Kumari v. Hospital Committee for the Livermore-Pleasanton Areas

Plaintiff’s medical malpractice suit was untimely, having been filed more than a year after discovery of the malpractice; formal CCP 364 pre-suit notice from her attorney did not extend the limitations period since plaintiff had already sent her own letter which operated as a pre-suit notice despite not being intended as such.  Plaintiff’s medical malpractice…

Brenner v. Universal Health Services of Rancho Springs, Inc.

Defendant hospital was entitled to summary judgment after plaintiff’s expert declaration stated only that husband “could have survived” had defendant treated him in accord with the standard of care—but stopped short of saying that survival was more likely than not but for the hospital’s acts, which is the standard for showing causation in a medical…

Cuevas v. Contra Costa County

To reduce a damage award in a medical malpractice case, the defendant may introduce evidence of collateral source payments to plaintiff for medical care including Obamacare and private medical insurance benefits that has already received or likely will receive in the future. Civ. Code 3333.1, part of the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act,  allows the…

Bigler-Engler v. Breg, Inc.

In case involving knee injury that resulted from implantation of medical device, the jury’s award of $5 million in noneconomic damages was excessive and was the result of prejudice caused by misconduct of plaintiff’s counsel in belittling and mocking defendant’s witnesses and counsel as well as the trial court itself.  Plaintiff’s counsel committed misconduct during…

Drexler v. Petersen

The one-year limitations period on medical malpractice begins to run when the plaintiff first becomes aware that a preexisting disease or condition has developed into a more serious one, and since the evidence conflicted on this point, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment to defendant.  When the plaintiff in a medical malpractice action…

Nava v. Saddleback Memorial Medical Center

The one-year limitations period governing medical malpractice actions (CCP 340.5) governs a claim of injury suffered on a fall from a hospital  gurney, since gurney transport was under a doctor’s orders and was integral to the patient’s treatment.  Following Flores v. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital (2016) 63 Cal.4th 75, this decision holds that the one-year limitations…

Flores v. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital

CCP 340.5’s one-year-from-discovery limitations period applies to a patient’s claim she was injured by a hospital negligent maintenance of its equipment or furniture if the particular equipment or furniture (here, guard rails on a hospital bed) are integrally related to medical diagnosis or treatment of the patient.  To fall within the scope of CCP 340.5,…