Vu

In this negligence action removed from state court on grounds of diversity of citizenship, plaintiffs, husband and wife, are suing The Singer Company (“Singer”) which operates the Job Corps Center in San Jose (the “Center”) for damages sustained when corpsmembers entered their house, raped Mrs. Vu, and stole many of their belongings. Singer moves for summary judgment on the issue of whether it owes a legal duty to plaintiffs to exercise due care. The Court grants defendant’s motion for summary judgment, finding that there are no genuine issues of material fact and that as a matter of law Singer owed no duty of care to plaintiffs for the reasons set forth below.

I

Enrollees in Jobs Corps Centers are youths with disadvantaged backgrounds who are provided with room and board at a Job Corps Center while attending vocational training classes or receiving on-the-job training. The Center structures their lives to a great extent. For example, corpsmembers must wake up at a certain time, must obtain a pass to leave the Center in the evenings, and may not own a car or bicycle. The United States Department of Labor contracts out the operation of its local centers to private…