Plaintiff passenger filed an action against defendant cab company alleging wrongful ejectment, and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The San Francisco County Superior Court, California, granted the cab company summary judgment and denied the passenger’s motion for reconsideration. The passenger appealed.
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Overview
The passenger who was visibly disabled hired a cab to take her to the dentist. The cab driver made no good-faith effort to take the passenger to the address, but stopped two blocks away and told the passenger to get out. The passenger explained to the cab driver in detail the physical afflictions that provided the reasonable basis of her fear of injury if she was forced to walk two blocks uphill. The cab driver ejected the passenger who fell and broke her hip walking to the dentist. The appellate court found that: (1) the cab was a common carrier which breached the duty to deliver the passenger to the designated address; (2) a common carrier that ejects a passenger at a place other than the designated destination and in doing so subjects the passenger to reasonably foreseeable injury, violates a common carrier’s affirmative duty to prevent harm to its passengers; (3) breach of the contractual duty to deliver the passenger to an agreed upon destination can justify tort damages; and (4) the trial court erred in entering summary judgment in favor of the cab company.
Outcome
Summary judgment was reversed and the matter was remanded to the superior court.