(f) required the parent’s or guardian’s criminal conviction of causing another child’s death. The stated purposes of the 1996 revision were to eliminate the delay attendant on criminal proceedings, and to substitute a civil (preponderance of evidence) for a criminal (beyond reasonable doubt) standard of proof.
William urged, however, that the implicit requirement of a criminal degree of negligence was unchanged by the 1996 amendment. The majority disagreed. The Legislature, the majority reasoned, sought to lessen the burden of establishing a “child fatality” basis for dependency jurisdiction by reverting to language that simply requires neglect by a parent or guardian, resulting in the death of another child. Such a construction, the majority observed, is consistent with the dependency statute’s civil nature, and with its nonpenal purpose to protect children who are at risk in their parents’ or guardians’ care. Hence, the majority concluded, the allegations based on William’s failure to secure Valerie in a child safety seat, after which she died in a traffic accident, were properly sustained.7
The Court of Appeal dissent urged it was unnecessary to determine what level of negligence is necessary for dependency jurisdiction under section 300(f), because that provision requires that the surviving children under a parent’s or guardian’s care have suffered, or are currently at risk of, physical, sexual, or emotional harm. In the dissenter’s view, William’s single failure to secure Valerie in a child safety seat, however tragic its consequences, was insufficient evidence of current risk of injury or harm to Ethan and Jesus.
William sought review, raising the “criminal negligence” and “current risk of harm” issues.8 We granted review, and directed that, in addition to the arguments raised by the petition, the parties address the meaning of “caused,” as used in section 300(f). Thus, our order provided that “[i]n addition to the issues specified in the petition for review, the parties are ordered to brief the following issue: What is the definition of the word ‘caused’ in the context of dependency jurisdiction under Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (f)? Does it mean the sole cause, or the contributing cause, or should the existence of an intervening, superseding cause be considered as part of the analysis?” We turn to these issues.
DISCUSSION9
1. Overview of dependency scheme.
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law,” the purpose of the juvenile dependency law (
The juvenile court takes a first, and preliminary, step in its protective duties by adjudging a minor to be a dependent of the court. With qualifications not pertinent here, a minor may be adjudged a dependent (
If the child has been taken into temporary protective custody, and remains in custody at the time the dependency petition is filed (see
Even after a dependency finding has been made, the statutory scheme is designed to allow retention of parental rights to the greatest degree consistent with the child’s safety and welfare, and to return full custody and control to the parents or guardians if, and as soon as, the circumstances warrant. Thus, the juvenile court may limit the parent’s or guardian’s supervision and control of the child in specified ways (
Other than in cases of voluntary relinquishment, the general rule is that when a dependent child is removed from the parent’s or guardian’s physical custody, child welfare services, including family reunification services, must be offered. (
When offered, reunification services must be provided for at least six months unless earlier terminated for cause (
2. Does a finding under section 300(f) require criminal negligence?
William first urges that an initial adjudication of dependency based on the parent’s or guardian’s neglect leading to the death of another child (
We have indicated that “ ‘[c]riminal negligence refers to “ ‘a higher degree of negligence than is required to establish negligent default on a mere civil issue. The negligence must be aggravated, culpable, gross, or reckless.’ ” [Citations.]’ ” (Stark v. Superior Court (2011) 52 Cal.4th 368, 399 [128 Cal.Rptr.3d 611, 257 P.3d 41] (Stark).) We see nothing in section 300(f)’s language, history, or policies that demands such a standard.
When construing a statute, we look first to its words, “ ‘because they generally provide the most reliable indicator of legislative intent.’ [Citation.] We give the words their usual and ordinary meaning [citation], while construing them in light of the statute as a whole and the statute’s purpose [citation].” (Pineda v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc. (2011) 51 Cal.4th 524, 529–530 [120 Cal.Rptr.3d 531, 246 P.3d 612].) “ ‘If there is no ambiguity in the language, we presume the Legislature meant what it said and the plain meaning of the statute governs.’ [Citation.] ‘Only when the statute’s language is ambiguous or susceptible of more than one reasonable interpretation, may the court turn to extrinsic aids to assist in interpretation.’ [Citation.]” (Id., at p. 530.)
