County of Los Angeles v. Superior Court

The issue raised in this original proceeding is whether a court order denying a plaintiff’s petition pursuant to Government Code section 946.6 collaterally estops the plaintiff from alleging in a superior court action that she has filed a timely claim pursuant to Government Code section 911.2. The court below, denying the motion of petitioner County of Los Angeles (County) for a judgment on the pleadings, held that the doctrine of collateral estoppel did not apply and plaintiff was entitled to a jury trial on the issue of whether her original claim was timely filed. We hold that the trial court erred, and accordingly order issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate.

Plaintiff/real party Isela Borbon was born at County/USC Medical Center on March 28, 1975. On March 14, 1983, real party (by her mother and guardian ad litem, Dolores Borbon) filed a claim against the County of Los Angeles alleging that due to improper use of forceps during delivery, real party suffered “neurologial impairment, psychomotor retardation, Erb’s Palsy, mental retardation [and] seizures.” Plaintiff alleged that her cause of action accrued January 20, 1983 (two months before the claim was filed), the…