Hutchinson

Filed 6/11/25; Certified for Publication 7/10/25 (order attached)

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FOURTH APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION THREE

ANTHONY MITCHELL et al.,

Plaintiffs and Appellants, G063331

v. (Super. Ct. No. 30-2020- 01173441)

GAIL B. HUTCHINSON,

OPINION

Individually and as Trustee, etc.,

Defendant and Respondent.

Appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court of Orange County, Walter P. Schwarm, Judge. Affirmed. Law Offices of Gene J. Goldsman, Gene J. Goldsman and Ernest J. Lingenfelter for Plaintiffs and Appellants. Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith, Jeffry A. Miller, and Daniel R. Velladao for Defendant and Respondent. This tort case involves application of the alternative liability theory of causation—first approved by the California Supreme Court in the landmark case of Summers v. Tice (1948) 33 Cal.2d 80 (Summers)—in the context of a summary judgment motion. While driving his Ferrari on a street in Dana Point, plaintiff Anthony Mitchell ran over and dragged with the 1 underside of his vehicle one or more large rocks that had rolled onto the roadway from the adjacent slope,…