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11 Pac. L. J. 907 (1979-1980)
Presumption of Negligence Rule in California: The Common Law and Evidence Code Section 669

handle is hein.journals/mcglr11 and id is 941 raw text is: The Presumption of Negligence Rule in California: The Common Law and Evidence Code Section 669 THOMAS HOLDYCH* At an early date California courts began employing statutes, ordi- nances and regulations, which did not provide for civil liability in com- mon law actions, to determine whether injury producing conduct was negligent.' Although at first the courts held that violation of a statute adopted to protect a class of individuals from a certain type of harm constituted negligence as a matter of law, or negligence per se,2 they subsequently determined that violation of such a provision created a presumption of negligence which could be rebutted by establishing a sufficient excuse or justification.3 In 1967 the California legislature codified this presumption by adopting Evidence Code Section 669,1 and the rule has had considerable significance in recent years, resulting in civil liability for furnishers of alcoholic beverages to obviously intox- icated persons,5 for members of the medical profession who fail to re- * Professor, University of Puget Sound School of Law; B.A. Rockford College, 1966; J.D. University of Illinois College of Law, 1970. I. See Siemers v. Eisen, 54 Cal. 418, 420 (1880). 2. See id at 420-21. 3. See Saterlee v. Orange Glenn School Dist., 29 Cal. 2d 581, 589, 177 P.2d 279, 283 (1947); Berkovitz v. American River Gravel Co., 191 Cal. 195, 199, 215 P. 675, 677 (1923). 4. CAL. EVID. CODE §669. 5. Coulter v. Superior Court, 21 Cal. 3d 144, 152, 577 P.2d 669, 673, 145 Cal. Rptr. 534, 538 (1978) (liability for social host); Vesely v. Sager, 5 Cal. 3d 153, 165, 486 P.2d 151, 159, 95 Cal. Rptr. 623, 631 (1971) (liability for commercial furnisher). Since the decision in Coulter, the legis- lature has amended Business and Professions Code Section 25602, which prohibits furnishing al- coholic beverages to an obviously intoxicated person, to provide that civil liability shall not result

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