Sarti

The trial judge in this case read Minder v. Cielito Lindo Restaurant (1977) 67 Cal.App.3d 1003 [ 136 Cal.Rptr. 915 ] (Minder) for the proposition that reasonable inferences are never, or hardly ever, available in food poisoning cases. Based entirely on the Minder opinion, he granted a judgment notwithstanding the verdict (often called a “jnov”) even though the judge himself made it clear he would have voted with the jury on the question of liability.

We can understand why the judge was so cautious, but we do not think that Minder , strictly construed, should be read to preclude the use of reasonable inferences to show causation in food poisoning cases. To the degree that Minder may, arguendo, be susceptible for the proposition that inferences are unavailable in food poisoning cases, or that food poisoning defendants are somehow accorded a special, protected status with an abnormally “heightened” standard of causation, we respectfully decline to follow it. Despite intimations in the Minder opinion to the contrary, food poisoning cases are governed by the same basic rules of causation that govern other tort cases. Reasonable inferences drawn from substantial evidence are…