The LUCKMAN PARTNERSHIP, INC. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles County

Darrell D. Ramsey (Ramsey) and Chenel Ramsey, husband and wife, sued The Luckman Partnership, Inc., for negligence and loss of consortium. After Luckman’s motion for summary judgment was denied, it filed a petition for writ of mandate. We issued an alternative writ concluding that plaintiffs’ claims were barred by the four-year statute of limitations and/or the 10-year statute of repose (Code Civ. Proc., §§ 337.1, subd. (a), 337.15, subd. (a)), and because subsequent design and construction constituted an independent intervening cause.

The trial court declined to comply with the writ. We now consider the matter on the merits and conclude that Luckman was entitled to summary judgment on the statute of limitations found in Code of Civil Procedure section 337.1, subdivision (a) and under the doctrine of independent intervening cause.

Facts

On September 1, 2006, Ramsey fell through a suspended ceiling in the west hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center (Convention Center), and suffered injuries. Luckman was the original architect of the Convention Center.

At summary judgment, it was undisputed that at the time of the accident, Ramsey, an employee of an entity called…