In California you generally have two years from the date you were hurt to file a personal injury lawsuit. The rule comes from Code of Civil Procedure 335.1, and it covers most car crashes, slip and falls, dog bites, and bicycle and pedestrian collisions. Miss the date and the court throws the case out, no matter how badly you were hurt or how plainly the other driver ran the light.
Then there is the exception that catches people every year. If the party who hurt you is a government entity, a city, a county, a school district, a transit agency like Metro, you have to present a written claim to that entity within six months of the injury under Government Code 911.2. Six months, not two years. Other situations run on their own clocks too, including injuries to children and claims under your own auto policy. Below is how each deadline works, and why the date on the calendar is only half the reason not to wait.
The two-year rule under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1
Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 sets the deadline for an action for “injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.” Two years. The clock normally starts on the date of the injury, which for a car crash is the date of the crash.
Two years sounds like a long runway. It is not.
Treatment on a moderate injury often runs six months to a year. Records and billing take weeks to arrive after that, longer when a hospital’s release company is slow. Then a demand has to be assembled, sent, read and negotiated, and a company that wants ninety days to respond will take ninety days. Filing has to happen with room to spare, not on the afternoon of the last day.
And the deadline is about one thing: filing a lawsuit. Reporting the crash does not satisfy it. Neither does opening a claim, or a friendly conversation with someone who says the file is still under review. Only a complaint filed with the court stops the clock.
What “the date of injury” means when the harm shows up later
For most collisions the injury date is obvious. Some harms are not. Where an injury could not reasonably have been discovered right away, California courts apply a discovery rule that can start the clock when the injured person knew, or should have known, of the injury and its cause. That is fact specific, and it is no safety net to plan around. If there is any question about when your clock started, treat the earliest possible date as the real one.
The insurance claim and the lawsuit deadline are two different things
This is where people get hurt twice. Opening a claim does nothing to extend your time to sue. The claim number, the recorded statement, the property damage check, the emails asking for one more record: none of it pauses Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
Insurance companies do run on their own timelines. Under California’s Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations, an insurer must generally accept or deny a claim within 40 days after receiving proof of claim (10 CCR 2695.7), and Insurance Code 790.03 prohibits unfair claims settlement practices. Those rules govern how a company handles your file. They give you no extra time in court.
We have seen a claim sit in polite, unhurried negotiation for a year and a half, then change tone within a week of the two-year date, because by then the injured person has nothing left to push with. Nothing requires an insurer to remind you the deadline is coming. Assume nobody is watching your calendar for you.
Claims against a city, a county, or Metro: six months
When a public entity is involved, the two-year rule is not your first deadline. Government Code 911.2 requires a written claim for personal injury to be presented to the entity within six months of the date the cause of action accrued.
This comes up far more often than people expect:
- A collision with a Metro bus, a city vehicle, a police car, or a public works truck
- A bus accident involving a public transit agency
- A fall caused by a broken public sidewalk, a dangerous roadway condition, or a defect in a public park
- An injury at a public school, a county hospital, or another government facility
- A pedestrian struck in a crosswalk where a signal or the road design is part of the problem
The claim is a formal document, presented to the right entity, in the right way. Send it to the wrong department, or to the city when the road belongs to the county, and you can burn the entire six months without knowing it. Working out who owns the bus, the sidewalk or the intersection is rarely quick, which is why it should start early.
What happens after the entity responds
Once your claim is presented, the entity generally has 45 days to act on it. If it sends a formal written rejection, a short second clock starts: you generally have six months from the date that rejection was personally delivered or mailed to file suit. That is far shorter than two years, and the notice usually says so in a small paragraph at the bottom of the page that is easy to read past.
If the entity never responds, the time to file is longer, but it is calculated differently. Any written notice from a public entity should be treated as time sensitive and put in front of a lawyer that week.
There is also a procedure for asking permission to present a late claim after six months has run. It has strict limits and is granted only in narrow circumstances. It is a repair, not a plan.
When the clock runs differently
Children
Code of Civil Procedure 352 tolls the limitations period while an injured person is a minor. In practice the two-year period generally does not begin to run until the child turns 18, so a child hurt at age 10 usually still has time as an adult.
Two cautions. Tolling for minors does not rescue a government claim, so the six-month requirement under Government Code 911.2 still needs attention and a parent should act on it promptly. And waiting years to investigate a child’s case is a poor idea even where the law allows it. Vehicles get repaired and video is overwritten long before a ten year old turns 18.
