DUBLIN — The state appeals court has ruled that the family of the former Dublin school board trustee Catherine Kuo cannot sue the district for her death.
The First District Court of Appeal on March 12 ruled that because Kuo was working in a volunteer capacity that day she is only “entitled to workers’ compensation benefits” for “any injury sustained.”
Catherine Kuo’s widower, William Kuo, filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court in 2022 against the Dublin Unified School District, alleging negligence after Kuo was killed in an accident in 2021 where she was struck from behind while distributing food at Fallon Middle School. She was pinned between two vehicles and later died at a hospital.
Catherine Kuo, who served on the board from 2019 until her death, was remembered by her family as a “real superhero” and a “super mom,” the family previously wrote in a statement. She was born in Redwood City from a family of Korean immigrants, grew up in Saratoga and lived in Dublin for 20 years. She also survived a bout with cancer before she was killed. She was 48.
Her husband stepped up to fill serve the remainder of her term on the school board through November 2022.
The school district’s attorneys in June 2023 filed a motion for summary judgement, arguing the county court “lacks jurisdiction over the claims.”
The attorney for the driver who hit Kuo argued that her death was “either wholly, or in part, directly and proximately caused by the conduct of persons or entities” other than the driver. The attorney argued further that the plaintiffs “assumed all risks and hazards incident to the conduct alleged in the charging allegations.”
Nick Casper, the attorney for the Kuo family, in an interview said that “it was never argued that Catherine did anything wrong. There is video of the incident that shows Catherine was doing exactly what she was supposed to do.”
Casper called the appeals court decision “an unfortunate circumstance.” He said it leaves the family “without a remedy” to the death of their loved one, and that outside of the scope of workers’ compensation, they have no means to recoup the “loss of the relationship, and love and support and all of those non-economic items, as well as the financial support of the deceased family member.”
“While we respect the legal process, we believe this ruling reflects an unfortunate gap in the law that essentially allows a school district to cover volunteers with workers compensation without having to essentially inform those workers that they do have workers compensation,” Casper said.
Attorneys for the school district did not immediately return a request for comment as of Wednesday afternoon.
Casper said that the Kuo family is “still evaluating their legal options.”
