Flores

WILLHITE, Acting P. J.—

Jesus and Concepcion Flores's son died after being struck by a car driven by Alexander Wadsworth Dederer, a customer of the defendant rental car companies, Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company (ERACC), and Enterprise Rent-A-Car Company of Los Angeles (ERAC-LA) (sometimes referred to collectively as the Enterprise defendants). Plaintiffs sued defendants for wrongful death and negligent entrustment of the vehicle, contending that an electronic check of Dederer's driving record would have revealed two arrests for driving under the influence within the previous 48 months, which should have resulted in defendants not renting the car to Dederer. Plaintiffs contend electronic driver's license checks are routinely performed in the car rental industry, and by failing to perform one on Dederer, defendants breached their duty of reasonable care. Plaintiffs argue on appeal that the trial court therefore erred in granting summary judgment in favor of the Enterprise defendants.

In this case, we consider whether rental car companies have a duty to use electronic driver's license checks to screen their clients' driving records before entrusting vehicles to them. In the seminal…