Hennessy v. County of San Bernardino

BARNARD, P. J.

This is an action for damages for personal injuries alleged to have been suffered by three minor plaintiffs by reason of the dangerous and defective condition of a highway. A demurrer was sustained without leave to amend and the. plaintiffs have appealed from the judgment which followed. '

The accident happened on March 30, 1939. Verified claims for damages were filed on June 6, 1939, which were rejected by the board of supervisors of the respondent county on June 14, 1939. This action was begun on March 8, 1940, less than a year after the happening of the accident but more than six months after the rejection of the claims by the board of supervisors.

The main question presented is whether the appellant minors are bound by the six months’ limitation provided for in section 342 of the Code of Civil Procedure or provided for in section 4078 of the Political Code. The appellants contend that they come within the exception provided for in section 352 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

Prior to 1923 an action of this nature could not be maintained against a county. Then, as now, section 342, Code Civ. Proe., provided that actions on claims against a county must be commenced within six months after their rejection by the board of supervisors. Also, sections 4075 and 4078 of the Political Code provided, and still provide, that a claim shall be presented before suit may be brought, and that a suit may be brought within six months after the final rejection of the claim by the board but not afterward. So far as material here, the first of these sections merely provided for the filing of a claim without limiting the time within which that should be done, and the other section fixed a time when a claim should be deemed to be rejected if the board failed to act upon it. In other words, the latter section was concerned with fixing the time when the six months’ period of limitation should begin to run, but not with any exception to or extension of that six months’ period. Section 4078 is in harmony with section 342, Code of Civil Procedure

(Harvey

[185]

v.

County of Kern,

107 Cal. App. 590 [290 Pac. 648]), and both are general statutes fixing a limitation of six months within which actions upon claims against a county may be brought.