Tarasoff v. Regents of Univ. of Cal., 17 Cal. 3d 425, 131 Cal. Rptr. 14, 551 P.2d 334 (Cal. 1976)
Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California is a landmark California Supreme Court decision that redefined the contours of duty in negligence by imposing on psychotherapists a duty to take reasonable steps to protect foreseeable victims from a patient's serious threats of violence.
Do psychotherapists owe a duty of care to protect reasonably identifiable third parties from a patient's serious threats of violence communicated during treatment, notwithstanding the general principle of confidentiality?
When a therapist determines, or pursuant to the standards of the profession should determine, that a patient presents a serious danger of violence to another, the therapist has a duty to use reasonable care to protect the intended victim against such danger. The duty arises when a patient communicates a serious threat of physical violence against a reasonably identifiable victim. Reasonable protective measures may include warning the intended victim or others likely to apprise the victim of the danger, notifying law enforcement, or taking other steps reasonably necessary under the circumstances. The protective privilege ends where public peril begins; professional confidentiality does not bar reasonable disclosures necessary to prevent threatened violence.
The California Supreme Court held that psychotherapists owe a duty to exercise reasonable care to protect reasonably identifiable potential victims when a patient makes a serious threat of violence. The court reversed the dismissal of claims against the therapists and the Regents, allowing the negligence action to proceed. Claims against the campus police were properly dismissed based on statutory immunity for their discretionary decision not to detain the patient.
Tarasoff crystallized a duty to protect third parties in the context of mental health treatment and recast the therapist's obligations from a narrow duty to warn into a broader duty to take reasonable steps to protect. It remains central in torts courses for its nuanced use of the Rowland duty factors, its treatment of special relationships, and its balancing of confidentiality against public safety. The decision influenced nationwide statutes and case law, many of which codify or modify the Tarasoff duty; some jurisdictions require warnings, others permit disclosures, and a few reject an affirmative duty, making Tarasoff a springboard for comparative analysis. For practitioners and students, Tarasoff underscores risk management in clinical practice: document assessment of threats, evaluate identifiability and seriousness, and implement reasonable protective measures. It also illustrates how common-law duty can adapt to evolving professional norms and societal concerns about violence prevention.