Dekens

When Raymond Dekens died in 1999, he was suffering from cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. His heirs (plaintiffs) sued Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (U.L.) for wrongful death. They alleged that by testing small appliances and certifying them as safe, U.L. had undertaken to guarantee Mr. Dekens’s safety from illness resulting from his exposure to asbestos while repairing those small appliances. The trial court granted U.L.’s motion for summary judgment.

Under the negligent undertaking doctrine (also known as the Good Samaritan doctrine), a defendant may be liable when it undertakes to render services necessary for another’s protection, but negligently performs that undertaking. (Artiglio v. Corning Inc. (1998) 18 Cal.4th 604 [ 76 Cal.Rptr.2d 479 , 957 P.2d 1313 ]; Rest.2d Torts, § 324A.) U.L. met its burden on summary judgment by showing through admissible evidence that it never undertook to test small appliances for medical safety or to certify the appliances would not cause cancer. Plaintiffs failed to show a triable issue of material fact regarding the existence and scope of any such undertaking by U.L. The trial court properly granted summary judgment; therefore,…