City of Lomita v. Superior Court

In November 1983 this court rendered an opinion regarding the duty of the county to provide emergency ambulance service for its residents. We are advised in the present litigation that some substantial misunderstanding has arisen between the administration of Los Angeles County and various cities in said county with reference to the extent and nature of the duties so required. That original case (City of Lomita v. County of Los Angeles (1983) 148 Cal.App.3d 671 [ 196 Cal.Rptr. 221 ]) was concurred in by three justices of this court. Petition for rehearing was denied and the petition to the Supreme Court of California for a review of that decision was denied. We have no inclination, nor do we have the power, to upset that decision which is now the law of California. However, because of the problems disclosed by the record now before us in the present action, we shall proceed to set out in clearer detail what we thought was clear from our original opinion.

First, it is the duty of the County of Los Angeles to provide emergency ambulance service for all “residents” of the county in need of medical care. As used in the cases and applicable statutes discussed in our earlier…