Joint and Several Liability: California

Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 875(a), jointly and severally liable
defendants are generally entitled to recover from one another the percentage of damages
which are attributed to the others conduct in what is known as a contribution action.
(C.C.P. 875(a).)

SOL for contribution action - One (1) year from date the settlement is paid. Smith v. Parks
Manor, 243 Cal. Rptr. 256 (Cal. App. 1987).

California adopted Proposition 51 in 1968, which is codified as Civil Code Section 1431.2.
Proposition 51 changed Californias rules about who must pay for non-economic damages.
Defendants are still jointly and severally liable for economic damages. However, under
Proposition 51, in any action for personal injury, property damage, or wrongful death,
based upon principles of comparative fault, the liability of each defendant for non-economic
damages shall be several only and shall not be joint. Each defendant shall be liable only for
the amount of non-economic damages allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to
that defendants percentage of fault, and a separate judgment shall be rendered against
that defendant for that amount. (Cal. Civ. Code 1431.2(a).) In other words, a defendant
may be responsible for 100% of a plaintiffs economic damages as long as they are assigned
at least a 1% share of liability, but would only be responsible for non-economic damages in
proportion to their share of fault.