The Supreme Court today announced its February calendar. There will be only four cases heard next month.
On February 9, in Sacramento, the court will hear the following cases (with the issue presented as stated on the court’s website):
Flores v. Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital: (1) Does the one-year statute of limitations for claims under the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (Code Civ. Proc., § 340.5) or the two-year statute of limitations for ordinary negligence (Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1) govern an action for premises liability against a hospital based on negligent maintenance of hospital equipment? (2) Did the injury in this case arise out of “professional negligence,” as that term is used in section 340.5, or ordinary negligence?
John v. Superior Court: Must a defendant who has been declared a vexatious litigant and is subject to a prefiling order (Code Civ. Proc., § 391.7, subd. (a)) obtain leave of the presiding judge or justice before filing an appeal from an adverse judgment?
People v. Cortez: Did the Court of Appeal err by reversing the conviction of defendant Cortez due to error in admitting a statement made by defendant Bernal to his nephew, error in instructing the jury with CALCRIM No. 361, and prosecutorial misconduct?
People v. Townsel: This is an automatic appeal from a September 1991 judgment of death. The court’s website does not list issues for such appeals. However, the court has asked for supplemental briefing about the effect on the appeal of the superior court’s acknowledgement that it is unable to produce the records the superior court reviewed in ruling on the appellant’s Pitchess motion.
