''Li v. Yellow Cab Co.'', 13 Cal.3d 804, 532 P.2d 1226 (1975), commonly referred to simply as ''Li'', is a

California Supreme Court The Supreme Court of California is the highest and final court of appeals in the courts of the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in San Francisco at the Earl Warren Building, but it regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sac ...

case that judicially embraced

comparative negligence Comparative negligence, called non-absolute contributory negligence outside the United States, is a partial legal defense that reduces the amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a negligence-based claim, based upon the degree to which ...

in California

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

law and rejected strict

contributory negligence In some common law jurisdictions, contributory negligence is a defense to a tort claim based on negligence. If it is available, the defense completely bars plaintiffs from any recovery if they contribute to their own injury through their own neg ...

Background

The case came out of a traffic accident between the plaintiff and the defendant in which both of them had been found to have been driving negligently. The plaintiff (Li) had attempted to cross three lanes of oncoming traffic to enter a service station; the defendant's (Yellow Cab Co.) driver was traveling at an excessive speed when he ran a yellow light just before striking the plaintiff's car. The doctrine of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

law at the time would have prevented any recovery to Li.

Decision

The California Supreme Court, aware of the recent trend toward comparative rather than contributory negligence, took the opportunity to reconsider the state's tort law on the subject. The only unique feature of the case was its reasoning on Section 1714 of the

Civil Code A civil code is a codification of private law relating to property law, property, family law, family, and law of obligations, obligations. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure. In some jurisdiction ...

, which had been thought to codify the "all-or-nothing" approach to contributory negligence: The plain meaning of section 1714 was quite clear, but the court concluded that the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

had not meant to stop the evolution of the common law, which is quite normal in state tort law, but rather only to clarify the law that existed at the time.

References

External links

*
Li v. Yellow Cab Co. Case Brief at Lawnix.com
{{United States tort case law Supreme Court of California case law United States tort case law 1975 in United States case law 1975 in California