Myrick

Here we decide two distinct issues and conclude: A city ordinance requiring hazardous buildings to be retrofitted by a certain date does not insulate owners of unreinforced masonry buildings from liability for negligence causing death or injuries prior to the compliance date.

Civil Code sections 1431.1 and 1431.2, which limit a defendant’s tort liability for noneconomic damages, do not apply to defendants in a joint venture. Defendants in a joint venture are jointly and severally liable for noneconomic damages, whatever their respective interests in the joint venture.

This case arises from the death of two women who were killed in 2003, when a portion of a building collapsed on them during an earthquake. The women’s survivors sued the building’s owners for negligence in failing to perform seismic retrofitting of the building. The jury found the owners negligent and awarded substantial damages. The jury also found the owners were members of a joint venture in the ownership and maintenance of the building. The judgment made defendant owners jointly and severally liable.

On appeal, defendants contend they had no duty to retrofit the building until 2018, the deadline…