Can an employer be held liable for damages arising out of and in the course of employment for injuries sustained by an employee in a motor vehicle accident?

As we indicated above, ordinarily workers' compensation is an employee's exclusive remedy against an employer or co-employee for injuries arising out of and in the course of employment. One exception to exclusivity that California courts have developed is the dual capacity doctrine. Under the dual capacity theory, when an employer bears two separate relationships to his employee, each giving rise to separate legal obligations, the defendant employer is subject to liability for damages arising from the relationship distinct from that of employer and employee. (D'Angona v. County of Los Angeles (1980) 27 Cal.3d 661, 666-667, 166 Cal.Rptr. 177, 613 P.2d 238.) ⁵ The decisive test of this dual capacity doctrine is whether the nonemployer aspect of the employer's activity generated a different set of obligations by the employer toward the employee. ( Id. at p. 667, 166 Cal.Rptr. 177, 613 P.2d 238.)