How has the firefighter's rule been interpreted in the context of a personal injury claim?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from Ferreira v. Restaurant, B252170 (Cal. App. 2015):
The defense created by the firefighter's rule limits the duty of care the public owes to firefighters and police officers. "Under the firefighter's rule, a member of the public who negligently starts a fire owes no duty of care to assure that the firefighter who is summoned to combat the fire is not injured thereby. [Citations.] Nor does a member of the public whose conduct precipitates the intervention of a police officer owe a duty of care to the officer with respect to the original negligence that caused the officer's intervention. [Citations.]" (Neighbarger v. Irwin Industries, Inc. (1994) 8 Cal.4th 532, 538, fn. omitted.)
In Hodges v. Yarian, supra, 53 Cal.App.4th 973, the court extended the firefighter's rule to an off-duty deputy sheriff who suffered injuries when he shot and killed a suspected burglar in the deputy's own apartment building. (Id. at pp. 976-977.) The deputy sued the managers of his apartment building for failure to address certain
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