What is the test for gross negligence in a motor vehicle accident?
California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Bennett, 2 Cal.Rptr.2d 8, 54 Cal.3d 1032, 819 P.2d 849 (Cal. 1991):
The requirement of section 191.5 that the defendant act with gross negligence is the focus of this appeal. The gross negligence element was addressed in People v. McNiece (1986) 181 Cal.App.3d 1048, 226 Cal.Rptr. 733 (hereafter McNiece ), in which the court reversed a conviction for gross vehicular manslaughter with intoxication because the trial court failed to instruct the jury that "gross negligence could not be supported solely by facts which satisfied other essential elements ..., namely (1) drunk driving and (2) a traffic offense." (Id. at p. 1057, 226 Cal.Rptr. 733.) The court held that "something in addition" was necessary, but did not define what this "something" was. (Id. at p. 1058, 226 Cal.Rptr. 733.)
Gross negligence is the exercise of so slight a degree of care as to raise a presumption of conscious indifference to the consequences. (People v. Watson
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