Randi W. v. Muroc Joint Unified School District

In this case, we must decide under what circumstances courts may impose tort liability on employers who fail to use reasonable care in recommending former employees for employment without disclosing material information bearing on their fitness. Specifically, we are concerned with letters of recommendation that defendant school district officers allegedly wrote to a college placement service on behalf of Robert Gadams, an administrative employee they formerly employed. Plaintiff and appellant Randi W. claims that defendants unreservedly recommended Gadams for employment without disclosing to the placement service (and thus to prospective employers) facts defendants knew regarding prior charges or complaints of sexual misconduct and impropriety leveled against Gadams. Defendants’ letters allegedly induced another school district to hire Gadams, who later sexually assaulted plaintiff, a student in that district.

As will appear, consistent with the Court of Appeal judgment in this case, we conclude that defendants’ letters of recommendation, containing unreserved and unconditional praise for former employee Gadams despite defendants’ alleged knowledge of complaints or…

I concur with and join in the majority opinion with the exception of part II.B. (The Negligence Per Se *1088 Count) and that portion of part III. (Conclusion) reversing the Court of Appeal’s judgment as to count 5 (negligence per se) and directing the Court of Appeal to affirm the trial court’s order sustaining defendant’s general demurrer to count 5. Unlike the majority, I conclude that plaintiff has adequately pleaded a cause of action for negligence under the doctrine of negligence per se.

The theory of count 5 of plaintiff’s complaint is that the three defendant school districts that formerly employed Robert Gadams, the vice principal who sexually molested plaintiff, violated the Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act (Pen. Code, § 11164 et seq.; hereafter the Reporting Act) by failing to report to the proper authorities Gadams’s prior incidents of sexual misconduct with students, and that this statutory violation renders them liable under the doctrine of negligence per se for the damages she suffered as a result of her molestation by Gadams.

To plead a cause of action for negligence under the doctrine of negligence per se, a plaintiff must allege these elements: (1) the…

In this case, we must decide under what circumstances courts may impose tort liability on employers who fail to use reasonable care in recommending former employees for employment without disclosing material information bearing on their fitness. Specifically, we are concerned with letters of recommendation that defendant school district officers allegedly wrote to a college placement service on behalf of Robert Gadams, an administrative employee they formerly employed. Plaintiff and appellant Randi W. claims that defendants unreservedly recommended Gadams for employment without disclosing to the placement service (and thus to prospective employers) facts defendants knew regarding prior charges or complaints of sexual misconduct and impropriety leveled against Gadams. Defendants' letters allegedly induced another school district to hire Gadams, who later sexually assaulted plaintiff, a student in that district.

As will appear, consistent with the Court of Appeal judgment in this case, we conclude that defendants' letters of recommendation, containing unreserved and unconditional praise for former employee Gadams despite defendants' alleged knowledge of…