Munoz

This is the third appeal in a case arising from the death of Lucilla Amaya in an incident with the Union City police. A jury found the City of Union City and Officer Tod Woodward liable for negligence and battery, and apportioned the negligence 45 percent to the city, 50 percent to the officer and 5 percent to Lucilla. This court upheld the finding of liability against Woodward for unreasonable use of force and against the city under principles of vicarious liability, but reversed the jury’s verdict against the city based on its direct negligence. We remanded with directions for the trial court to “enter a new judgment consistent with the jury’s verdict against [the officer] and this opinion.” The trial court held that our decision required the plaintiffs’ recovery to be reduced by 45 percent. The plaintiffs appealed, and we agreed with their contention that the trial court instead should have apportioned the 45 percent liability initially attributed to the city between Woodward and Lucilla, in the proportion established by the jury’s verdict, making the officer responsible for 91 percent of the liability and Lucilla responsible for 9 percent. The trial court entered…