Reyes

Humberto Barcenas died and Manuel Reyes was injured as a result of a fire in an encampment occupied by Barcenas, Reyes and other migrant workers on land leased and farmed by defendant Ichiro Kosha (Kosha). Reyes, his wife, and Barcenas’s widow and children (collectively plaintiffs) filed the instant action against Kosha individually and doing business as Kosha Farms, pleading negligence and other theories of liability. The court granted Kosha’s motion for summary judgment, primarily on the ground Kosha owed plaintiffs no duty of care. Plaintiffs contend Kosha breached both common law duties and statutory duties imposed by the Employee Housing Act (Health & Saf. Code, § 17000 et seq.) (the EH A). We conclude there are triable issues of fact as to whether Kosha breached a statutorily recognized duty to provide Reyes and Barcenas safe housing, and whether such breach of duty was a legal cause of Barcenas’s death and Reyes’s injury. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment as to plaintiffs’ causes of action for negligence and negligence per se.

Factual and Procedural Background

Reyes and Barcenas were laborers on a strawberry farm operated by Kosha and his brother Shig Kosha…