The noun “neglect” has a commonly understood meaning that is not confined to particularly gross, reckless, or blameworthy carelessness. For example, lay dictionaries define “neglect,” when used as a noun, as “[w]ant of attention to what ought to be done; the fact of leaving something undone or unattended to; negligence” (10 Oxford English Dict. (2d ed. 1989) p. 301, col. 2); “the action of neglecting something,” where to “neglect” (as a verb) is “to fail to attend to sufficiently or properly: not give proper attention or care to” or “to carelessly omit doing (something that should be done)” (Webster’s 3d New Internat. Dict. (2002) p. 1513, col. 3); or the “act or an instance of neglecting something” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dict. (11th ed. 2003) p. 830, col. 1), where to “neglect” (as a verb) is “to leave undone or unattended to esp. through carelessness” (id., p. 829, col. 2) or “[t]o fail to do or carry out, as through carelessness or oversight” (American Heritage Dict. (2d college ed. 1985) p. 835, col. 2).
Resort to the most prominent legal reference work yields a similar result. Black’s Law Dictionary (8th ed. 2004) (Black’s) defines the noun “neglect” as “1. [t]he omission of proper attention to a person or thing, whether inadvertent, negligent, or willful; the act or condition of disregarding” or “2.
Moreover, we derive no different sense of the word “neglect,” as used in section 300(f), by reading this subdivision in conjunction with the other provisions of section 300. Thus, section 300 permits such an adjudication where, for example, a child has suffered, or is at risk of suffering, serious harm because of the parent’s or guardian’s (1) “failure or inability” to “adequately supervise or protect” the child (
We also note the definition of “neglect” contained in the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act. (
Though the meaning of “neglect,” as used in section 300(f), thus seems plain and unambiguous on its face, William urges that the history of this particular provision compels a different interpretation. As below, William stresses that prior to 1997, section 300(f) specified that a child came within the juvenile court’s jurisdiction, and could be adjudged a dependent child of the court, if “[t]he minor’s parent or guardian has been convicted of causing the death of another child through abuse or neglect.” (Former § 300(f), as adopted by Stats. 1987, ch. 1485, § 4, p. 5603, italics added.) Any such criminal conviction, William reasons, would necessarily have required not merely a breach of ordinary care, but a criminal level of abuse or neglect—i.e., an “ ‘aggravated, culpable, gross, or reckless’ ” act or omission (e.g., Stark, supra, 52 Cal.4th 368, 399)—leading to the child’s death. (
In 1996, however, section 300(f) was amended to delete the requirement of a criminal conviction, and to provide simply for dependency jurisdiction on the basis that “[t]he minor’s parent or guardian caused the death of another child through abuse or neglect.” (Stats. 1996, ch. 1082, § 1, p. 7426, italics added.) The legislative history of the 1996 amendment, William notes, indicates its purposes were (1) to lower the dependency standard of proof, in child fatality cases, from the criminal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt to the usual civil dependency standard of a preponderance of evidence, and (2) perhaps to avoid the delay of waiting for a criminal adjudication before proceeding in the dependency matter. (Sen. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 2679 (1995-1996 Reg. Sess.) as amended May 14, 1996, pp. o-p.) But these aims, William argues, implied no third purpose—to change the meaning of “neglect,” as used in the prior version of subdivision (f), from the criminal level to a mere civil level of negligence.
However, we find nothing in section 300(f)’s legislative history to support either William’s premise, or his proposed conclusion. We have carefully examined the history of Senate Bill No. 243 (1987–1988 Reg. Sess.) (Senate
Former
The effect of the 1996 amendment, on the other hand, was to “expand” the provision concerning a parent‘s or guardian‘s involvement in a child fatality “by eliminating the requirement of a conviction . . . and instead simply [to] provide[] that the parent has caused the death of another child.” (Sen. Com. on Judiciary, Analysis of Assem. Bill No. 2679 (1995-1996 Reg. Sess.) as amended May 14, 1996, p. c, italics added.) In sum, there is no basis in
We have found no precedent for the proposition William advances. In In re A.M. (2010) 187 Cal.App.4th 1380 [115 Cal.Rptr.3d 552], the case closest on point, the Court of Appeal found sufficient evidence to support a dependency finding under
Nonetheless, the Court of Appeal noted that the father knew there was a risk to his infant child, had the ability to assess the risk, was in a position to intervene, and failed to do so even though he heard the baby struggling to breathe. The appellate court did not suggest the father‘s actions could, or did, amount to criminal negligence. It simply ruled that “[t]he evidence is sufficient to support the juvenile court‘s finding that [the father] caused the death of [the baby] through neglect.” (In re A.M., supra, 187 Cal.App.4th 1380, 1388.)
