City of Sunnyvale v. Superior Court

The City of Sunnyvale (City), defendant below, petitions for a writ of mandate, Code of Civil Procedure section 437c, subdivi sion (1), to compel entry of summary judgment in its favor. The issue is whether police officers employed by City who had stopped an automobile in which plaintiff was a passenger can be liable in tort to plaintiff for not advising her to get out of the car and find other transportation.

The undisputed facts are as follows: on August 16, 1986, about 1:14 a.m. police officers Swenson and Field, employed by City, stopped an automobile in which plaintiff and real party in interest, Lisa Ragan, was a passenger, along with other persons including codefendant Michael Shinall. Codefendant Randy Corbitt was then driving; he was over the age of 21, and licensed. There were containers of liquor in the vehicle, some opened. The police administered field sobriety tests to Corbitt and Shinall (a minor) and poured out the liquor in the opened containers; they cited Corbitt for driving at an unsafe speed and for driving with an opened container in the vehicle, and cited Shinall for being a minor in possession of alcohol. They then released the parties, who…