Tyhurst v. Housing Authority of Los Angeles County

FORD, J.

The defendant, Housing Authority of Los Angeles County, made a motion for judgment on the pleadings, which was granted. The plaintiff has appealed from the ensuing judgment.

The action was filed on December 21, 1960. It is one to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been suffered by the plaintiff on or about April 9, 1960, as the result of the defendant’s negligence. The complaint does not

[716]

allege that the plaintiff presented a claim for damages to the defendant. In 1951 it was held in

Harper

v.

Vallejo Housing Authority,

104 Cal.App.2d 621, 626-627 [232 P.2d 262], that the filing of such a claim with the housing authority was not necessary because no statute so required. However, section 710 of the Government Code was enacted in 1959 ánd it provides as follows: “No suit for money or damages may. be.'brought against a local public entity on a cause of action for which this chapter requires a claim to be presented until a written claim therefor has been presented to the entity, in conformity with the provisions of this article.” Section 700, enacted at the same time as part of the same chapter, is as follows: “As used in this chapter, ‘local public entity’ includes any county or city and any district, local authority or other political subdivision of the State but does not include the State or any office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, commission or agency thereof claims against which are paid by warrants drawn by the Controller.” The nature of the defendant in the present case is such that it falls within that definition of a local public entity. (See

Harper

v.

Vallejo Housing Authority, supra,

104 Cal.App.2d 621, 627; Health & Saf. Code, § 34353; McDonough,

The New Claims Statute

(1959) 34 State Bar J. 964, 966.) Section 34380 of the Health and Safety Code, enacted in 1959, provides that all claims against the authority for money or damages are governed by the provisions of the Government Code relating to claims (commencing with § 700).