Delgado

The trial court granted defendant’s motion for judgment on the pleadings on the ground that the complaint was barred by the one-year statute of limitations for a personal injury action. (Code Civ. Proc., § 340, subd. (3).) On appeal from the judgment of dismissal plaintiff contends that the applicable statute is Code of Civil Procedure section 353. That statute governs in cases of a defendant’s death before the expiration of the statute of limitations. It provides that plaintiff has up to one year following the issuance of letters testamentary or of administration to bring suit against the decedent’s representatives. We agree that section 353 takes precedence over section 340, subdivision (3) in this case. Accordingly we reverse the judgment of dismissal.

Background

On August 3, 1983, plaintiff Sonia Vargas Delgado was injured in an automobile accident in Kern County while riding in a car driven by Armando Perez Espinoza. Espinoza was killed in the accident.

More than a year later, on August 24, 1984, Delgado filed a “Complaint for Personal Injuries” in Santa Cruz County, naming as defendants “Estate of Armando Perez Espinoza,” the owners of the vehicle driven by…