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Samuels v. Mix12/30/1999
For purposes of applying the one-year-from-discovery limitation on commencement of attorney malpractice actions in Code of Civil Procedure section 340.6, subdivision (a) (section 340.6(a)), who bears the burden of proving when the plaintiff discovered, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts constituting the defendant's alleged malpractice? As explained below, we hold the defendant bears that burden.
Background
In October 1992, plaintiff Arlayna Samuels filed her complaint in this attorney malpractice action, amending it three days later to allege defendants Terence J. Mix and Mix, Sneathern & Brown (collectively defendant or Mix) negligently had advised her to settle, for an inadequate amount, a personal injury claim stemming from injuries she attributed to ingesting the medication L-tryptophan. Samuels pleaded she first learned of Mix's negligence after November 1991, upon discovering that Mix had substantially understated to her the actual value of her claim.
On March 29, 1993, Mix answered, denying all the allegations of the complaint and alleging numerous affirmative defenses, including that every cause of action in this lawsuit is barred by an applicable statute of limitations, including, but not limited to, section 340.6 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
The superior court granted Mix's motion to bifurcate the proceedings and separately try the statute of limitations issue. Mix moved in limine for an order burdening Samuels to establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the statute of limitations had not run; the court granted Mix's motion.
At the bifurcated trial, only plaintiff Samuels and attorney Donald Hildre, whom Samuels previously had consulted, testified. As the Court of Appeal explained, Samuels, who suffered from an incurable blood and muscular disease she attributed to ingesting L-tryptophan, retained defendant Mix in May of 1990 to represent her in a personal injury lawsuit against the drug's manufacturer, Showa Denko. Showa Denko offered to settle for $400,000, but Samuels, thinking the case worth $2 million, inquired of Mix regarding the value of her claim. Mix told Samuels the case was not worth as much as Samuels thought. Characterizing Showa Denko's offer as "very good" and the best he had seen, he recommended she accept it because Showa Denko might file for bankruptcy .
In December of 1990, Samuels, on Mix's advice, accepted Showa Denko's settlement offer. In October of the following year, her medical condition deteriorated. Samuels met briefly with Hildre, an attorney specializing in L-tryptophan cases whom she had met through a support group, about the possibility of reopening her case against Showa Denko. She brought him certain documents. In November 1991, Samuels told Hildre she had settled with Showa Denko for $400,000. Thereafter, in early 1992, Samuels obtained from Mix a copy of the settlement agreement and conveyed it to Hildre.
Hildre referred Samuels to a doctor. In July of 1992, after reviewing medical test results, Hildre told Samuels she had settled her case against Showa Denko for an inadequate amount.
The court refused Samuels's proffered instruction that Mix had the burden to prove the lawsuit was untimely filed. The court, rather, instructed the jury that Samuels had the burden of proving that the lawsuit was timely filed.
By a vote of nine to three, the jury specially found Samuels had failed to commence her suit within one year from the date she discovered, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts constituting Mix's wrongful act or omission. In accordance with that s
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