Estate of Gavin v. Tewksbury State Hospital

The outcome of this appeal turns principally on the proper interpretation of the word “claimant” as it appears in the first sentence of G. L. c. 258, § 4, inserted by St. 1978, c. 512, § 4, the Massachusetts Tort Claims Act (Act). That sentence reads in part as follows: “A civil action shall not be instituted against a public employer on a claim for damages under this chapter unless the claimant shall have first presented his claim in writing to the executive officer of such public employer within two years after the date upon which the cause of action arose . . . .”1

*147The majority assigns a…