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

In most California personal injury cases, you have two years to file a lawsuit under California Code of Civil Procedure §335.1. A statute of limitations is a legal deadline for filing in court. Once it passes, the right to pursue compensation is generally lost regardless of how strong the case is. Several exceptions exist that can shorten or extend this window depending on the circumstances.

Most personal injury cases settle before a lawsuit is ever filed or before a case goes to trial. However, this deadline applies to filing a civil lawsuit in court. Settlement negotiations with an insurance company can continue past the deadline, but if those negotiations fail, the right to file a lawsuit must already be preserved. Waiting on a settlement that does not materialize can leave a claimant with no legal options if the deadline has expired. 

Personal Injury

2 years from the date of injury. (California Civil Procedure Code  § 335.1)

Product Liability

2 years from the underlying accident or incident. (California Civil Procedure Code  § 335.1)

Wrongful Death

2 years from the victim's death. (California Civil Procedure Code § 335.1)

Property Damage

3 years from the date of the underlying accident or incident. (California Civil Procedure Code § 338(c)(1))

Claims Against Government Entities

6 months from the date of the incident to file a tort claim with the relevant agency. (California Government Claims Act) Once the agency receives the claim, it has 45 days to respond. If denied, you typically have six months from that denial to file a lawsuit. 

If your case type does not appear above, California Code of Civil Procedure sections 312 through 366 cover the full range of civil limitation periods. An attorney can confirm which deadline applies to your specific situation. 

The Two-Year Deadline in California 

California Code of Civil Procedure §335.1 sets a two-year deadline for most personal injury claims. In most cases the deadline begins on the date of the accident or incident. This applies across common personal injury case types including car accidents, slip and falls, dog bites, and premises liability. 

Two years may seem like enough time. In practice, building a complete case, gathering evidence, identifying all liable parties, and negotiating with insurers takes time. The earlier the process begins, the more options remain available.

Exceptions That Shorten the Deadline 

Several circumstances reduce the standard two-year window significantly. These are among the most consequential and commonly missed deadlines in California personal injury law.

Claims Against Government Entities. 

If the injury involved a government vehicle, a government employee, or a government-owned property, a formal tort claim must be presented to the relevant public entity within six months of the incident under the California Government Claims Act. This is a separate step that must happen before a lawsuit can be filed. Every government agency has its own specific claim form.

The office where the claim must be filed depends on which entity is involved:

  • City claims are typically filed with the city clerk or the city's designated claims office
  • County claims in Los Angeles County are directed to the Executive Officer of the Board of Supervisors
  • State agency claims go through the California Department of General Services Government Claims Program
  • Caltrans has its own claims process for highway and freeway-related incidents
  • Transit authority claims such as Metro have a separate submission process

Once the agency receives the claim, it has 45 days to respond. If the claim is denied within that window, the claimant typically has six months from the date of denial to file a lawsuit. If no rejection letter is received within 45 days, the claimant generally has up to two years from the date of the underlying incident to file. Because these deadlines interact with each other, early legal consultation is especially important if any government entity may have been involved.

The six-month window applies to minors as well as adults in government claims cases.

Wrongful Death Claims. 

The two-year clock in a wrongful death case runs from the date of death, not the date of the injury that caused it. In cases where a person survives an injury for a period before passing, this distinction matters.

Exceptions That Extend the Deadline 

Injured Minors

If the injured person was under 18 at the time of the accident, the two-year clock generally does not begin until they turn 18. In most cases this means a minor has until age 20 to file a personal injury claim. This is the general rule and specific circumstances can affect how it applies.

The Discovery Rule

In limited circumstances, the two-year clock starts not from the date of the accident but from the date the injury was discovered or reasonably should have been discovered. California courts apply this rule narrowly. In routine car accident and slip and fall cases it is difficult to invoke unless the injury or its cause was genuinely hidden and not reasonably apparent at the time of the incident. The discovery rule is most commonly applied in latent injury and toxic exposure cases where harm developed or became known long after the exposure occurred.

