Sykora v. State Department of State Hospitals

Filed 5/6/14

CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION SIX

ERIC DENNIS SYKORA, 2d Civil No. B249285 (Super. Ct. No. CV120252A) Plaintiff and Appellant, (San Luis Obispo County)

v.

STATE DEPARTMENT OF STATE HOSPITALS,

Defendant and Respondent.

Failure to follow the requirements of the Government Tort Claims Act often bars a plaintiff from filing an action against a state agency. (Gov. Code, § 900 et seq.) But not always. The Act recognizes that in certain cases an inflexible application of its requirements produces an unjust result for which relief is available. The instant case is an example. We hold the timely filing and apparent acceptance of a government claim for which plaintiff inadvertently did not pay the $25 filing fee do not bar his claim. Plaintiff Eric Dennis Sykora filed a government tort claim with the Victim Compensation and Government Claims Board ("the Board"). He did not include the required $25 filing fee. The Board affixed its stamp on the claim and assigned it a claim number. Sykora later filed a negligence action against defendant State of California Department of Mental Health, now known as State Department of State Hospitals ("the Department"). More than one year after the claim was filed, the Department challenged

the claim in a motion for judgment on the pleadings because Sykora did not pay the $25 filing fee. The trial court agreed and granted the Department's motion and dismissed Sykora's action. We reverse. FACTS Sykora was a patient at Atascadero State Hospital from February 4 to May 4, 2011. He suffered from schizoaffective and poly substance dependence disorders, which were treated with therapy and medications. Upon his release, he claimed he had not been provided psychotropic medication or guidance on how to obtain it. On May 15, 2011, Sykora's sister reported that Sykora's health was deteriorating. He was confused and hearing voices. The next day, an employee of a mental health conditional release program discovered Sykora "unconscious, [ly]ing on his blood-soaked bed in a pool of his own blood." He had cut off his genitals with a knife because "the 'devil' told him to do it." On November 8, 2011, Sykora's attorney mailed a "Government Claims Form" to the Board. He alleged Sykora had suffered damages stemming from medical malpractice. After receiving no response from the Board, he filed an action against the Department and other defendants. In his first amended complaint, he alleged causes of action for negligence and negligent infliction of emotional distress. On April 10, 2013, the Department filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings alleging Sykora "did not file a timely and proper claim with [the Board] before instituting this litigation against the State . . . ." In an attached declaration, Eric Rivera, the Board's custodian of records, said that Sykora's claim was received by the Board on November 14, 2011. He said it "was not accompanied by the required $25.00 filing fee, or an affidavit or request for waiver of the filing fee as permitted by the Government Code section 911.2, subdivision (b)(2). Therefore, I am informed and believe that [the claim] was not accepted by [the Board] as a government claim." (Italics added.) Rivera attached a file-stamped copy of the claim to his declaration.