Cardenas v. California Forensic Medical Group

Florinda Izazaga Cardenas v. California Forensic Medical Group, Inc. concerns claims arising from Daniel Rivera Izazaga’s death after he died by suicide while detained in the Napa County Jail. Cardenas alleged that jail and medical personnel failed to respond properly to his repeated statements that he was suicidal. Her amended complaint asserted a federal civil-rights claim and a negligence claim against unidentified defendants, the trustee of the Wellpath Liquidating Trust, and California Forensic Medical Group, Inc. (CFMG).\n\nCFMG asked the court to dismiss both claims. The court ruled that the negligence claim was governed by California’s one-year deadline for professional negligence claims against health-care providers, rather than the general two-year deadline. Because Cardenas named CFMG after that deadline and waived her argument that the claim should relate back to an earlier complaint, the negligence claim was time-barred. The court also found that the federal claim did not clearly identify what CFMG employees did or whether they knew about Izazaga’s suicidal statements.\n\nThe court dismissed the federal civil-rights claim with leave to amend and dismissed the negligence claim without leave to amend. Any amended complaint was due December 19, 2025. Judge Donna M. Ryu issued the order.