Coronet Manufacturing Co. v. Superior Court

Coronet Manufacturing Company, Inc. (Coronet) petitioned for a writ of mandate to compel the Superior Court of Los Angeles County to enter an order sustaining a demurrer to real parties in interest’s second amended complaint for wrongful death.

The superior court’s overruling of the demurrer was apparently based on the holding in Smeltzley v. Nicholson Mfg. Co., 18 Cal.3d 932 [ 136 Cal.Rptr. 269 , 559 P.2d 624 , 85 A.L.R.3d 121 ], We initially denied Coronet’s petition for mandate. On a petition by Coronet, the Supreme Court granted a hearing and retransferred the matter to this court with directions to issue an alternative writ.

We issued the alternative writ and calendared the matter for oral argument. For reasons which will be discussed, infra, we are of the opinion that the peremptory writ should issue but that real parties in interest should be afforded an opportunity to amend their complaint.

Real parties in interest are the parents of a 17-year-old girl who was electrocuted in her home on October 3, 1974. On October 3, 1975, just one day before the running of the statute of limitations, real parties in interest filed a complaint against Sunbeam Corporation and a…