F.A. v. Los Angeles Unified School Dist. CA2/8

Filed 12/1/15 F.A. v. Los Angeles Unified School Dist. CA2/8 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

SECOND APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION EIGHT

F.A., B260505

Plaintiff and Appellant, (Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC522850) v.

LOS ANGELES UNFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT,

Defendant and Respondent.

APPEAL from a judgment of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Mary H. Strobel, Judge. Affirmed.

Owen Patterson & Owen, Susan A. Owen and Tamiko B. Herron for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Sedgwick, Craig S. Barnes, Michael M. Walsh; Andrade Gonzalez, Sean A. Andrade and Henry H. Gonzalez for Defendant and Respondent.

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The trial court denied appellant F.A.’s petition for relief from the requirements of the Government Claims Act. We affirm because F.A. provided no evidence in support of his petition. He had the burden to “demonstrate by a preponderance of the evidence that his application to the public entity for leave to file a late claim was presented within a reasonable time, and that the failure to file a timely claim was due to mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect.” (Shank v. County of Los Angeles (1983) 139 Cal.App.3d 152, 156.) FACTS AND PROCEDURE In September 2013, F.A. filed a claim for damages against the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). In it, F.A. alleged that he was 24 years old and was born January 13, 1989. (In another brief he stated that he was born June 24, 1985.) F.A. further alleged that he attended elementary school at Miramonte Elementary School and was taught by Mark Berndt in 1997 or 1998. According to the claim, Berndt inappropriately touched F.A. when he was a student at Miramonte Elementary School. F.A. alleged that he was blindfolded, fed cookies with sperm, fed spoonfuls of sperm, had cockroaches placed on his person, and was photographed by Berndt. On October 1, 2013, F.A. filed a complaint in superior court alleging causes of action for intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, sexual battery, and assault. On November 14, 2013, F.A. filed an application to present a late claim with the school district. The application stated that that “[d]ue to the mistake, surprise, inadvertence, excusable neglect and/or disability, CLAIMANT’s claims were not filed within the six month period as required by law . . . .” In his application, F.A. alleged that the abuse occurred when he was eight years old. He further alleged that “[t]he numerous acts of sexual abuse perpetrated upon CLAIMANT caused CLAIMANT to become mentally incapacitated in that he suffered from depression, anxiety, anger, nightmares, insomnia, and an inability to cope. Further, CLAIMANT was unable to speak of the heinous acts committed upon him effectively to enable a claim to be presented within the applicable time period.” F.A. alleged that he did not discover the damage caused by the