The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a woman who pulled her friend out of a car after having an accident isn't immune from civil liability because the care she provided wasn't medical.

The court’s ruling allows a lawsuit against a young woman who pulled her co-worker from the vehicle in which they were riding after it crashed on 31 Oct. 2003. After the car crash, Alexandra Van Horn was left a paraplegic. She claims that the rescue attempt by Lisa Torti aggravated her injuries, instead of helping her.

So the Good Samaritan faces a lawsuit for worsening the injuries suffered by Van Horn, a fellow department store cosmetician, when she was pulled out from the car on Topanga Canyon Boulevard.

Although Torti wanted to rescue her friend, fearing that the car would blow up, such efforts are better left to skilled professionals, says law professor Michael Shapiro of the University of Southern California.

Since 1980, physicians, paramedics and other health care providers are immune to Good Samaritan lawsuits if they render medical care. Back then, the Legislature enacted the Health and Safety Code, which wrote that "no person who in good faith, and not for compensation, renders emergency care at the scene of an emergency shall be liable for any civil damages resulting from any act or omission."

However, some disagree with the court’s ruling. According to Justice Marvin R. Baxter, the decision is "illogical" since it denies legal immunity for people who, for instance, through their actions, may actually save the lives of people on the verge of drowning.