If a driver hit your son or daughter while they were riding an e-bike, the driver’s liability insurance is the first place the claim goes, and your own auto policy’s uninsured motorist coverage is the second. A minor’s claim belongs to the child, is brought through a parent, and any settlement generally has to be approved by a judge. The two-year clock that applies to most injury claims does not start running against your child until they turn 18, with one large exception: if any part of the claim is against a city, the county, Caltrans or a school district, a written claim is due within six months no matter how old the rider is.
The first week matters more than any other. The emergency room record, the police report, the bike, the helmet and the driver’s insurance information are the evidence the claim is built on, and the driver’s insurance company will spend the following months looking for a reason to blame the rider. With e-bikes that reason usually comes wrapped in the Vehicle Code: was the child wearing a helmet, was the bike a Class 3 model a 14-year-old was not allowed to ride, was the child on a sidewalk in a city that just banned e-bikes from sidewalks. This guide covers each question for families in Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Porter Ranch, Simi Valley and Santa Clarita.
The first 72 hours
Go to the emergency room the same day, even if the child seems fine. Head and abdominal injuries in kids can look minor at the scene and turn serious hours later. In Santa Clarita that usually means Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital. In the west Valley it is UCLA West Valley Medical Center or Providence Tarzana, and near Porter Ranch it is Northridge Hospital. Tell the triage nurse it was a bicycle versus car collision.
Get the police report number, or find out which agency responded. Calabasas and Agoura Hills are policed by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Malibu/Lost Hills Station at 27050 Agoura Road, (818) 878-1808. Porter Ranch generally falls within the LAPD’s Devonshire Division, 10250 Etiwanda Avenue in Northridge, 818-832-0633. Simi Valley has its own police department, and Santa Clarita is served by the Sheriff’s Santa Clarita Valley Station.
Then preserve the physical evidence.
- Keep the e-bike exactly as it is. The damage shows the direction and force of impact, and the classification label required by Vehicle Code 312.5 shows what class of bike it was.
- Keep the helmet. If your child was wearing one, the helmet proves it.
- Photograph the scene within a day or two: the intersection, the bike lane or its absence, sight lines, and anything that blocked the view. Thousand Oaks Boulevard in Agoura Hills, Las Virgenes Road in Calabasas and Rinaldi Street in Porter Ranch all have stretches where visibility is the whole case.
- Write down the driver’s name, plate and insurance information, and get the names of anyone who stopped.
- Ask nearby businesses and homeowners in writing to save camera footage, which often overwrites within days.
- Save any ride app or fitness tracker data. Speed and route data can settle the “how fast was he going” argument before it starts.
Do not give a recorded statement to the driver’s insurance company, and do not let your child give one. Anything about how the crash happened waits until you have talked to a lawyer.
Why helmets, Class 3 rules and sidewalk ordinances come up
California uses pure comparative negligence. Under Li v. Yellow Cab (1975), a rider who was partly at fault still recovers, but the award is reduced by the rider’s percentage of fault. Three arguments come up in nearly every teen e-bike case.
The helmet
Vehicle Code 21212 requires anyone under 18 to wear a properly fitted and fastened helmet on a bicycle, and under Vehicle Code 312.5(b) that includes Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes. Class 3 riders and passengers of any age must wear one under Vehicle Code 21213(b). A missing helmet does not make the crash the child’s fault. What it does is give the insurance company an argument that a head injury would have been less severe, and that argument reaches only the head-injury portion of the claim, and only if the company can show a helmet would have made a difference. A broken wrist is unaffected by helmet use.
The Class 3 age rule
Under Vehicle Code 21213(a) a person under 16 shall not operate a Class 3 e-bike, the pedal-assist model that keeps helping up to 28 miles per hour. There is no statewide minimum age for Class 1 or Class 2 bikes, which stop assisting at 20 miles per hour. If your 14-year-old was on a Class 3, expect the insurance company to raise it. The question a jury would be asked is whether the child’s riding, as opposed to the label on the bike, contributed to the crash. A 14-year-old riding a Class 3 at 12 miles per hour through a green light who is struck by a left-turning SUV was not hurt because of the label.
The harder version is a modified bike. Since January 1, 2025, Vehicle Code 312.5(d) says a bike modified to exceed 20 miles per hour on motor power alone, or to exceed 750 watts, or to have its pedals removed, is no longer an electric bicycle at all. If the device was not legally an e-bike, the insurance company will argue it was an unlicensed motor vehicle, and your own auto insurer may point to policy language about motor vehicles you own but did not insure.
The sidewalk
Calabasas Ordinance 2026-423, adopted March 11, 2026 and effective about a month later, bans e-bikes and other electric mobility devices from public sidewalks, parks and trails; streets are still governed by the Vehicle Code. Agoura Hills passed a similar sidewalk and park ban in April 2026, and Simi Valley moved its own path rules through the city council in early 2026, according to published reports. The Calabasas ordinance sets no minimum age, and none of these rules turns a sidewalk rider into the cause of a crash. They give the insurance company one more thing to argue, usually that the child came off the sidewalk into a driveway where the driver could not have expected a bike moving at 20 miles per hour. The answer lies in sight lines, the driver’s speed and whether the driver looked.
