Pagarigan

The law required plaintiffs to amend their complaint within 30 days. They did not, and so the trial court dismissed their case. Plaintiffs tried, unsuccessfully, to set aside this dismissal. The trial court’s actions were valid. We affirm.

I

Plaintiffs are Teri, Mary, and John Pagarigan. They are Johnnie Pagarigan’s adult children. Johnnie Pagarigan suffered a stroke and entered the Magnolia Gardens nursing home in February 2000. She died in June 2000. Her adult children claim abuse and poor medical care caused her death.

The Pagarigans sued two groups. The first is the Aetna group of defendants; Aetna U.S. Healthcare of California, Inc.; Aetna U.S. Healthcare, Inc.; and Aetna Health Plans of Southern California, Inc. These Aetna entities (Aetna) were to blame for their mother’s death, the Pagarigan children say, because Aetna operated the health maintenance organization responsible for Magnolia Gardens. Aetna is a party to this appeal.

These plaintiffs also sued other entities and individuals connected with Magnolia Gardens. These defendants are not parties to this appeal. For simplicity, we refer to this second group as the non-Aetna defendants, or as the other…