I. RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended the City Council reject the claim for damages presented by Sean Peters.
II. BACKGROUND:
Mr. Peters filed a claim with the City of Coalinga (see attached) on March 11, 2019. The claim was sent to George Hills Company for review. Rejection of the claim on its merits is recommend by George Hills Company.
III. DISCUSSION:
Based on Government Code Section 810.2 which defines an employee and Government Code Section 815.2 public entity liability the claim should be rejected. In Government Code Section 810.2 an “employee” is defined to include, “an employee, or servant, whether or not compensated but does not include an independent contractor”. Government Code section 815.2 which applies to this claim states, “a public entity is liable for the acts of its employee done within the scope of his employment if the act or omission would have given rise to a cause of action and except where provided by statute, a public entity is not liable if the employee is not liable.”
The person who posted about claimants child qualifies as an “employee”; however a key part to Government Code Section 815.2 is “acts of its employee done with the scope of his employment”. The social media posting was not done within the scope of her employment. For this reason, the basis for rejecting the claim is the immunity of Government Code Section 815.2.
IV. ALTERNATIVES:
Accept the claim for the requested dollar amount (staff does not recommend).
V. FISCAL IMPACT:
The fiscal impact to the General Fund will be determined by Council decision. |