Case Summary

4972 The State and its employees were covered by the general Tort Claims Act immunity and liability provisions regarding injuries to the prisoner. However general TCA immunity for injuries to the prisoner did not apply to injuries to the prisoner’s daughter. The State and its employees were not immune from liability to the prisoner’s daughter for failure to take action when the prisoner’s daughter was in immediate need of medical care. While neither the statute establishing Community Prisoner Mother Program, the statute requiring evaluation by probate department prior to PPWASPA placement, nor the PPWASPA regulations gave rise to a mandatory duty for the State to provide medical care, the employees owed the prisoner’s daughter an affirmative duty to protect her, as a “special relationship” existed. Lastly, the operator of a private correction facility was not entitled to public entity immunity under the TCA, and the employees of the operator of the private correctional facility were not “public employees” covered by the TCA.

LAWSON v SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN DIEGO COUNTY (Save My Baby) 180 CA4 1372 [See Gov. Code §§845.6; 815.2; 844.6]