Belton v.. Bowers Ambulance Service

ORDER

Review Granted RAYMOND BRUCE BELTON, Appellant v. BOWERS AMBULANCE SERVICE, Respondent No. S072534 C.A. 2nd, Div. 7 No. B112501 California Supreme Court Filed October 21, 1998         Respondent's petition for review is GRANTED.


(Editor Note - For your convenience we reprint below the Daily Journal's Ruling Column brief which summarized the earlier decision of the lwoer court.)


PRISONER'S RIGHT

Prisoner's incarceration extends limitations period for suit against health provider to three years from injury.
        The C.A. 2nd has ruled that the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) allowed for extension of an incarcerated prisoner's time to sue a health provider to three years from the time of his alleged injury.
        Raymond Belton, an inmate at a federal prison, was injured at the prison. Bowers Ambulance Service was summoned to transport Belton to a hospital. Belton claimed that the Bowers attendants injured his knee and head by dropping him as they attempted to lift him into the ambulance. He also alleged that he struck his head again when the ambulance came to a sudden stop. Belton sued Bowers more than a year after the injury allegedly occurred. Bowers successfully demurred to the complaint as barred by the statute of limitations.
        The C.A. 2nd reversed and remanded. Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.5, part of MICRA, provides in part that "the time for commencement of action shall be three years after the date of injury or one year after the plaintiff discovers, or through reasonable diligence should have discovered, the injury, whichever occurs first." Section 340.5 goes on to state that the time for commencement of an action should not exceed three years unless tolled for fraud, intentional concealment or the presence of a foreign body. Section 352.1 provides that incarceration is a "disability" that tolls statutes of limitations for up to two years. Hollingsworth v. Kofoed "concluded that section 352.1 did not apply to toll prisoner claims against medical providers. . . . We respectfully disagree." Nothing in the language of Sections 340.5 and 352.1 compelled the conclusion that Section 352.1 did not apply in health provider cases. Section 340.5 did not expressly negate application of Section 352.1. Section 340.5 did not purport to limit tolling provisions extending the limitations period less than or up to three years. Section 340.5 could be reconciled with Section 352.1. Section 340.5 did not preclude the tolling of prisoner suits.
        Belton v. Bowers Ambulance Service, C.A. 2nd, No. B112501, file July 13, 1998, by Neal, J.
        The full text of this case appears in 98 DJ D.A.R. 7663, July 15, 1998.