Court Opinion

ID: 9723845
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 10:35:46.165972+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:52.686996
License: Public Domain

Opinion
CHRISTIAN, J.
John Tsingaris and Rita Tsingaris appeal from an order denying a petition for relief from lateness in filing claims pursuant to the Government Tort Claims Act as a basis for bringing suit against the State of California, the County of San Mateo and Fred Arthur Wenger.
*314The petition for relief was submitted upon declarations showing that Rita Tsingaris was seriously injured and her infant son was killed on December 19, 1976, when Charles Edward Peters entered the Tsingaris residence and attacked the victims with a carving knife. Appellants did not file a claim within 100 days as required by Government Code section 911.2. After learning that Peters was a probationer, appellants retained counsel who filed a claim and an application for leave to present claim on June 28, 1977.
Appellants acknowledge that a petition for judicial relief from lateness in filing a claim calls for a discretionary determination by the court. The court is to grant relief where “The failure to present the claim was through mistake, inadvertence, surprise or excusable neglect unless the public entity establishes that it would be prejudiced . . . .” (Gov. Code, § 946.6, subd. (c)(1).)  Appellants contend that their ignorance of the claims statute and of the existence of possible causes of action against governmental entities should have been held to excuse compliance with the requirement that claims be timely filed. The contention cannot be sustained. Mere ignorance of the time limitation for filing a claim against a governmental entity is not so strong a showing of good cause for relief as to override the discretion of the trial court. (Roberts v. State of California (1974) 39 Cal.App.3d 844 [114 Cal.Rptr. 518].) Failure to discover the alleged basis of the cause of action in time is also not a compelling showing in the absence of reasonable diligence exercised for the purpose of discovering the facts. (Black v. County of Los Angeles (1970) 12 Cal.App.3d 670 [91 Cal.Rptr. 104].)
Syzemore v. County of Sacramento (1976) 55 Cal.App.3d 517, 524 [127 Cal.Rptr. 741], cited by appellant, does express as an alternative ground of decision the conclusion that it was an abuse of discretion, in a situation closely analogous to the present case, to deny relief to a layman “unlearned in the law, ignorant of the claim requirement and . . . unaware of the existence of a tenable cause of action.” But the Syzemore holding does not discuss or even cite any of the decisions which establish that a compelling showing of excusable neglect is not made unless the claimant has used reasonable diligence for the purpose of discovering the facts. (See, e.g., Black v. County of Los Angeles, supra, 12 Cal.App.3d 670.) We must respectfully decline to follow the Syzemore holding, because it is inconsistent with governing authority. There is no evidence that appellants were misled by representations or actions attributable to respondents or that they made any effort whatever to discover earlier the facts which they belatedly assert as grounds for recovering damages from respondents. It was not an abuse of discretion to deny relief.
*315Appellants contend that Government Code section 911.2 as applied to them is an unconstitutional deprivation of equal protection. That contention is contrary to governing authority. (Carr v. State of California (1976) 58 Cal.App.3d 139, 142 [129 Cal.Rptr. 730].)
The order is affirmed.
Caldecott, P. J., concurred.