Whose insurance pays
Start with the driver. Under Vehicle Code 16056, every auto policy issued or renewed since January 1, 2025 must carry at least $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident in bodily injury liability coverage and $15,000 for property damage. A serious injury to a child, with surgery, months of physical therapy and a parent out of work to provide care, can pass a minimum policy quickly. The Mineta Transportation Institute’s December 2025 report to the Legislature found that 17 percent of e-bike riders treated at California hospitals in 2023 were admitted, against 11 percent for conventional cyclists.
That is where your own auto policy comes in. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which Insurance Code 11580.2 requires every insurer to offer, typically follows the named insureds and the relatives who live with them, on a bicycle as much as in a car. If the driver has $30,000 in coverage and your policy carries $250,000 in underinsured motorist coverage, your own insurer can be responsible for the difference once the driver’s policy is exhausted. If the driver fled, the coverage steps in as if the driver had no insurance, subject to the 24-hour police report rule. Our post on how much uninsured motorist coverage to carry explains how to read the declarations page, and our guide to a driver with no insurance covers the rest.
How a minor’s claim works
The injured child is the claimant, but a child cannot sign a release or file a lawsuit alone. A parent acts on the child’s behalf, and if a lawsuit is filed the child appears through a guardian ad litem appointed under Code of Civil Procedure 372. The parents may also have their own claim for the medical expenses they paid.
Any settlement of a minor’s injury claim generally has to be approved by the superior court. The judge reviews the amount, the attorney’s fee, the medical liens and where the money will be held, and funds are commonly placed in a blocked account or an annuity the child receives at 18. There is no reason to hurry. Growth plates, a dental injury that needs implants after the jaw stops growing, or a concussion that shows up in school performance months later are all reasons to let the medical picture develop before anyone talks numbers.
Deadlines that apply to a child
Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 gives an injured person two years to sue. For a minor, Code of Civil Procedure 352(a) says the time while the child is under 18 does not count, so a 14-year-old hurt today has until age 20 to file against the driver. Evidence does not wait that long, though, and the parents’ own claim for expenses runs on the ordinary two years.
The larger caution is in Code of Civil Procedure 352(b). The tolling for minors does not apply to a claim against a public entity. If the crash involved a school district bus, a Caltrans intersection with a broken signal, a bike lane with a pavement drop, or a rail crossing with no gate on the sidewalk approach, Government Code 911.2 requires a written claim within six months of the injury, and the child’s age does not extend it. Government Code 835 makes a public entity liable for a dangerous condition of its property. In April 2026 a 13-year-old in Simi Valley was killed when his Class 3 e-bike was struck by a train at a crossing on Los Angeles Avenue, and published reports noted that the sidewalk approach had no crossing gate. That kind of fact raises a public-entity claim and a six-month deadline at the same time. Our post on the six-month government claim deadline explains the process.
How Manoukian Law Firm handles a child’s e-bike case
Our first call covers deadlines, the police report, the bike and the helmet, and whether any public entity is involved. Then we send preservation letters, obtain the driver’s policy limits, and gather the medical records as treatment unfolds. Every case is prepared as if it will be tried, because the insurance company’s offer depends on what it expects a jury to do with the helmet and age arguments. We represent families throughout California from the Chatsworth office, by phone or video, in English, Spanish and Armenian. Our bicycle accident page explains the process, and local information is on our Calabasas, Agoura Hills and Simi Valley pages.
Key points
- Same-day emergency care, a police report and the untouched bike and helmet are the foundation of a teen e-bike claim.
- Under Li v. Yellow Cab a missing helmet or a Class 3 age violation reduces a claim only to the extent it contributed to the injury; it does not bar the claim.
- The driver’s liability policy pays first, and the family’s own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage can pay the difference.
- A minor’s settlement generally requires court approval, and there is no reason to settle before the medical picture is clear.
- Code of Civil Procedure 352 pauses the two-year deadline until the child turns 18, but a claim against a public entity is still due within six months under Government Code 911.2.
Frequently asked questions
My son was not wearing a helmet. Does he still have a claim?
Yes. The helmet law for minors is a $25 infraction under Vehicle Code 21212, and it does not shift fault for the collision to the rider. The insurance company can argue a helmet would have reduced a head injury, and that affects only the head-injury portion of the claim.
The driver says my daughter came off the sidewalk. Does the Calabasas ordinance end the case?
No. Ordinance 2026-423 makes sidewalk riding a municipal violation, but a driver leaving a driveway or turning across a sidewalk still has a duty to look. The case turns on speed and sight lines.
Should we accept the insurance company’s early offer to pay the ER bill?
Not without advice. An early payment often comes with a release, and a minor’s release generally has to be court-approved anyway. Let the child finish treatment first.
The bike was a friend’s Class 3 and my child is 15. Is that a problem?
It is an argument the insurance company will make, and it should be addressed rather than hidden. The question in a civil claim is causation, and a driver who failed to yield is still responsible for what that failure caused.
If your child was hit while riding an e-bike in Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Porter Ranch, Simi Valley, Santa Clarita or anywhere in California, call Manoukian Law Firm at (818) 818-5031 or reach us through our contact page. Consultations are free and there is no fee unless we recover for you.
