A Simi Valley resident’s crash lands in the Ventura County Superior Court when the crash happened in Ventura County and the driver who caused it lives there too. It can land in the Los Angeles Superior Court instead when the crash happened over the pass in Chatsworth, Porter Ranch or anywhere else in Los Angeles County, or when the responsible driver lives in Los Angeles County. California’s venue statute, Code of Civil Procedure 395, makes a personal injury case proper in either the county where the injury happened or a county where a defendant lives, so the same Simi Valley family can have one case in Ventura and the next in Los Angeles depending on where the crash was and who hit them.
The county line runs across the 118 in the Santa Susana Pass, and thousands of Simi Valley residents cross it twice a day. This guide covers what changes on each side: which agency writes the report, which hospital is nearest, which courthouse hears the case, and which deadlines apply, including the shorter clock when a city, the county or Caltrans is involved.
Two counties, one commute
Simi Valley is in Ventura County and has its own city police department. The 118 climbs out of the city past Kuehner Drive, crosses the pass, and drops into Chatsworth in Los Angeles County, where the LAPD and the Los Angeles courts take over. Inside Simi Valley the crashes cluster on the long arterials, Los Angeles Avenue, Cochran Street, Madera Road, Tapo Canyon Road and First Street, at the signals and in the left-turn pockets, and on the 118 at the interchanges where slowing traffic gets hit from behind.
Which side of the line the crash was on decides who investigates, where the report is requested, and which court would hear a lawsuit. The law is the same statewide. The addresses are not.
Who writes the report
Simi Valley streets: Simi Valley Police. Collisions on city streets are handled by the Simi Valley Police Department at 3901 Alamo Street, Simi Valley, CA 93063, main line (805) 583-6950. The department’s Traffic Bureau handles accident investigation, and collision reports are available through the Traffic Bureau, which is open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Bring the report number, your identification and the date and location.
The 118 in Ventura County: CHP Moorpark. Crashes on the freeway inside Ventura County belong to the California Highway Patrol’s Moorpark Area office at 610 Spring Road, Moorpark, CA 93021, phone (805) 553-0800, which patrols State Route 118 from the Los Angeles County line west. CHP reports are requested from the Area office that wrote them.
The 118 in Los Angeles County: CHP West Valley. Once the crash is on the Los Angeles side of the pass, the CHP’s West Valley Area office at 5825 De Soto Avenue in Woodland Hills covers the freeway.
Chatsworth and Porter Ranch streets: LAPD Devonshire. Surface streets on the Los Angeles side are covered by the LAPD’s Devonshire Community Police Station at 10250 Etiwanda Avenue in Northridge. A copy of an LAPD report comes through the department’s request process at lapdonline.org, which asks you to allow at least 45 days from the date of the collision and charges $19 per report.
Whichever agency responded, ask for the report number and the officer’s name at the scene. The officer’s opinion on which Vehicle Code section was violated does not decide fault in a civil case, but insurance companies lean on it, so errors should be corrected through the reporting officer in the first month.
Getting medical care on either side of the line
Be seen the same day, or the next morning at the latest. The date on the first medical record anchors the claim, and a gap between the crash and the first visit becomes the insurance company’s argument that the injury came from somewhere else.
On the Simi Valley side, Adventist Health Simi Valley at 2975 North Sycamore Drive has an emergency department. On the Los Angeles side, Northridge Hospital Medical Center at 18300 Roscoe Boulevard and UCLA West Valley Medical Center, formerly West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, at 7300 Medical Center Drive in West Hills are the nearest emergency rooms to the pass. For soreness, sprains and cuts, an urgent care creates the same-day record; go to the emergency room for a blow to the head, loss of consciousness, chest or abdominal pain, numbness, or bleeding that will not stop.
Which hospital you went to does not affect the claim. What matters is that the visit happened and that every symptom was recorded, including the headaches and trouble concentrating that point to a concussion.
Which court hears the case
Under Code of Civil Procedure 395, a lawsuit for injury to a person from negligence is properly filed in the superior court of the county where the injury happened or the county where the defendants, or some of them, live when the case is filed. In practice that produces four common situations for a Simi Valley resident.
- Crash in Simi Valley, driver from Simi Valley or elsewhere in Ventura County. Ventura County is the only proper county, and the case is filed in the Ventura County Superior Court.
- Crash in Simi Valley, driver from Los Angeles County. Either county is proper. The case can be filed in Ventura, where the injury happened, or in Los Angeles, where the defendant lives.
- Crash in Chatsworth, Porter Ranch or anywhere else in Los Angeles County, driver from Los Angeles County. Los Angeles County is the proper county, even though the injured person lives in Simi Valley.
- Crash in Los Angeles County, driver from Ventura County. Either county is proper.
Where a business is the defendant, such as a delivery company or a trucking carrier, the rules add the county of its principal place of business, which usually widens the choice. A defendant that thinks the case was filed in the wrong county can move to transfer it, so the choice is made carefully at the start. It matters for practical reasons: where the client and witnesses will attend depositions and trial, which court’s procedures apply, and how long a case takes to reach a courtroom.
The Ventura County Superior Court
General civil cases in Ventura County are heard at the Hall of Justice at 800 South Victoria Avenue, Ventura, CA 93009. The East County Courthouse at 3855-F Alamo Street in Simi Valley is a court facility, but most of its operations were suspended in 2012, and a civil case from Simi Valley should be expected to proceed in Ventura.
