The California Government Claims Act: a Primer, Application to Real Property and Environmental Law Claims, and Recent California Supreme Court Decisions
| Publication year | 2020 |
| Author | John M. Fujii and Valerie D. Escalante Troesh |
John M. Fujii and Valerie D. Escalante Troesh
John M. Fujii is a Partner at Silver & Wright LLP and head of the firm's civil litigation defense practice specializing in defending public entities and their employees from federal civil rights lawsuits and state tort actions.*
Valerie D. Escalante Troesh is a Partner at Silver & Wright LLP and one of the firm's most experienced attorneys in public entity representation, including tort defense, nuisance abatement and receivership actions, and advisory work in code enforcement. Silver & Wright LLP is one of the state's preeminent law firms specializing in code enforcement and public agency litigation.*
In 1963, the California Legislature enacted a comprehensive set of statutes governing public entity liability and immunity and providing a uniform procedure for asserting such claims—the Government Claims Act ("GCA"), sometimes referred to as the "Tort Claims Act," codified at Government Code sections 810 to 996.6. Previously, tort liability of public entities was based on common law, which provided a general rule of governmental immunity until the California Supreme Court abolished this rule in 1961 and prompted enactment of the GCA.1 With over 50 years of amendments and case law interpreting the GCA since its enactment, public law practitioners need an understanding of the contours of the GCA given its importance for litigation against public agencies.
California courts have made it clear that the intent of the GCA is to confine governmental liability, not expand it.2 Public entities in California and their employees are not liable for injury, except as provided by statute.3 It is important to note several caveats exist on the application of the GCA to specific claims.4 Thus, legal practitioners should ensure they have a firm understanding of any applicable caveats in considering either bringing or defending against a tort claim.
For all monetary claims subject to the GCA, a proper claim must be timely presented to the public agency before any right to redress in court is available.5 Only after this claim requirement is exhausted do the liabilities and immunities of the GCA kick in.6
The claim filing requirements under the GCA can be found in Government Code sections 900 to 951. Claims for money or damages against a public entity or against a public employee acting within the course and scope of his or her employment generally must be presented to the public entity before filing a lawsuit.7 This requirement applies to any monetary claim, even if other non-monetary relief is sought or if the claim is for breach of contract.8 Purely non-monetary claims, such as claims for injunctive relief and mandamus actions seeking to compel performance of a mandatory duty, statutory duty, or ministerial act are not subject to the GCA's claim presentation requirement.9
The claim presentation rules of the GCA might not apply, however, in several situations. For example, the GCA itself contains several exemptions or exceptions, including, claims made by another public agency, claims relating to a special assessment on property, claims made under the Revenue and Taxation Code, claims by public employees for fees, salaries, wages, mileage, or other expenses and allowances, among various others exemptions,10 and claims for taking of or damage to private property.11 In addition, a plaintiff could be excused from presenting a claim where he or she was reasonably unaware that the defendant was a public employee acting in the course and scope of employment. 12 The courts have further defined limitations on the general claim presentation requirement, including the clarification that no GCA claim is required for federal law claims such as federal civil rights violations,13 and the excuse for failure to present a claim when a defendant asserts a cross-complaint against a plaintiff public agency arising from the same transaction.14
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The GCA also provides clear mandates on the processes for the required claim presentation and the public entity's response.15 A GCA claim must be presented to the public agency within 6 months or 1 year of the occurrence of the triggering event: claims for "injury to person or to personal property or growing crops" must be presented within 6 months of the accrual of the claim; all other claims must be made within 1 year of accrual.16 A public entity has a limited time period (normally 45 days) in which to act on a claim, and if it fails to act within that period, the claim is deemed to have been rejected by operation of law on the last day of the period.17 Lawsuits after a claim is made must be filed within six months of service of the public entity's claim rejection,18 or if no formal notice is given, normally within two years of the operation of law rejection.19 "[F]ailure to timely present a claim for money or damages to a public entity bars a plaintiff from filing a lawsuit against that entity."20
The liabilities and immunities under the GCA can be found in Government Code sections 810 to 895.8. The liabilities range across various scenarios, including the commonly asserted liabilities of a public entity for injury proximately caused by an employee or independent contractor,21 for injury due to the failure to exercise a mandatory duty to protect against risk of that particular injury,22 and for injury caused by a dangerous condition of public property.23 The immunities are also broad, including where the public entity cannot be liable for: "an injury resulting from an act or omission of an employee of the public entity where the employee is immune from liability";24 the intentionally tortious conduct of an elected official unless he or she is named as a co-defendant in the same action;25 "an injury caused by adopting or failing to adopt an enactment or by failing to enforce any law";26 or "an injury caused by the issuance, denial, suspension or revocation of, or by the failure or refusal to issue, deny, suspend or revoke, any permit, license, certificate, approval, order, or similar authorization" where a determination to give such authorization is vested in the public entity or its employee.27 The GCA also makes it clear: no punitive damages may be sought against a public entity.28
Special attention should be given to the GCA's liability provision for dangerous conditions. Government Code section 835 makes a public entity liable for the dangerous condition of its property.29 To establish liability, a plaintiff must prove either that an employee of the public entity negligently created the dangerous condition or that the public entity had notice of it.30 Public employees are also subject to dangerous condition liability.31
The essential elements of a GCA dangerous condition claim are manifold: claim presentation; property is owned or controlled by a public entity; such property had a dangerous condition at time of the incident; reasonably foreseeable risk of the kind of incident that occurred; fault via negligence or prior notice; causation; and harm.32 Case law has developed under each element defining the contours of the law on dangerous condition liability.33
Defenses to such dangerous condition claims include the failure to comply with claim presentation procedures and immunities for traffic control, design approval, natural conditions, recreational trail usage, hazardous recreational activities, weather conditions, inspections of the property of others, reasonable act or omission, conditions on unimproved and unoccupied land, and usage of reservoir or canal for unintended purposes.34
While plaintiffs cannot obtain any attorney's fees for prevailing on a GCA claim, a public entity that is sued may be able to obtain its reasonable attorney's fees for successfully defending against a frivolous GCA claim.35
For real property or environmental law practitioners dealing with claims against a public entity, it is crucial to understand the provisions for liability and immunities under the GCA.
Immunities may be afforded to public entities taking specific actions against real property or businesses. For instance, governmental immunities protected a public entity whose zoning board revoked a restaurant permit, which was later determined to be in error, from a lawsuit for damages.36 Governmental immunities have also been applied to bar a lawsuit by owners who had to reconstruct their home to bring it up to city code standards after city building inspectors intentionally misrepresented and suppressed facts.37
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Environmental law practitioners also should understand the overlay of the GCA on state law claims for hazardous waste. Generally, a two-year statute of limitations applies to civil actions "based upon exposure to a hazardous material or toxic substance."38 However, the GCA imposes a six-month claim filing deadline on claims against public entities for personal injury caused by exposure to a hazardous material or toxic substance and a one-year claim filing deadline on claims for injury or damage to real property caused by exposure to a hazardous material or toxic substance.39 In addition to the claim filing requirements, environmental law practitioners should also be aware of the GCA's governmental liabilities and immunities that could apply to their clients' claims. For instance, a public entity overseeing water systems within its jurisdiction has the responsibility to notify consumers of any contaminated water.40 However, governmental immunity in the GCA has been applied to hold a public entity immune from any liability for conducting a...
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