Cases

A patient, GMSR’s client, sued a state hospital for negligence in a case arising from an assault that occurred at the hospital and her treatment following the assault.  The trial court had initially sustained State’s demurrer on grounds that patient’s timely claim did not sufficiently support cause of action pleaded, and, following denial of the patient’s application for leave to present a late claim by the Board of Control, denied the patient’s petition seeking relief from the necessity to file a claim as a prerequisite to the lawsuit.

The Court of Appeal reversed and remanded with directions.  It held that: (1) the patient’s reliance on her initial claim and failure to timely file a second claim arose from an excusable mistake of law; (2) her application for leave to file a late claim was made within a reasonable time as required by statute; and (3) since the late claim application was filed within a reasonable time, since her failure to file timely second claim was the result of excusable mistake of law, and since the State offered no allegation or proof of prejudice, the patient was entitled to relief pursuant to Government Code section 946.6.