Judge: Stephen I. Goorvitch, Case: 23STCP02443, Date: 2024-06-28 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: 23STCP02443    Hearing Date: June 28, 2024    Dept: 82

Harlem Chadwick                                                     Case No. 23STCP02443

v.                                                                     Date: June 28, 2024, at 1:30 p.m.

                                                                                    Courthouse: Stanley Mosk Courthouse

City of Compton, et al.                                             Department: 82

                                                                                    Judge: Stephen I. Goorvitch

[Tentative] Order Denying Petition for Relief from Late Claim

NOTICE: The court will be unexpectedly dark on Friday, June 28, 2024, at 9:30 a.m.  Therefore, this matter will be called at 1:30 p.m. instead of 9:30 a.m. 

            Petitioner Harlem Chadwick, a minor, by and through his Guardian Ad Litem, Wonda L. Hale, (“Petitioner”) seeks leave to file a late tort claim against governmental entity pursuant to Government Code § 946.6 and Code of Civil Procedure section 946.6.  On or about May 30, 2020, Petitioner’s mother was killed during an automobile collision at an intersection that Petitioner alleges was dangerous due to the lack of a controlled left turn device.  Government Code section 911.2(a) states that “a claim relating to a cause of action for death or for injury to person or to personal property . . . shall be presented . . . not later than six months after the accrual of the cause of action.”  If written notice of the board’s action or inaction (which amounts to a rejection) on the claim is tendered pursuant to section 913, the claimant has six months from the time the written notice is personally delivered or deposited in the mail to file suit against the public entity.  (Gov. Code § 945.6(a)(1).)  This six-month period expired on November 30, 2021.

            Petitioner retained counsel on January 7, 2021.  If a claimant fails to make a claim within six months, the claimant may make a written application to the board of the public entity for permission to present a late claim within a reasonable time but not to exceed one year from the accrual of the cause of action.  (Gov. Code § 911.4(a)-(b).)  Petitioner filed applications for permission to file a late claim on May 24, 2021.  The County of Los Angeles denied the application on June 14, 2021.  The City of Los Angeles denied the application on June 30, 2021.  The City of Compton denied the application on July 6, 2021.

If the board denies the application to present a late claim, the claimant may then petition the Court for relief.  (Gov. Code § 946.6(a).)  The petitioner must demonstrate each of the following: (1) that the late claim application made to the board was denied or deemed denied; (2) the reason for failure to present the claim within six months of the accrual of the cause of action; and (3) the contents of the claim as required by Government Code section 910.  “The petition shall be filed within six months after the application to the board is denied . . . .”  (Gov. Code § 946.6(b).) 

In the instant case, the board denied the claims on June 14, June 30, and July 6, 2021.  The petition was filed over two years later, on July 13, 2023.  Petitioner did not file a reply brief or address the timeliness of the petition.  (See Sehulster Tunnels/Pre-Con v. Traylor Brothers, Inc. (2003) 111 Cal.App.4th 1328, 1345, fn. 16 [failure to address point is “equivalent to a concession”].)  Instead, Petitioner suggests in her petition that this petition should “relate back” to petitions for relief from late claim, which were filed be her siblings in Case Numbers 21STCP04249, 21STCP04250, and 21STCP04251.  The court grants Respondents’ request for judicial notice of the orders in these cases.  Petitioner cites no authority for the proposition that a petition for late claim may relate back to petitions by different petitioners.  Regardless, the court (Beckloff, J.) denied each of the petitions.  (See Request for Judicial Notice, Exhs. C & D.)

Petitioner suggests that this petition is timely because she was a minor.  Under Government Code section 946.6, a minor need not present the application to the board until “six months of the person turning 18 years old or a year after the claim accrues, whichever occurs first.”  (Gov. Code § 946.6(c)(3).)  The statute states that the minor still must file the petition within six months of the denial of the application.  (See Gov. Code § 946.6(b).) 

Based upon the foregoing, the court orders as follows:

1.         Petitioner’s petition for relief from the claims requirement is denied.

2.         The court’s clerk shall provide notice.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

Date:  June 28, 2024                                                   ___________________________

                                                                                    Stephen I. Goorvitch

                                                                                    Superior Court Judge