In Affirming Grant Of Summary Judgment, Appeals Court Declined To Extend Case Of Mary M. V. City Of Los Angeles [Case Involving Late Night Rape By A Police Officer Who Stopped Female Motorist.]

A social worker, who was not assigned to the then-15-year-old foster child volunteered to transport the child to his new foster home. The transfer was completed without incident, but the social worker went back to the new foster home after hours and picked up the child. He took him to a liquor store and then back to his apartment where he sexually attacked the child. The child thereafter brought an action against the County, relying on the holding in Mary M. v. City of Los Angeles (1991) 54 Cal.3d 202 [285 Cal.Rptr. 99, 814 P.2d 1341], a case involving a female motorist stopped late at night by a city police officer who raped her, which case held the woman could sue the city under a theory of respondeat superior. In the present case, the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the County. Expressing doubt that Mary M could be applied beyond the narrow context of an arrest performed by a uniformed, armed police officer in the normal course of that officer’s duties, the Court of Appeal affirmed, finding the undisputed facts here take this case out of Mary M.’s reach. The appeals court noted the attack took place several hours after the social worker finished his shift and that he had already delivered the child to the new home without incident. (Z.V. v. County of Riverside (Cal. App. Fourth Dist., Div. 3; July 16, 2015) 238 Cal.App.4th 889 [189 Cal.Rptr.3d 570].)