A judge has agreed to decide whether the legal doctrine of primary assumption of the risk applies as a defense by USC in a lawsuit brought by the family of a cinematographer who was killed in an off-road crash in Imperial County, but his decision will not come until late in the trial.
In January, Chatsworth Superior Court Judge Michael O’Gara ruled that the relatives of 29-year-old Peng “Aaron” Wang could proceed to trial against USC on a claim for negligence/respondeat superior while dismissing the second allegation against the university for respondeat superior/vicarious liability/agency/joint venture/joint enterprise.
In their court papers urging dismissal of the case, USC attorneys cited the legal doctrine of assumption of the risk and noted that the decedent was not wearing a seat belt. Having lost the dismissal motion, the lawyers then asked the judge to rule from the bench before trial whether on the assumption of risk issue.
“Holding a separate (nonjury) trial on the issue of primary assumption of the risk will serve the ends of justice and judicial economy because if defendants prevail on the defense of primary assumption of the risk, any further trial will be avoided and a jury would not need to be impaneled,” the USC lawyers stated.
The plaintiffs’ attorneys opposed the separate trial motion. O’Gara heard arguments on Jan. 27, took the case under submission and ruled Friday.
“Factual disputes do exist that affect the court’s determination of whether primary assumption of the risk or secondary assumption of the risk applies,” the judge wrote.
The judge said his decision on whether the assumption of the risk doctrine applies will take place after final arguments, but before jury deliberations.
Primary assumption applies to inherent risks in activities and is a complete bar to recovery because no duty exists. Secondary assumption occurs when a defendant owes a duty but the plaintiff voluntarily encounters a known risk, often allowing for comparative negligence.
The USC lawyers contend that because Wang died when the UTV he was riding in rolled over while traversing a sand dune, he engaged in primary assumption of the risk because off-roading in a UTV is an inherently dangerous activity.
The lawsuit was brought by Hualan Wang and Hua Sun, the father and mother, respectively, of the late Wang. Also named as defendants are the “Finale” film’s director, Ting Su, and producer, Biangliang Li, both of whom are USC students and Chinese nationals. The judge ruled the parents can also proceed to trial against those defendants.
Wang was a Chapman University film student recruited by the USC students to serve as their cameraman for “Finale,” a movie about the hallucinations and death of a man in the desert, the suit states. Filming took place in the Glamis Dunes, east of Brawley, and Wang died from injuries sustained when a Can-Am off-road vehicle, driven by Li, rolled down one of the dunes on April 15, 2022, the suit states.
Wang’s Imperial County death certificate, attached to the suit, states he died of blunt neck trauma.
“Asking film students to handle and oversee all of their own on-set safety without oversight is like asking an elephant to fly, according to USC’s own faculty,” the suit filed in September 2022 states.
USC had the responsibility and ability to exercise control over its students and its school film projects, according to the suit. However, the university was “negligent in the exercise of that control on the `Finale’ production” instead of fulfilling its obligation to protect Wang from harm, the suit further contends.
USC actively recruits Chinese students such as Li and Su to enroll in its film school, yet fails to teach them to identify and react to the inherent dangers of filmmaking, the suit alleges.
Trial of the lawsuit is scheduled for June 22.