Eliason

BACKGROUND

Eliason sued Huey and Ranken in 2019. According to his first amended complaint, Eliason and Huey had joint custody of their daughter between 2013 and 2017. But in 2017 Eliason lost joint custody when Ranken, a therapist for his daughter hired by Huey, prepared a document that was ultimately shared with a trial court mediator. Eliason alleged that Ranken made statements against him in the document with malice and without a reasonable basis for believing the truth of the statements. He further asserted that based on the document, a state agency issued a citation against Ranken for unprofessional conduct. Eliason asserted causes of action against Ranken for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligent infliction of emotional distress, general negligence, and intentional harm. The trial court sustained Ranken’s demurrer without leave to amend. It found all of Eliason’s claims time-barred under section 340.5’s one-year statute of limitations for claims based on professional negligence. It reasoned that Eliason knew of Ranken’s conduct in late 2017, over a year before he filed his suit in 2019, as evidenced by a document he filed in Huey’s earlier action for…