City of Stockton v. Superior Court

*734 Opinion

Government Code section 905 requires that “all claims for money or damages against local public entities” be presented to the responsible public entity before a lawsuit is filed. 1 Failure to present a timely claim bars suit against the entity. (§ 945.4.) Here we hold that these requirements apply to breach of contract claims. We also adopt the practice of referring to the claims statutes as the “Government Claims Act,” to avoid the confusion engendered by the informal short title “Tort Claims Act.”

In this suit against a city and its redevelopment agency, the trial court overruled defendants’ demurrer, deciding that the claim requirements did not apply to plaintiff’s contract causes of action. The Court of Appeal issued a writ of mandate directing that the trial court sustain the demurrer. We affirm the Court of Appeal’s judgment, with modifications.

I. BACKGROUND

Plaintiff Civic Partners Stockton, LLC (Civic), executed two redevelopment contracts in May 2000 with defendant Redevelopment Agency of the City of Stockton (the Agency). One contract involved rehabilitation of the Hotel Stockton; the other was for construction of an adjacent cinema. In May 2001,…