Lucchesi v. Bar-O Boys Ranch

353 F.3d 691, 2003 WL 22994544
Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit·Decided December 22, 2003·No. No. 02-17079·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

DAVID R. THOMPSON, Senior Circuit Judge.

Leroy Lucchesi, Sr. and Patricia Odom (collectively “plaintiffs”) appeal the district court’s summary judgment dismissing their action filed under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Bar-0 Boys Ranch, Del Norte County, and Allan Smith (collectively “defendants”). The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendants on the ground that the plaintiffs’ section 1983 claim was barred by the applicable statute of limitations. The court rejected the plaintiffs’ argument that the statute of limitations was equitably tolled during the time that they were pursuing a state tort claim under California law. The court determined that the doctrine of equitable tolling was inapplicable because the state tort claim and the section 1983 claim were “separate, distinct, and independent.”

We conclude that the plaintiffs are not barred from seeking relief from the statute of limitations under the doctrine of equitable tolling. The proper inquiry is whether the plaintiffs’ first claim (the state tort claim) and the second claim (the section 1983 claim) concern the same wrong, not whether the two claims are based upon the same law, involve similar procedures, or seek the same remedies. Because the plaintiffs’ state tort claim and their section 1983 claim were predicated on the same wrong, the district court should have applied California’s three-pronged test to determine whether the plaintiffs are entitled to equitable tolling. We, therefore, reverse and remand to the district court for consideration of California’s three-pronged test. We reject the plaintiffs’ argument that the defendants waived, or are equitably estopped from asserting, the statute of limitations.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On October 9, 2000, Benjamin Lucchesi died while participating in compulsory morning exercises at the Bar-0 Boys Ranch, a facility maintained by Del Norte County, California. An autopsy performed on Benjamin described his cause of death as “Sudden cardiac death associated with exercise, (interval-minutes).” The autopsy report also noted that bronchial asthma was a significant condition.

Initially, the plaintiffs pursued a tort claim against Del Norte County under the California Tort Claims Act (“CTCA”), Cal. Gov’t Code §§ 810, et seq. As required by the CTCA, on April 3, 2001, the plaintiffs filed a wrongful death claim with the County. They included in their claim allegations that the Bar-0 Boys Ranch, Allen Smith, and other individuals not named as parties in this case deprived Benjamin of his civil rights and subjected him to cruel and unusual punishment. They also alleged that the defendants knew or should have known that Benjamin suffered from asthma but did not make adequate medical care available to him while he was engag[694]*694ing in a mandatory exertional physical activity.

On August 6, 2001, four months after the claim was filed, the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors served the plaintiffs with a Notice of Rejection of Claim (“Rejection Notice”). The Rejection Notice contained the following language: WARNING:

Subject to certain exceptions, you have only six (6) months from the date this notice was personally delivered or deposited in the mail to file a court action on this claim. See Government Code § 945.6.

The plaintiffs did not file an action under the CTCA. Instead, on January 25, 2002, they filed the present section 1983 action in federal court. The plaintiffs’ section 1983 complaint echoes the allegations made in the tort claim they filed with the County. They allege that the defendants violated Benjamin’s civil rights and subjected him to cruel and unusual punishment by knowingly depriving him of adequate medical care. In addition, they allege that the defendants failed to institute a system for communicating the medical history and records of minors transferred from Juvenile Hall to Bar-0 Boys Ranch, failed to have a system in place for medical emergencies, and failed to require their staff to be “CPR” certified.

The plaintiffs’ section 1983 action was filed within six months of service of the County’s Rejection Notice, but was not filed within one year of Benjamin’s death. The defendants moved to dismiss the action on the ground that it was not filed within the applicable one-year statute of limitations. The plaintiffs opposed the motion, arguing that the limitations period was equitably tolled for the four months their state tort claim was pending before the County, and that, in any event, in view of the wording of the County’s Rejection Notice, the defendants had waived or were estopped from asserting the one-year statute of limitations.

The district court converted the defendants’ motion to dismiss to a motion for summary judgment and granted judgment in favor of the defendants. The court held that the doctrine of equitable tolling did not apply because the state tort claim, the first claim, and the section 1983 claim, the second claim, were “separate, distinct, and independent.” The court also rejected the plaintiffs’ waiver and estoppel arguments. This appeal followed.

DISCUSSION

A. Equitable Tolling

State law governs the statutes of limitations for section 1983 actions as well as questions regarding the tolling of such limitations periods. Wilson v. Garcia, 471 U.S. 261, 269, 105 S.Ct. 1938, 85 L.Ed.2d 254 (1985). It is undisputed that the applicable statute of limitations in this case is the residual one-year statute for personal injury actions set forth in California Code of Civil Procedure section 340(3). It is also undisputed that the plaintiffs filed their section 1983 action after the expiration of that one-year limitations period. The primary issue before us is whether, under California law, the plaintiffs are eligible for equitable tolling. This is a purely legal issue which we review de novo. See Santa Maria v. Pacific Bell, 202 F.3d 1170, 1175 (9th Cir.2000).

In determining whether a plaintiff is entitled to equitable tolling under California law, courts apply a three-pronged test. The three elements of the test are: (1) timely notice to the defendant in filing the first claim; (2) lack of prejudice to the defendant in gathering evidence to defend against the second claim; and (3) [695]*695good faith and reasonable conduct by the plaintiff in filing the second claim. Collier v. City of Pasadena, 142 Cal.App.3d 917, 924, 191 Cal.Rptr. 681 (1983). If a plaintiffs first claim and second claim concern different wrongs, however, equitable tolling is not available and the three-pronged test is not applied. See, e.g., Loehr v. Ventura County Comm. College Dist., 147 Cal.App.3d 1071, 195 Cal.Rptr. 576 (1983); Arnold v. United States, 816 F.2d 1306 (9th Cir.1987).

In Loehr, the California Court of Appeal held that the filing of the plaintiffs constitutional claim under section 1983 did not toll the statute of limitations for the plaintiffs various state-law causes of action.

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Lucchesi v. Bar-O Boys Ranch, 353 F.3d 691, 2003 WL 22994544 (9th Cir. 2003).

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Lucchesi v. Bar-O Boys Ranch
353 F.3d 691 (Ninth Circuit, 2003)