High Court Extends Malpractice Deadline for Minors

The state Supreme Court made it easier for suits to be brought on behalf of minors over medical malpractice at government-run hospitals Monday, allowing a mother to sue on behalf of her retarded son even though she filed the claim a month past the legal deadline.

In a split decision, the court said that although a state law says people seeking money for alleged governmental negligence must file claims within 100 days of the incident, claims brought on behalf of minors can be filed up to a year later.

The decision came on a 4-3 vote, with three lame-duck justices--Joseph R. Grodin, Cruz Reynoso and Chief Justice Rose Elizabeth Bird--plus Justice Allen Broussard voting in the majority to allow the lawsuit to proceed.

The case stems from the birth in June, 1981, of Marcello Roberto Hernandez at County-USC Medical Center. His mother, Gloria, contends that the boy was born retarded because of negligence on the part of the hospital and its staff.

The mother filed the claim late because she did not realized until she spoke with a lawyer in October, 1981, that she might have grounds to seek compensation. After gathering medical records, Hernandez filed her claim with Los Angeles County, which runs the hospital, in March, 1982, about a month past the 100-day deadline under state law.

The county rejected Hernandez’s claim--a formal application for compensation--because it was filed too late, prompting Hernandez to sue. A trial court also rejected her claim, citing the fact that it was filed after the deadline. That ruling was upheld by the state Court of Appeal.

Although the high court overturned the lower court rulings, Grodin, writing for the majority, made it clear that minors and their guardians do not have unlimited time in which to file claims against government agencies.

However, the outgoing justice also concluded that the Legislature “intended to accord special solicitude to the claims of injured minors,” and added that government agencies must at least consider minors’ claims so long as they are filed within a year of an alleged act of negligence.

The one-year cut-off protects “a governmental entity from having to respond to a claim many years after the accrual of the action” and at the same time allows a minor whose claim is filed late to have his or her claim considered, Grodin wrote.

In a dissent, Justice Stanley Mosk said the majority “simply read . . . out” of the state law the provision that claims must be filed within 100 days.