Cal. Codes » Civil Code / DIVISION 3. OBLIGATIONS / PART 1. OBLIGATIONS IN GENERAL / TITLE 2. INTERPRETATION OF OBLIGATIONS / CHAPTER 2. Joint or Several Obligations
California Codes

Cal. Civil Code § 1431 (2026)

Joint or Several Obligations

✓ current as of May 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section CA-LEGleginfo.legislature.ca.gov JustiaCode on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

Joint Liability

An obligation imposed upon several persons, or a right created in favor of several persons, is presumed to be joint, and not several, except as provided in Section 1431.2, and except in the special cases mentioned in the title on the interpretation of contracts. This presumption, in the case of a right, can be overcome only by express words to the contrary.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 44 cases (7 in the last 5 years), 1942–2026 · leading case: Evangelatos v. Superior Court, 753 P.2d 585 (Cal. 1988).
Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment
Evangelatos v. Superior Court, 753 P.2d 585 (Cal. 1988). · cites it 2× “In June 1986, the voters of California approved an initiative measure, the Fair Responsibility Act of 1986 (Civ. Code, §§ 1431 to 1431.5) — popularly known as, and hereafter referred to, as Proposition 51 — which modified the traditional, common law "joint and several liability"…”
Bigler-Engler v. Breg, Inc., 7 Cal. App. 5th 276 (Cal. Ct. App. 2017). “2) and Proposition 51 (Civ. Code, § 1431 et seq.) apply to the jury’s verdict; and (7) whether Engler’s pretrial settlement offer under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 complied with the statute.”
Vons Companies, Inc. v. Seabest Foods, Inc., 926 P.2d 1085 (Cal. 1996). “The contract in California put *457 Vons, Seabest, and WRMI in a position to become jointly liable under California law for harm caused by the meat (Civ. Code, §§ 1431, 1431.2; 5 Witkin, Summary of Cal.”
Rutherford v. Owens-Illinois, Inc., 941 P.2d 1203 (Cal. 1997). “Proposition 51 (Civ. Code, § 1431 et seq.), adopted by the voters in 1986, provides that in a tort action governed by principles of comparative fault, a defendant shall not be jointly liable for the plaintiff’s noneconomic damages, but shall only be severally liable for such…”
Wimberly v. Derby Cycle Corp., 56 Cal. App. 4th 618 (Cal. Ct. App. 1997). “The petition of appellant Derby Cycle Corporation for review by the Supreme Court was denied October 22, 1997.”
Kesmodel v. Rand, 15 Cal. Rptr. 3d 118 (Cal. Ct. App. 2004). “31 Civil Code section 1431 et seq. 32 Italics added.”
Chakalis v. Elevator Solutions, Inc., 205 Cal. App. 4th 1557 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012). “Each defendant shall be liable only for the amount of non-economic damages allocated to that defendant in direct proportion to that defendant’s percentage of fault, and a separate judgment shall be rendered against that defendant for that amount.”
Miller v. Stouffer, 9 Cal. App. 4th 70 (Cal. Ct. App. 1992). “1 Proposition 51 is the popular name for the Fair Responsibility Act of 1986 (Civ. Code, §§ 1431 to 1431.5), an initiative measure approved by the voters of California at the June 1986 election.”
Arno v. Helinet Corp., 30 Cal. Rptr. 3d 669 (Cal. Ct. App. 2005). “(See § 877(a); Civ. Code, §§ 1431, 1431.2.) And dismissing Kelley would result in an “empty chair” situation, which might be desirable for defendants.”
Taing v. Johnson Scaffolding Co., 9 Cal. App. 4th 579 (Cal. Ct. App. 1992). “Consequently, in light of these developments, if a plaintiff elects to submit a section 998 offer in cases involving multiple defendants, the offer to any defendant against whom the plaintiff seeks to extract penalties for nonacceptance must be sufficiently specific to permit…”
Mosier v. S. California Physicians Ins. Exch., 63 Cal. App. 4th 1022 (Cal. Ct. App. 1998). “(Civ. Code, § 1431 et seq.) 16 This was apparently the subject of discussion by the jurors during the trial and deliberations.”
Jeld-Wen, Inc. v. Superior Court, 32 Cal. Rptr. 3d 351 (Cal. Ct. App. 2005). “10 “The Fair Responsibility Act of 1986 (Civ. Code, § 1431 et seq.), known popularly as Proposition 51, eliminated joint and several liability for noneconomic damages in actions based on ‘comparative fault.”
Show all 44 citing cases →
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.