|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The state appellate court ruled last month that workers’ compensation benefits are the sole remedy for the family of late Dublin Unified School District trustee Catherine Kuo, who was fatally wounded while volunteering in a food distribution event at Fallon Middle School during the pandemic in 2021.
The decision affirmed a prior trial court’s summary judgement wherein DUSD was determined not liable for damages to Catherine Kuo’s widower William Kuo — who served on the school board after her death — and their two children.
As for the process of the appeal, the court found that Catherine Kuo qualified as an employee under the state’s labor code and was entitled to workers’ compensation, which excluded any other remedies following her death.
Sonoma Superior Court Judge Dana B. Simonds, sitting by assignment, authored the court opinion and justices Jon B. Streeter and Jeremy M. Goldman concurred.
DUSD declined to comment on the ruling, and William Kuo could not be reached for comment as of Tuesday morning.
On March 24, 2021, Catherine Kuo was pinned between two vehicles while volunteering at Fallon for the “Farmers to Families Food Box Program”, which offered fresh food to families impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
While loading a food box into the trunk of a Tesla sedan, a BMW SUV entered the school’s parking lot and pulled behind the Tesla. A DUSD employee instructed the driver of the BMW to open the trunk of the vehicle to accept food. But the driver pulled forward suddenly, crushing the trustee between the two vehicles, police said at the time.
Catherine Kuo was brought to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley, where she was pronounced dead that same day. She was 48.
Dublin Police Services concluded the BMW driver was at fault for inadvertently accelerating after failing to put the vehicle in park. The driver was not criminally charged, as the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office determined her role in the crash was not criminally negligent, police told the Weekly at the time.
Later that year, Catherine Kuo’s family and estate filed a claim against the school district, seeking monetary damages above the jurisdictional minimum. They alleged DUSD’s negligence for failing to implement basic safety protocols at the event, failing to communicate safety protocols to volunteers and the public as well as failing to train and or supervise employees who were organizing and coordinating the event, according to the claim from Aug. 16, 2021. The subsequent dangerous condition was a “substantial factor that directly and proximately caused Claimants’ harm,” according to the claim.
In a summary judgment, a trial court found that workers’ compensation benefits were the sole remedy against the district for William Kuo and his children Thomas and Natalie, according to the appellate court ruling issued March 12.
William Kuo, who was appointed to succeed his late wife on the DUSD Board of Trustees and later won a special election to complete her term through last fall, served on the school board during most of the time his family’s case against the district was pending in the court system.
The decision was based on California’s Labor Code (section 3364.5), which says school volunteers may be “deemed” an employee through a board-approved resolution and become entitled to workers’ compensation benefits for “any injury” occurring during service. Further, once this section of the labor code is applied, it is “the sole and exclusive remedy for such injuries”, according to the ruling.
William Kuo appealed the decision, arguing that section 3364.5 does not apply to the death of his wife. The plaintiffs contended that the trial court erred because Catherine Kuo’s death was not “any injury” and DUSD’s school volunteers were not “deemed” employees, according to the court.
Essentially the questions before the appellate court were whether the labor code’s reference to “any injury” includes fatal injuries like Catherine Kuo’s and whether DUSD volunteers were “deemed” employees.
It concluded that fatal injuries are categorized within “any injury” and Catherine Kuo was an employee under the labor code, according to the ruling. In effect, workers’ compensation benefits remain the sole remedy for the family against the district.
Informing the court’s decision were two sections of the labor code (3364.5 and 3600) which “make clear that a school volunteer may be deemed an employee entitled to workers’ compensation for any injury, including fatal injuries”.
To the plaintiff’s argument that DUSD did not use the term “deemed” when referring to volunteers, the appellate court determined that the precise verbiage was not necessary for a volunteer to be entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, the ruling states.
The only requirement in the applicable labor code statute says a governing board must adopt a resolution declaring the application of the statute, which DUSD complied with in 2012.
The DUSD resolution reads, “in accordance with Section 3364.5 of the Labor Code, volunteers shall be entitled to Workers’ Compensation benefits for any injury sustained by him/her while in the performance of any service under direction and control of the District Superintendent”.
In support of the plaintiff’s argument that the district did not “deem” volunteers as employees, attorneys for the Kuos said DUSD did not provide requested documentation of communication or notices sent to volunteers advising them of workers’ compensation coverage, according to the report. They added, DUSD did not provide any documents showing workers’ compensation claims or payments.
The court found that the labor code still applies, regardless of whether DUSD sent notices or produced documents showing workers’ compensation claims or payments.
Neither plaintiff attorneys at Casper, Meadows, Schwartz & Cook nor respondent attorneys at Leone Alberts & Duus answered requests for comment on the ruling as of Tuesday morning.
Police: Mother, son killed in shooting in neighborhood near Ken Mercer Sports ParkFebruary 18, 2026 5:47 pm