§ 19167 Earthquake Liability Immunity

Health and Safety Code·California

AI SummaryVerified

Key Takeaways

•The city or county can't be sued if someone gets hurt or their stuff gets damaged because of an earthquake, even if they did something wrong in their plans or rules.
•This rule protects city workers too—they can't be blamed either.
•It doesn’t matter if they followed the rules perfectly or not; they still can’t be sued for earthquake-related problems.
•This protection is on top of any other protections they already have.

Example

A city inspects a building and says it’s safe, but during an earthquake, the building collapses and hurts people.

The city and its workers can’t be sued for the injuries or damage, even if their inspection was wrong or they didn’t follow all the rules.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source

View on CA.gov

§ 19167 Earthquake Liability Immunity

No city, city and county, or county, nor any employee of any such entity, shall be liable for damages for injury to persons or property, resulting from an earthquake or otherwise, on the basis of any assessment or evaluation performed, any ordinance adopted, or any other action taken pursuant to this article, irrespective of whether such action complies with the terms of this article, or on the basis of failure to take any action authorized by this article. The immunity from liability provided herein is in addition to all other immunities of the city, city and county, or county provided by law. (Amended by Stats. 1979, Ch. 1131.)

Last verified: January 23, 2026

Key Terms

liability ordinance damages disaster property employee injury safety

References

Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
California Legislature. Health and Safety Code. Section 19167.

§ 19167 Earthquake Liability Immunity

Health and Safety Code·California

AI SummaryVerified

§ 19167 Earthquake Liability Immunity

Key Takeaways

•The city or county can't be sued if someone gets hurt or their stuff gets damaged because of an earthquake, even if they did something wrong in their plans or rules.
•This rule protects city workers too—they can't be blamed either.
•It doesn’t matter if they followed the rules perfectly or not; they still can’t be sued for earthquake-related problems.
•This protection is on top of any other protections they already have.

Example

A city inspects a building and says it’s safe, but during an earthquake, the building collapses and hurts people.

The city and its workers can’t be sued for the injuries or damage, even if their inspection was wrong or they didn’t follow all the rules.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source

View on CA.gov

§ 19167 Earthquake Liability Immunity

Last verified: January 23, 2026

Key Terms

liability ordinance damages disaster property employee injury safety

References

Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
California Legislature. Health and Safety Code. Section 19167.

Key Takeaways

Example

Key Terms

Related Statutes

References

Key Takeaways

Example

Key Terms

Related Statutes

References