Watts

Appellants Barbara Watts and Felton Coleman filed a complaint against Valley Medical Center (respondent) and others alleging that their adult daughter, Charlotte Coleman, died as a result of medical malpractice. Respondent’s motion for summary judgment, predicated on its claim that appellants had not complied with the provisions of the Tort Claims Act (Gov. Code, § 900 et seq.) was granted.

We are called upon to interpret the California Supreme Court case of Phillips v. Desert Hospital Dist. (1989) 49 Cal.3d 699 [ 263 Cal.Rptr. 119 , 780 P.2d 349 ] and to decide whether appellants can raise errors claimed to have been committed by the trial court in an earlier denial of appellants’ motion to strike respondent’s Tort Claims Act defense and/or to relieve appellants of certain requirements under that act, on appeal of the summary judgment absent a direct appeal of the order denying the earlier motion. We reverse, determining that based on Phillips , as applied to the instant facts, the earlier order has no effect on this appeal because respondent has waived its claim of noncompliance with the Tort Claims Act as a defense to appellants’ action.

Factual and Procedural…