San Diego Unified Port District v. Superior Court
Opinion
Opinion
Wiener, J.
The San Diego Unified Port District (District) seeks a writ of mandate after the Superior Court of San Diego County overruled its demurrer to Marriott Corporation’s (Marriott) complaint attempting to intervene in the personal injury action below brought by plaintiff Joyce Campbell against the District. We issued an alternative writ to determine whether Marriott, the workers’ compensation insurance carrier for Campbell’s employer, may use the claim filed by Campbell to satisfy its filing requirement under the government claims statutes. (Gov. Code, §§ 911.2, 945.4.) We conclude Campbell’s filing satisfies the filing requirement for Marriott. Accordingly, we deny the writ.
Factual and Procedural Background
A large rat attacked and bit Campbell while she was working at the Marriott Host Cafeteria located in the West Terminal of the San Diego Airport. Campbell fell and hit her head. She is now paralyzed on her entire left side. Marriott was the workers’ compensation insurance carrier for Campbell’s employer at the time of the accident. As of January 1987 Marriott paid Campbell almost $118,000 in workers’ compensation benefits.