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Samuels v. Mix12/30/1999
pecial verdict, the court entered judgment for Mix.
Samuels appealed. The Court of Appeal reversed. We granted Mix's petition for review.
Discussion
Pursuant to section 340.6(a), an attorney malpractice action "shall be commenced within one year after the plaintiff discovers, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts constituting the wrongful act or omission, or four years from the date of the wrongful act or omission, whichever occurs first." " nder the provisions of section 340.6, discovery of the negligent act or omission initiates the [one-year] statutory period . . . ." (Adams v. Paul (1995) 11 Cal.4th 583, 589, fn. 2.)
The Court of Appeal concluded the trial court erred in instructing the jury that plaintiff had the burden of proving, by a preponderance of the evidence, all the facts necessary to establish that this action was timely filed, and in rejecting her proffered instructions that defendant bore the burden of proving the suit was untimely. For the following reasons, we agree with the Court of Appeal.
1. Plain Language
On its face, section 340.6(a) states "two distinct and alternative limitation periods: one year after actual or constructive discovery, or four years after occurrence (the date of the wrongful act or omission), whichever occurs first." (Radovich v. Locke-Paddon (1995) 35 Cal.App.4th 946, 966, italics in original; see Regents of University of California v. Hartford Acc. & Indem. Co. (1978) 21 Cal.3d 624, 640-641 & fn. 12 [by implication].) As defendant concedes, in section 340.6 the Legislature provided an affirmative defense to a cause of action for attorney malpractice. (See Norgart v. Upjohn Co. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 383, 396; Fuller v. White (1948) 33 Cal.2d 236, 240.)
Section 500 of the Evidence Code provides that "Except as otherwise provided by law, a party has the burden of proof as to each fact the existence or nonexistence of which is essential to the claim for relief or defense that he is asserting." Defendant is asserting section 340.6(a)'s one-year-from-discovery limitation defense. In plain language, section 340.6(a) makes essential to that defense the fact that any attorney malpractice action against which it is invoked was not "commenced within one year after the plaintiff discovers, or through the use of reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts constituting the wrongful act or omission . . . ." Absent a compelling reason for doing otherwise, we must construe section 340.6(a) in accordance with its plain language (cf. Belton v. Bowers Ambulance Service (1999) 20 Cal.4th 928, 931-932) [tolling provision in statute of limitations on actions against health care providers]; Rossi v. Brown (1995) 9 Cal.4th 688, 694 [state Constitution and local charter]) and the normal allocation of the burden of proof established by the Legislature (Aydin Corp. v. First State Ins. Co. (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1183, 1193; Fukuda v. City of Angels (1999) 20 Cal.4th 805, 820).
Just as plainly as section 340.6(a) makes the plaintiff's actual or constructive discovery of the defendant's wrongdoing an element of its one-year-from-discovery limitations defense, it does not(nor does any other law(make the plaintiff's actual or constructive discovery of the defendant's wrongdoing an element of a prima facie claim for attorney malpractice. (See Jordache Enterprises, Inc. v. Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison (1998) 18 Cal.4th 739, 762 (Jordache) [noting "discovery of damage is not a necessary component of actual injury under section 340.6, subdivision (a)(1)" (italics in original)].) In this case, if defendant had never pled the statute of limitations as a de
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