Generally two years. If a city, county or other public entity may be responsible, a written claim is due within six months, long before any lawsuit.
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General rules only. Exceptions can make a deadline shorter or longer, and the start date is not always the day of the injury.
For most injuries in California, a lawsuit has to be filed within two years. The same two years applies when someone has died. Damage to a vehicle has a longer limit of three years.
Two situations bring a different clock. A claim against a public entity starts with a written claim due within six months. And an uninsured motorist claim under your own policy has a two year requirement of its own, which opening a claim with your insurer does not meet.
These are general rules. When a clock starts, and whether an exception applies, depends on facts this page does not have.
Each rule is shown with its source. The note under it says what the rule means in practice.
Generally two years for an injury caused by someone else’s wrongful act or carelessness. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1
This is the deadline to file a lawsuit in court. Opening an insurance claim does not meet it, and negotiating with an insurance company does not stop the clock.
A written claim must be presented to the city, county, state agency or other public entity within six months. If the entity sends a proper written rejection, a lawsuit generally has to be filed within six months of that notice. A request to file late must be made within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year after the claim arose. The statute leaves a few narrow kinds of time out of that year. Cal. Gov. Code §§ 911.2, 911.4, 945.6
This is the clock people miss in California. A crash with a city bus or a fall on public property does not begin with a lawsuit. It begins with a written claim, and a written rejection starts a second short clock for the lawsuit.
Generally two years for a death caused by someone else’s wrongful act or carelessness, usually counted from the date of death. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1; Norgart v. Upjohn Co. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 383, 404
A death claim falls under the same section of the code as an injury claim. Who is allowed to bring it is a separate question, covered in the wrongful death guide.
Three years for damage to a vehicle or other personal property. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1)
The claim for your car and the claim for your injuries run on different clocks. Three years for the vehicle does not mean three years for the injury.
For an uninsured motorist claim, one of three things must happen within two years of the crash: a lawsuit is filed against the uninsured driver, an agreement on the amount is reached with your insurer, or arbitration is formally started in writing by certified mail. Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(i)
Reporting the crash to your insurer is not one of the three. If the driver who hit you had no insurance, ask a lawyer about this deadline first.
If the driver was never identified, two much shorter time limits apply.
To use uninsured motorist coverage for a driver who was never identified, there must have been physical contact with that vehicle, the crash must be reported to the police within 24 hours, and a sworn statement must be filed with your insurer within 30 days after that. Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2(b)
If the injured person was under 18 when the claim arose, the time before their 18th birthday generally does not count. That does not apply to claims against a public entity, where the six month claim rule still runs, and medical negligence claims by children have their own rule. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 352
This pause is for the child’s own claim, and it has the two limits stated in the rule. It is not a reason to wait. Witnesses move away and video is erased long before a child turns 18.
Claims against a doctor, hospital or other health care provider must be filed within three years of the injury or one year after it was or should have been discovered, whichever comes first. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.5
This applies to a claim about the medical care itself. An ordinary crash or fall claim against the person who caused it stays on the two year rule.
A crash with a city bus or a fall on public property requires a written claim to the public entity within six months. The usual rule that pauses the clock for children does not apply to these claims. Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2; Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 352(b)
For four years California let an estate recover for the pain and suffering of a person who died before the case ended. That applies only to actions filed before January 1, 2026. A bill to extend it did not pass. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 377.34(b)
Enter the date it happened. The checker applies California’s general rule to that date and shows the government claim step when one may apply. It does not know your facts, so it cannot give you your own deadline.
Primary sources for the rules on this page. Checked on the dates shown.
This site gives general legal information. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney client relationship. Deadlines depend on the facts. Some are much shorter than the general rule. Do not rely on this page to decide how long you can wait.
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