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Allen v. Sully-Miller Contracting Company6/13/2002
would be restricted in what they receive from it." (Hodges, at p. 115.) The initiative would protect insured motorists, who would not be forced to pay higher premiums in order to compensate uninsured motorists.
Proposition 213, then, was meant to "restore balance to our justice system" by remedying the unfairness that occurs between insured and uninsured motorists. (Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 5, 1996), text of Prop. 213, § 2, p. 102.) There is simply no suggestion in the legislative history that Proposition 213 was intended to bar an uninsured motorist from recovering damages from a negligent private entity. (See Hodges, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p. 116 ["no suggestion that [Proposition 213] was intended to apply in the case of a vehicle design defect"]; Horwich, supra, 21 Cal.4th at p. 280 ["no mention" in the legislative history that the heirs of an uninsured motorist would be barred from recovering non-economic damages].) Therefore, I conclude that section 3333.4 does not bar such a recovery.
III.
Even if this court in Day were correct in deciding that an uninsured motorist cannot recover non-economic damages from a public entity, it does not follow that section 3333.4 should also apply to suits against a negligent private contractor. Instead, the present suit is similar to a suit against an automobile manufacturer, which in Hodges we determined fell outside the scope of section 3333.4. In Day, we found it significant that the negligent defendant was a public entity. We noted that " ublic entities, many of which provide the transportation infrastructure for the motoring public, are among those directly affected by motorists who violate the financial responsibility law." (Day, supra, 25 Cal.4th at p. 275.) We further observed that " otorists who drive in violation of [the financial responsibility] law and negligently cause damage to roadways and other public property, however, typically fail to compensate for the damage; in such circumstances, public entities wind up paying for repairs to their property while the uninsured tortfeasors escape responsibility for their actions." (Id. at pp. 280-281.)
The negligent private contractor here is not directly affected by motorists who violate the financial responsibility law. Unlike public entities, private contractors have no obligation to maintain the state's roadways. Additionally, unlike in Day, the private contractor in this case was the sole negligent party; the injured motorist was found not to be negligent and he did not damage any property in sustaining his injuries.
Further, while the legislative history of Proposition 213 does mention its potential effect on public entities, there is no discussion of the initiative's effect on a private entity, such as a private contractor. The ballot materials indicate that voter approval of Proposition 213 would "result in fewer lawsuits filed against state and local governments"; the materials also refer to "unknown savings to state and local governments as a result of avoiding these lawsuits." (Ballot Pamp., Gen. Elec. (Nov. 5, 1996), analysis of Prop. 213, p. 49.) These same ballot materials make no mention whatsoever of private entities, indicating that this initiative was not intended to affect the liability of private entities.
In fact, the position of the private contractor in this case is quite similar to that of the automobile manufacturer in Hodges. In Day, we distinguished Hodges: "While Hodges placed emphasis on the absence of any effect on the particular defendant's insurance costs, it must be remembered that the defendant there, in its capacity as a car manufacturer, faced no potential of direct harm to itself or its property from uninsured
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