Cal. Gov. Code § 856.2

Medical, Hospital and Public Health Activities

Known as the Government Claims Act

The act spans §§ 810–998 (301 sections).

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case 19 Cal. 4th 851 - Kobzoff v. Los Angeles County Harbor/UCLA Medical Center (1998)

Most recently applied in 116 Cal. App. 4th 170 - Hernandez v. KWPH ENTERPRISES (February 2004)

Amended by Stats. 1970, Ch. 1099.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) Neither a public entity nor a public employee is liable for:

(1) An injury caused by an escaping or escaped person who has been confined for mental illness or addiction.

(2) An injury to, or the wrongful death of, an escaping or escaped person who has been confined for mental illness or addiction.

(b) Nothing in this section exonerates a public employee from liability:

(1) If he acted or failed to act because of actual fraud, corruption, or actual malice.

(2) For injuries inflicted as a result of his own negligent or wrongful act or omission on an escaping or escaped mental patient in recapturing him.

Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.