The Los Angeles Superior Court
Under the Los Angeles court’s Local Rule 2.3, an unlimited civil personal injury case is filed in the Central District at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 North Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles, and the court may later transfer it to a district courthouse such as the Chatsworth Courthouse at 9425 Penfield Avenue, which serves the North Valley District. Most cases settle before trial in either county, but a filed case usually runs 12 to 24 months, and the case is prepared as if it will be tried in whichever courthouse it lands.
The deadlines, and the one that changes with the county
In both counties, the deadline to file a lawsuit for personal injury is generally two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1. Where a minor is injured, Code of Civil Procedure 352 tolls that period.
The rule that changes with the county is the government claim. When a public entity may be responsible, a road condition, a city vehicle, a county truck, a Caltrans defect on the 118, Government Code 911.2 requires a written claim to that entity within six months of the injury, before any lawsuit, on the entity’s own form. On the Simi Valley side that entity is the City of Simi Valley, the County of Ventura or Caltrans; on the Los Angeles side it is the City or County of Los Angeles, LA Metro or Caltrans. A claim sent to the wrong one does not stop the clock. Tolling for minors does not extend the six-month rule.
Under Vehicle Code 16000, a driver in a crash that causes injury or death, or more than $1,000 in damage to any one person’s property, must file the DMV form SR-1 within 10 days, in either county.
The insurance calls
Report the crash to your own insurance company promptly and ask what coverage you carry. Medical payments coverage, if you bought it, pays medical bills regardless of fault. Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, which insurers must offer under Insurance Code 11580.2, becomes the whole case when the driver who hit you carries California’s minimum of $30,000 per person under Vehicle Code 16056, or nothing at all.
The other driver’s insurance company will call within a day or two and ask for a recorded statement. Nothing obligates you to be recorded by a company that insures someone else. Decline politely and talk to a lawyer first, and treat an early settlement offer the same way, because signing the release closes the claim for good.
Once a claim is properly submitted, the Fair Claims Settlement Practices Regulations require the insurance company to accept or deny it within 40 days of receiving proof of claim (10 CCR 2695.7). California applies pure comparative negligence under Li v. Yellow Cab, so a person found partly at fault still recovers the share of damages the law allows, reduced by that percentage, on both sides of the line.
How we handle Simi Valley cases
Manoukian Law Firm’s office is at 9520 Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Suite 102, in Chatsworth, about fifteen minutes from Simi Valley over the pass. The office sits on the Los Angeles side of the cases that end up in Los Angeles court, and the firm files in Ventura County as a matter of routine when that is the proper court. Every file is handled by the attorney you hire.
The early work is the same in either county: requesting the report from the right agency, requesting the hospital records, sending preservation letters, and taking over the insurance calls. Meetings happen at the Chatsworth office or by phone or video, and the firm helps clients in English, Spanish and Armenian. See the Simi Valley page and the Ventura County page for the area, the Chatsworth page for the Los Angeles side of the pass, or our car accident page for how a claim is evaluated. When a truck was involved, which on the 118 is often the case, our truck accident page covers what changes.
Key points
- Under Code of Civil Procedure 395, a personal injury case is proper in the county where the crash happened or where a defendant lives, so a Simi Valley resident’s case can belong in Ventura or Los Angeles.
- Simi Valley streets are the Simi Valley Police on Alamo Street; the 118 is CHP Moorpark in Ventura County and CHP West Valley in Los Angeles County; Chatsworth streets are LAPD Devonshire.
- Be seen the same day at Adventist Health Simi Valley, Northridge Hospital, UCLA West Valley Medical Center or an urgent care.
- Ventura County civil cases are heard at the Hall of Justice in Ventura; Los Angeles cases are filed at Stanley Mosk and may be transferred to Chatsworth.
- The lawsuit deadline is two years under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 in both counties; a government claim is due in six months and must go to the right entity.
Frequently asked questions
A Simi Valley resident was hit in Chatsworth. Can the case be filed in Ventura?
Generally not, unless the driver who hit you lives in Ventura County. Under Code of Civil Procedure 395 the proper county is where the injury happened or where a defendant lives, and the injured person’s own county is not on that list.
Does it matter which county the case is in?
The law is the same, but the courthouse, the procedures and the travel are not. A Los Angeles case may involve hearings downtown at Stanley Mosk and later in Chatsworth; a Ventura case proceeds in Ventura. The choice, where there is one, is made at filing.
How long does it take to get a Simi Valley Police collision report?
Reports are available through the department’s Traffic Bureau on Alamo Street during weekday business hours, and the timing depends on when the investigating officer completes it. A lawyer can request it and follow up if it is delayed.
The crash was on the 118 near the county line. Which CHP office has the report?
The officer’s card or the report number identifies the Area office. Moorpark covers the 118 from the Los Angeles County line west; West Valley in Woodland Hills covers the Los Angeles side.
If you were hurt in a crash in Simi Valley, on the 118 or anywhere on either side of the county line, we are glad to talk it through, whether or not you hire anyone. Call Manoukian Law Firm at (818) 818-5031 or reach us through the contact page. Consultations are free and there is no fee unless we recover for you.
