Sykora

Failure to follow the requirements of the Government Claims Act (Gov. Code, § 900 et seq.) often bars a plaintiff from filing an action against a state agency. But not always. The act recognizes that in certain cases an inflexible application of its requirements produces an unjust result for which relief is available. The instant case is an example. We hold the timely filing and apparent acceptance of a government claim for which plaintiff inadvertently did not pay the $25 filing fee do not bar his claim.

Plaintiff Eric Dennis Sykora filed a government tort claim with the California Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board (the Board). He did not include the required $25 filing fee. The Board affixed its stamp on the claim and assigned it a claim number.

Sykora later filed a negligence action against defendant State of California Department of Mental Health, now known as State Department of State Hospitals (the Department). More than one year after the claim was filed, the Department challenged the claim in a motion for judgment on the pleadings because Sykora did not pay the $25 filing fee.

The trial court agreed and granted the Department’s motion and…