We are referred to a number of decisions that apply not
Thus, in In re Alexis M. (1997) 54 Cal.App.4th 848 [63 Cal.Rptr.2d 356] (Alexis M.), the Court of Appeal dismissed a presumed father‘s appeal from a juvenile court‘s decision to terminate reunification services originally offered to him, when, at the 12-month review, the court found that reunification would be detrimental to the child. The Court of Appeal deemed the appeal, which was based on alleged technical deficiencies in the juvenile court‘s termination order, moot in light of the presumed father‘s intervening felony child abuse conviction arising from the death of the dependent child‘s sibling. As the Court of Appeal noted, the dependent child‘s removal from parental custody had been based on that lethal incident, which involved “very serious acts of abuse“—acts “too shocking to ignore” when the issue was whether the offending parent should receive reunification services. (Id., at pp. 850-851.) Though the presumed father‘s subsequent felony conviction was not a factor in the juvenile court‘s decision to end reunification efforts, the Court of Appeal concluded, “it would have been, in the wake of the conviction, an abuse of the juvenile court‘s discretion to have offered [the presumed father] reunification services.” (Id., at p. 853.)
In Patricia O. v. Superior Court (1999) 69 Cal.App.4th 933 [81 Cal.Rptr.2d 662], the Court of Appeal, upholding a denial of reunification services, cited evidence that the mother‘s children were victims of “battered child syndrome” at the hands of her former boyfriend (id., at p. 936); that chronic, severe physical abuse had led to the death of one child, for which the boyfriend was convicted of murder; that although made aware the boyfriend was mistreating the children, the mother had failed to take action to protect them; that she remained in denial about the severity of the abuse and continued to think of the homicide as an accident; and that because of her psychological makeup, she was likely to be involved in similar abusive relationships in the future. The Court of Appeal noted the juvenile court‘s comment that the evidence demonstrated the mother‘s “‘general reckless disregard for the welfare of the minors‘” (id., at p. 940), and further observed that the juvenile court had concluded the mother‘s “neglect rose to a level of criminal culpability” (id., at p. 942), but also stressed that the juvenile court had considered all the reunification factors set forth in former subdivision (h) (now
Finally, in Mardardo F. v. Superior Court (2008) 164 Cal.App.4th 481 [78 Cal.Rptr.3d 884] (Mardardo F.), the evidence indicated that the dependent child‘s father, when 15 years old, raped and murdered another child. He subsequently engaged in violent and sexually inappropriate behavior while confined in the former California Youth Authority (CYA), failed to complete a sex offender program while in CYA, was identified as a continuing threat to society with an antisocial personality disorder at the time of his dishonorable discharge from CYA at age 25, and had since sustained convictions for failing to register as a sex offender and for an episode of domestic violence. (Id., at p. 492.) Under these circumstance, the Court of Appeal concluded, the juvenile court‘s denial of reunification services was amply supported.15
We disagree. Contrary to the inferences William seeks to draw, we find no implication in these decisions that criminal negligence is required under either statute. They merely concluded, in particular aggravated circumstances, that it was necessary, or proper, to apply the statutory presumption against reunification against a parent or guardian whose abuse or neglect had caused another child‘s death. Nothing in the reasoning or results of these cases suggests that only criminal negligence leading to a child fatality will allow a dependency finding under
On the contrary, it is “‘[t]he enormity of a death‘” of a child arising from parental inadequacy that invokes the provisions of
On the other hand, a finding of dependency based on
William urges that an interpretation of
Conversely, an antecedent criminal finding, beyond reasonable doubt, that the parent or guardian was guilty of criminal culpability in a child‘s death would require that a dependency allegation under
William urges that applying a mere civil negligence standard to
But there is no absurdity in the plain language of
Under these circumstances, no inherent unfairness arises from applying the plain words of
There can be no doubt that William‘s failure to secure his 18-month-old daughter in a child safety seat before driving her in a vehicle—a direct violation of statute (
3. Does section 300(f) require independent evidence of a current risk of harm to living children in the parent‘s or guardian‘s care?