Defendant Out of State

If the at-fault party leaves California after the injury occurs, the time they spend outside the state may not count toward the two-year window.

Mental Incapacity

If the injured person was legally incapacitated at the time of the injury, the clock may be paused until legal capacity is restored.

Fraud or Concealment 

If the at-fault party actively concealed the cause of the injury, the deadline may be paused until the concealment is discovered.

What Happens if the Deadline Is Missed 

The court will dismiss the lawsuit. The right to pursue compensation is gone. There is no exception for not knowing the deadline existed, and courts rarely exercise discretion to revive a time-barred claim.

This is one of the few areas in personal injury law where the outcome is binary. File before the deadline or lose the right entirely. No amount of evidence, no severity of injury, and no degree of the defendant's fault changes the outcome once the deadline has passed.

If the deadline on your case has already passed, contact an attorney immediately. In limited circumstances the deadline may have been tolled for a reason that was not immediately apparent. The only way to know is to have the specific facts reviewed by someone who understands how the tolling rules apply.

 

How the Statute of Limitations Affects Settlement Negotiations 

Most personal injury cases settle before a lawsuit is ever filed. However, the statute of limitations affects the leverage a claimant has at the negotiating table.

An insurer that knows a claimant's deadline is approaching has less incentive to offer a fair settlement. A claimant who has already filed a lawsuit or who still has significant time remaining negotiates from a stronger position. Waiting until the last months before the deadline, or allowing the deadline to pass while negotiations are ongoing, removes that leverage entirely.

Filing a lawsuit does not mean the case must go to trial. Most lawsuits filed to preserve the deadline still resolve through settlement. The filing is a protective step, not a commitment to litigation.

 

Contact an Experienced California Personal Injury Lawyer

If there is any uncertainty about which deadline applies to your situation, early consultation is the only way to confirm it. Contact our Torrance office and someone from our team will follow up, ask about your situation, and walk you through your options. No Fees Unless We Recover. (310) 431-9875

When Does the Statute of Limitations Begin to Run?

In most personal injury cases the clock starts on the date of the accident or incident. For a car accident, that is the date of the collision. For a slip and fall, it is the date of the fall. For a dog bite, it is the date of the attack. The discovery rule can extend this in limited circumstances, but courts apply it narrowly in routine accident cases.

The deadline is six months to file a government tort claim, not two years. This applies to injuries involving city vehicles, county property, state agencies, Caltrans, and public transit. The filing office depends on which entity is involved. Once the claim is filed, the agency has 45 days to respond. Missing this six-month window is typically fatal to the claim. If a government entity may have been involved in your accident, contact an attorney immediately.

No. Filing a claim with an insurer does not toll the statutory deadline. The two-year clock runs independently of the claims process. If the insurance claim is still unresolved as the deadline approaches, the lawsuit deadline must still be preserved.

Yes, in very limited and specific circumstances. California law recognizes situations in which the clock is paused, including injuries to minors, mental incapacity, a defendant's absence from the state, active fraud or concealment, and in some cases the delayed discovery of a latent injury. These exceptions are narrow and fact-specific. If the standard deadline has already passed, contact an attorney immediately to determine whether any exception applies before assuming the right to file is gone.

Not always. Insurance policies often contain their own contractual deadlines for making claims or demanding arbitration. These can be shorter than the statutory two-year period and are governed by the policy language, not by CCP §335.1. Both deadlines should be identified and tracked separately.

The two-year statutory deadline still applies. Uninsured status does not affect the filing deadline for a civil lawsuit.

In most cases yes. The clock generally does not start until the injured person turns 18, giving most injured minors until age 20 to file. The six-month government claims deadline applies to minors as well, so if a government entity was involved that shorter window still governs. Early legal consultation is the safest step in either situation.

No. This page covers the most common deadlines in personal injury, wrongful death, product liability, and property damage cases. California Code of Civil Procedure sections 312 through 366 govern the full range of civil limitation periods. An attorney can confirm which deadline applies to the specific facts of your case.