Hernandez

Plaintiff Marcello Hernandez, a minor, seeks review of a decision of the Court of Appeal which affirmed a trial court order barring *1022 his personal injury action against defendant County of Los Angeles because of the failure of his parent or attorney to file a timely claim with the county pursuant to the statutory claims provisions of the California Tort Claims Act. (Gov. Code, § 900 et seq.) 1 Plaintiff challenges the Court of Appeal ruling on two separate grounds. First, he claims that the court erred in finding that the so-called “mentally incapacitated” tolling provision of section 911.4 does not entitle him to relief. Second, he maintains that, in any event, his action should have been permitted to go forward under sections 911.6 and 946.6 because past cases interpreting these provisions establish that so long as a late-claim application on behalf of a minor is filed within a year of the accrual of the minor’s cause of action, as it was in this case, any delay by a parent or attorney in filing the claim is not a proper basis for barring the minor’s action.

As we shall explain, although we find that the Court of Appeal properly determined that plaintiff was not…

I concur in the majority’s holding that the tolling provision of section 911.4 of the Government Code does not apply to minors. 1 But I dissent from its further conclusion that a minor’s late claim application is timely if filed within one year of the accrual of his cause of action, and that the lack of diligence of a parent may not be imputed to the minor for the purpose of deciding whether a late claim application was filed within a reasonable time.

As to the first point, the majority holding is contrary to the provisions of sections 911.4 and 946.6 that a late claim application on behalf of a minor must be filed within a reasonable time. The majority acknowledge that the cases they cite in support of their holding recognize this requirement, but they simply read it out of the statute by holding that a late claim application on behalf of a minor is timely if it is filed within one year of the accrual of the cause of action. On the second issue, the existence of the “reasonable-time” requirement is itself an indication that a minor is bound by his parent’s failure to comply with the statute. It is inconceivable that the Legislature imposed on a minor—including an infant—the duty…

Plaintiff Marcello Hernandez, a minor, seeks review of a decision of the Court of Appeal which affirmed a trial court order barring his personal injury action against defendant County of Los Angeles because of the failure of his parent or attorney to file a timely claim with the county pursuant to the statutory claims provisions of the California Tort Claims Act. (Gov. Code, § 900 et seq.) [1] Plaintiff challenges the Court of Appeal ruling on two separate grounds. First, he claims that the court erred in finding that the so-called "mentally incapacitated" tolling provision of section 911.4 does not entitle him to relief. Second, he maintains that, in any event, his action should have been permitted to go forward under sections 911.6 and 946.6 because past cases interpreting these provisions establish that so long as a late-claim application on behalf of a minor is filed within a year of the accrual of the minor's cause of action, as it was in this case, any delay by a parent or attorney in filing the claim is not a proper basis for barring the minor's action.

As we shall explain, although we find that the Court of Appeal properly determined that plaintiff…