William next urges, as did the Court of Appeal dissent, that a dependency finding under
But the examples William cites undermine, rather than support, his argument. These examples demonstrate that the Legislature understands how to specify the need for particularized evidence that a child is currently suffering or at risk of harm when it intends to include such a requirement. Yet
When language is included in one portion of a statute, its omission from a different portion addressing a similar subject suggests that the omission was purposeful. (E.g., People v. Giordano (2007) 42 Cal.4th 644, 670 [68 Cal.Rptr.3d 51, 170 P.3d 623]; In re Jose A. (1992) 5 Cal.App.4th 697, 701-702 [7 Cal.Rptr.2d 44].) We must thus reasonably infer that the Legislature did not intend to include a separate “current risk” requirement in
The reason for such an omission seems both reasonably clear and fully consistent with the statutory purpose. The Legislature apparently concluded that a parent‘s or guardian‘s neglectful or abusive responsibility for a child fatality may inherently give rise to a serious concern for the current safety and welfare of living children under the parent‘s or guardian‘s care, and may thereby justify the juvenile court‘s intervention on their behalf without the need for separate evidence or findings about the current risk of such harm.
But the theoretical application of a statute‘s plain language to hypothetical extreme cases does not demonstrate that these literal words are absurd, and should therefore be disregarded or judicially modified to include a requirement the Legislature saw fit not to impose. (See, e.g., People v. Washington (1996) 50 Cal.App.4th 568, 578 [57 Cal.Rptr.2d 774].) There is no reason to suppose that
William‘s fatal misjudgment was thus directly relevant to his ability and willingness to ensure the safety and well-being of Valerie‘s young siblings, Ethan and Jesus, who were then also in his care. The juvenile court evidenced its belief that this was so by sustaining allegation j-1 of the dependency petition, which asserted that William‘s fatal abuse or neglect of Valerie demonstrated a danger of serious harm to Ethan and Jesus. (See
Accordingly, we reject William‘s contentions that
4. What does section 300(f) mean by “caused“?
As noted above, we asked the parties to address the meaning of the word “caused,” as used in
Nothing in the plain language, or the history, of
William nonetheless insists that the fatal accident, produced entirely by the other driver‘s negligence, was the sole legal cause of Valerie‘s death, and that, as a matter of law—or at least on this record—his antecedent failure to secure her in a child safety seat cannot be deemed a substantial factor in the fatality. For this conclusion, he appears to advance two theories. We reject both.
First, William urges that the evidence is insufficient to show Valerie would not have died if she had been properly restrained. Analogizing to the “seat belt defense” recognized in tort law (e.g., Housley v. Godinez (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th 737, 743 [6 Cal.Rptr.2d 111]), and noting the severity of the fatal collision, he urges it was the Department‘s burden to show that Valerie would have survived if restrained in a child safety seat, and that his negligence in this regard was thus a substantial factor contributing to her death.
We need not linger on the question of how, or whether, a version of the “seat belt defense“—which invokes principles of contributory and comparative negligence for the purpose of establishing liability and monetary dam
Equally unavailing is any suggestion that William is protected by the doctrine of intervening or superseding cause. “[T]he term ‘superseding cause’ means ‘an independent event [that] intervenes in the chain of causation, producing harm of a kind and degree so far beyond the risk the original [wrongdoer] should have foreseen that the law deems it unfair to hold him responsible.‘” (Sanchez, supra, 26 Cal.4th 834, 855, quoting Soule v. General Motors Corp. (1994) 8 Cal.4th 548, 573, fn. 9 [34 Cal.Rptr.2d 607, 882 P.2d 298].) But application of this doctrine “depends on whether [one‘s] conduct ‘was within the scope of the reasons imposing the duty upon the actor to refrain from negligent conduct. If the duty is designed, in part at least, to protect the [victim] from the hazard of being harmed by the intervening force . . . then that hazard is within the duty, and the intervening force is not a superseding cause.‘” (Kahn v. East Side Union High School Dist. (2003) 31 Cal.4th 990, 1016-1017 [4 Cal.Rptr.3d 103, 75 P.3d 30], quoting Lugtu v. California Highway Patrol (2001) 26 Cal.4th 703, 725 [110 Cal.Rptr.2d 528, 28 P.3d 249]; see Haft v. Lone Palm Hotel (1970) 3 Cal.3d 756, 769-770 [91 Cal.Rptr. 745, 478 P.2d 465].)
There can be no question that the duty, mandated by statute, to secure a young child in a safety seat before transporting the child in a vehicle is intended to guard against the child‘s injury or death in any ensuing traffic accident, not just one in which the child‘s driver was at fault. This is precisely the risk that materialized here. As a matter of law, the collision in which Valerie was killed cannot be deemed a superseding cause of her death that absolves William from his negligence in failing to secure her in a child safety seat.
The judgment of the Court of Appeal is affirmed.
Cantil-Sakauye, C. J., Kennard, J., Werdegar, J., Chin, J., Corrigan, J., and Liu, J., concurred.