Day

A jury awarded plaintiff Russell Day nearly half a million dollars for his economic damages sustained in an automobile versus motorcycle accident. In this appeal, plaintiff does not contest his economic damages award. Rather, he contends the trial court erred in applying Proposition 213 retroactively to his failure to have liability insurance on his motorcycle, thus barring him from recovering any noneconomic damages against the County of San Bernardino ("County") and the City of Fontana ("City"). We affirm.

The facts of this case are relatively simple and undisputed. On September 1, 1991, plaintiff was injured when his motorcycle was struck by a car driven by defendant William Honda. Plaintiff filed a complaint against William Honda, Irving Schwartz (the owner of the property adjacent to the intersection where the accident took place), the County and the City. As against the public entity defendants, plaintiff alleged causes of action for dangerous condition of public property and nuisance.

During discovery, defendants learned that plaintiff did not have liability insurance on his motorcycle as required by state law. On November 5, 1996, the voters passed Proposition 213, which…