How Long Do I Have to File a Personal Injury Claim in California?

Every injury claim has a deadline, called the statute of limitations. If you miss it, a court will almost always dismiss your case no matter how strong it is. The deadline depends on who you are claiming against and what kind of harm you suffered.

The general rule: two years

For most personal injury claims in California, including car, truck, motorcycle and bicycle crashes, you have two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit. A wrongful death claim generally must be filed within two years of the date of death.

Shorter deadlines

Claims against government entities

If a city, county, state agency, school district or public transit operator may be responsible, the rules change. You generally must present a written claim to the agency within six months of the incident. If the agency rejects the claim, you may have only six months from the rejection notice to file suit. This applies to many bus accident cases and to crashes caused by dangerous road conditions.

Medical negligence

Claims against health care providers follow a separate rule: generally one year from when you discovered the injury, or three years from the injury itself, whichever comes first.

Longer deadlines and exceptions

• Property damage only. A claim limited to damage to your vehicle or other property generally has a three-year deadline.
• Minors. The clock for a child’s injury claim is often paused until the child turns 18, but this does not apply in the same way to government claims or medical negligence.
• Delayed discovery. In limited situations the clock starts when you discovered, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury and its cause.

These exceptions are narrow and fact-specific. Do not assume one applies to you without asking an attorney.

An insurance claim does not stop the clock

Negotiating with an insurance company is not the same as filing a lawsuit. An adjuster can keep talking with you right up to the deadline, and if it passes without a lawsuit on file, the insurer no longer has a reason to pay.

Why you should not wait

Even with two years on the calendar, delay hurts a claim. Video is recorded over, vehicles are repaired or scrapped, and witnesses forget. Gaps between the crash and medical treatment give insurers an argument that you were not really hurt. The earlier a claim is investigated, the stronger it tends to be.

If you are unsure which deadline applies, ask us. The consultation is free.