A public entity is liable for death or injury to person or property proximately caused by a negligent or wrongful act or omission in the operation of any motor vehicle by an employee of the public entity acting within the scope of his employment.
Cal. Veh. Code § 17001
Public Agencies
Applied in 12 court decisions — leading case 40 Cal. 3d 780 - Lopez v. Southern California Rapid Transit District (1985)
Most recently applied in 194 Cal. App. 4th 635 - Varshock v. Department of Forestry (April 2011)
Amended by Stats. 1965, Ch. 1527.
How often courts cite this section
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.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.