CCP 340.4 provides a six-year period for bringing suit for personal injuries suffered at or before birth. That period is not tolled by CCP 352, which generally tolls limitations periods while the plaintiff is a minor, but the section is subject to delayed discovery tolling. Enacted in 1998, CCP 340.8 provides a two year limitations period for personal injuries from exposure to toxic chemicals. That section’s two-year limitations period commences on injury or discovery, whichever is later, and the section is tolled during minority under CCP 352. This decision holds that CCP 340.8, rather than CCP 340.4, governs claims for prenatal injuries due to the mother’s exposure to toxic chemicals. CCP 340.8 was enacted later. It applies to “any” suit for toxic exposure injuries except asbestosis and medical malpractice claims. Those express exceptions reinforce the notion that “any” toxic exposure suit encompasses every other kind of such a suit including one for prenatal injuries. In this case, plaintiff was born before CCP 340.8 was enacted, but the then-existing and applicable statute of limitations, CCP 340.4 had not yet expired on plaintiff’s claim when CCP 340.8 was enacted, so plaintiff is entitled to bring her suit within the latter statute’s lengthened time period.
California Supreme Court (Corrigan, J.); July 5, 2018; 2018 Cal. LEXIS 4882