O'Malley

*23 Ordinarily, a person has no legal duty to come to the aid of another. But if a person does come to the aid of another, and does so *24 without exercising reasonable care, that person may be responsible for any damages caused under a "negligent undertaking" theory of liability. ( Paz v. State of California (2000) 22 Cal.4th 550 , 558-559, 93 Cal.Rptr.2d 703 , 994 P.2d 975 ( Paz ).)

Here, a woman checked into a hotel room in the early evening. She did not *733 answer her husband's calls for several hours. He suspected that she may have been injured. The husband called the hotel and a maintenance worker checked the room. The worker reported that no one was there. Hours later, the husband went to the hotel room and found his wife lying on the floor. She had suffered a brain aneurism.

The couple sued the hotel and the maintenance worker's employer (a staffing agency) for negligence. The agency filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that it owed no legal duty to the married couple. The trial court granted the motion and the couple appeals (the hotel itself is not a party to this appeal).

Under a negligent undertaking theory, we cannot say as a matter of law that the…