Wrongful death
A wrongful death action under Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 carries a two-year deadline as well, generally running from the date of death rather than the date of the underlying incident. The statute lists who may bring the claim, including a spouse, a domestic partner, children and certain dependents. A separate survival action under Code of Civil Procedure 377.30 covers the claims the person who died would have had, on its own timing rules. Families with a wrongful death claim against a public entity face that same six-month requirement, during the hardest months of their lives.
Hit and run drivers and claims under your own policy
If the driver who hit you was never identified, or turned out to have no insurance, your recovery usually comes through the uninsured motorist coverage on your own policy. Insurance Code 11580.2 requires insurers to offer that coverage, and it is one of the more valuable lines on a California auto policy.
These claims run on contract rules as well as statute. They generally require the insured to sue the uninsured driver or make a written demand for arbitration within two years of the crash, and policies typically require prompt reporting of a hit and run to police and to your own company. A report made four days later can create a real problem. Report it, notify your insurer in writing, and get advice early. This is one of the quieter ways a car accident claim falls apart.
Medical malpractice
Claims against doctors, hospitals and other health care providers run under a different statute, with shorter and more complicated deadlines than the general two-year rule. If you believe you were harmed by medical care, do not assume you have two years. Ask a lawyer promptly.
What happens if you miss the deadline
The defense files a motion based on the statute of limitations, and the court dismisses the case. It does not matter that liability was clear or that you negotiated in good faith the whole way. Once a case is barred, an insurance company has no reason to pay anything at all.
Occasionally there is an argument for tolling or a later accrual date. Those arguments are narrow, a judge decides them, and nobody should build a case around one.
Why waiting hurts even when the deadline is far away
The deadline is the last thing that can kill a case. Time damages it long before that.
- Video disappears. Business surveillance, doorbell cameras, and bus and rideshare systems commonly overwrite footage within days. A preservation letter sent in week one often saves the one piece of evidence that decides fault.
- Vehicles get repaired or scrapped. Crush patterns, event data recorder downloads and damage photographs are gone once the car is fixed or sold at auction.
- Witnesses fade. People move, change numbers, and stop remembering details. A statement taken in the first month is worth far more than a memory recalled a year later.
- Gaps in treatment get used against you. Wait weeks to see a doctor, or stop for two months and resume, and an insurer argues the injury was minor. Consistent care is better medicine and better proof.
- Scene conditions change. Potholes get filled, lighting gets repaired, a broken stair is replaced. A photograph taken while the hazard still exists cannot be recreated.
None of that means rushing a settlement. It means starting the investigation while the evidence still exists, so the decisions you make later are made from a position of strength.
Key points
- Most California personal injury lawsuits must be filed within two years of the injury under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
- Claims against a city, county, school district or transit agency require a written claim within six months under Government Code 911.2, followed by a short window to sue after a written rejection.
- Filing an insurance claim does not extend your court deadline, and no insurer has to warn you that it is approaching.
- Code of Civil Procedure 352 tolls the deadline for children, but government claim requirements and vanishing evidence do not wait.
- Wrongful death claims generally run two years from the date of death, while uninsured motorist and medical malpractice claims follow their own rules.
- Evidence starts disappearing within days, so the practical deadline to begin is far earlier than the legal one.
Frequently asked questions
Does calling the insurance company stop the two-year clock?
No. Reporting a crash, opening a claim, giving a statement or accepting a property damage payment has no effect on the statute of limitations. The only thing that stops the clock is a lawsuit filed in court before the deadline runs.
What if I was partly at fault for the crash?
California follows pure comparative negligence, so being partly at fault reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault rather than barring it. The deadlines are the same either way. Insurers often raise shared fault as a reason to keep talking, which is one more reason not to let the calendar run down.
I was hit by a Metro bus. Do I really only have six months?
You have six months to present a written claim to the public entity under Government Code 911.2, and that step comes before any lawsuit. After a written rejection you generally have another six months to file. Since identifying the correct entity takes time, these cases should be looked at within days. You can read more about how we handle bus and transit cases.
How soon should I talk to a lawyer after an accident?
As early as you reasonably can, ideally in the first days. Early involvement means preservation letters go out while video still exists, witnesses are reached while they remember, and treatment is documented from the beginning. A consultation costs nothing and commits you to nothing.
If you were hurt in California and are not certain which deadline applies to your situation, call Manoukian Law Firm at (818) 818-5031 for a free consultation. Attorney Vaheh Manoukian handles every case personally from the Chatsworth office, by phone, by video, or wherever is easiest for you, and you can read more about the firm before you call. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
