High Court Rules Firm Is Liable in Crash That Killed 5

The deaths of four Boy Scouts from Concord and a fifth person in a 1980 collision with a truck were the legal responsibility of a Sonoma County geothermal firm, according to a ruling upheld by the state Supreme Court.

The court this week unanimously rejected appeals by the firm, Thermogenics, and its parent company, Hughes Aircraft, from lower court decisions holding it responsible for the negligence of a driver for a contracting trucking company.

The driver, Randy Ransom, crossed a center lane on California 29 near Middletown in Lake County in November, 1980, and slammed into two vans carrying Boy Scouts returning home from an outing, court records said. One van was knocked into a car containing a woman, who was killed, and her husband, who was injured. Five others were also injured.

Truck Loaded With Mud

Ransom and his employer, Sunnybrook Trucking, settled the suit for their $500,000 insurance policy limit. Allen DeFraga, a lawyer for one of the injured scouts, said the total damages in the case have been estimated at $4 million to $6 million.

Ransom was driving an 80,000-pound tanker truck loaded with mud used to lubricate well-drilling equipment. Sunnybrook had a contract to carry the mud for Thermogenics to a dump site, as required by state law.

The jury in the trial ruled that Thermogenics was not responsible for the trucker’s actions, but was overruled by Superior Court Judge William Boone.

In a ruling upholding Boone’s decision, the 1st District Court of Appeal said the only reasonable conclusion from conflicting evidence on the cause of the accident was that Ransom had been negligent, either by falling asleep at the wheel or by ignoring an obvious safety hazard, a defective left wheel hub.

Legal Doctrine Applies

Writing for a unanimous three-member panel, Justice William Newsom cited a legal doctrine that a company operating under state regulation that hires a contractor to perform dangerous work required by law is responsible for the contractor’s negligence.

“Thermogenics should not be permitted to escape liability by employing an independent contractor to perform a job which forms an integral part of its business,” the hauling of the mud, Newsom said.