It has been fourteen months since the accident. You thought the pain in your back would go away. Doctors said it could be a muscle problem, but nothing serious. But now the MRI shows herniated discs, and what seemed like a small injury has turned into a permanent one. You think, “Is it too late to do anything about it?”
In California, people who are hurt in an accident have two years to sue. When you’re trying to heal, that window sounds nice. When you realize that the calendar has been going since the day of the accident and not the day you realized how badly you were hurt, it feels like it will never end.
More injured people than they realize need to know what two years really means, when exceptions apply, and how some mistakes can cost you the right to compensation.
The Two-Year Rule Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1
Section 335.1 of the California Code of Civil Procedure sets the time limit for most personal injury claims. The law says that if someone is hurt, assaulted, or killed by someone else’s wrongful act or neglect, they must file a lawsuit within two years.
Most personal injury cases in California, such as car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, slip and fall accidents, dog bites, product liability claims, and premises liability injuries, fall within this two-year time frame. The same deadline applies to wrongful death cases. Family members who are still alive have two years from the date of death to file a lawsuit.
The law calls the start of the clock “accrual.” Most of the time, accrual happens on the day of the accident or incident that caused the injury. You have until March 15, 2026, to file a lawsuit if you were hit from behind on the 405 on March 15, 2024. If you miss that date by one day, the defendant can ask the court to throw out your case, no matter how strong your evidence is.
There is no wiggle room for courts on this issue. According to California Code of Civil Procedure Section 312, civil actions can only be started during the times set by law.
If the deadline has passed, a defendant who uses the statute of limitations as a defense can have their case thrown out. Generally, after the filing window closes, the merits of your claim don’t matter anymore.
When the Clock Actually Starts
Most people who get hurt know when it happened. You know the date if a car hit your car. You remember when you slipped on a wet floor at the grocery store. In these simple cases, the two-year period starts on the day of the event.
But being hurt and being aware of it don’t always go hand in hand. The California Supreme Court ruled in Jolly v. Eli Lilly & Co. (1988) 44 Cal.3d 1103 that it would be unfair to make victims file claims before they had a good reason to believe they had been harmed. This acknowledgment led to the establishment of the discovery rule.
The discovery rule says that accrual is put off until the plaintiff finds out about the injury and the wrongdoer who caused it, or should have found out about it with reasonable diligence. The rule applies when victims didn’t know and had no reason to know that someone else’s actions had hurt them.
Think about a patient who has surgery and then has chronic pain months later. If tests show that a surgical instrument was left inside the body, the discovery rule would put off accrual until the patient found out about the object that was still inside. The two-year period would start on the day of discovery, not the day of the surgery.
But the discovery rule has some limits. People who are hurt can’t ignore clear signs of their injuries and then say they didn’t know about them. Courts look at whether a reasonable person acting normally would have found the damage. If symptoms led to an investigation, the clock may start running from the time you should have found the problem, even if you didn’t want to look into it.
Tolling: When the Clock Pauses
There are times when the statute of limitations stops or “tolls.” When tolling is in effect, the time that goes by during the tolling period does not count toward the deadline.
California law protects minors in a big way. If the plaintiff was under 18 when the injury happened, Code of Civil Procedure Section 352(a) stops the statute of limitations from running. The clock for the two years doesn’t start until the child turns 18. This means that a child who is hurt at any age has until their 20th birthday to sue.
In the case of Shalabi v. City of Fontana (2021), the California Supreme Court talked about how to figure out this deadline. The Court said that the minor’s eighteenth birthday does not count when figuring out the time limit. The two years start the day after the birthday.
This tolling protection doesn’t apply to claims against the government. If a child is hurt by a city bus or on public school property, the six-month deadline for filing a claim with the government still applies, no matter how old the child is. To protect the minor’s rights, parents or guardians must act within this shorter time frame.
The statute of limitations is also put on hold if someone is mentally unable to do so. If a plaintiff doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand their legal rights and take care of their own affairs at the time of the injury, the limitations period is put on hold until that incapacity ends, according to CCP Section 352(a).
This provision makes sure that people who can’t understand their situation aren’t denied justice because of disabilities they can’t control.
Under certain conditions, imprisonment can stop the statute from running, but this exception is more limited than others.
If a defendant leaves California after hurting someone but before a lawsuit is filed, CCP Section 351 may extend the time limit while they are gone. But courts have made this exception much less useful.
Plaintiffs can now reach defendants in other states in a number of ways, so being physically absent from California no longer automatically stops the clock.
Government Claims: The Six-Month Deadline
The usual two-year rule doesn’t apply at first if your injury was caused by a government agency or public employee. Many victims are surprised by the much shorter initial deadline set by California Government Code Section 911.2.
You have six months from the date the cause of action accrues to file an administrative claim for personal injury or wrongful death against public entities, such as the State of California, counties, cities, school districts, and public transit agencies. This is not a lawsuit; it is a formal written claim sent straight to the government.
Government Code Section 910 says that the claim must include certain information, such as the date, time, and place of the incident, a description of the injury and damages, and the names of any public employees involved, if known.
If you miss the six-month deadline, your case could be lost. If you don’t file an administrative claim on time, you usually can’t sue the government. Government Code Section 911.4 lets people ask for leave to file a late claim, but they have to do it within a year of the date the claim was due, and the government can turn down the request.
You can ask the superior court for help under Government Code Section 946.6 if your late claim application is turned down. But courts only grant these kinds of petitions in certain situations, like when the person didn’t file because of a mistake, an accident, surprise, or reasonable neglect. Not knowing about the deadline is usually not enough.
When it comes to government claims, minors don’t get the same tolling protection that they do for claims against private parties. If a child is hurt by a government agency, they still have to file an administrative claim within six months. Within that time frame, parents or guardians must file on behalf of the minor.
Medical Malpractice: A Different Set of Rules
In California, medical malpractice claims are governed by a different law, California Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.5. This rule sets a second deadline that is different from the usual personal injury rule.
People who are hurt because of a healthcare provider’s carelessness must file a lawsuit within three years of the injury or one year after the plaintiff finds out about the injury, or should have found out about it with reasonable diligence. Whichever comes first. This means that the three-year outer limit still applies, even if the injury wasn’t found until later. There are only a few exceptions to this.
If a child under six years old is hurt because of medical malpractice, they have three years from the date of the injury or their eighth birthday, whichever comes first. There is a six-year time limit on birth injury claims.
The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act, or MICRA, also affects medical malpractice claims by limiting some damages. These claims have procedural requirements that go beyond the filing deadline, so getting legal advice is especially important in cases of healthcare negligence.
Property Damage and Other Variations
Not every claim that comes from an accident has the same deadline. CCP Section 338 says that you have three years to file a claim for property damage to your car or other belongings. This means that even after your personal injury claim has run out, you may still be able to file a claim for property damage.
Written contracts usually have a four-year deadline for claims. Two years are allowed for oral contracts. Fraud claims have a three-year deadline, and the clock doesn’t start ticking until the fraud is found.
To figure out which deadline applies, you need to carefully look at each possible claim that could come from an incident. One accident can lead to many different causes of action, each with its own deadline.
Why Two Years Is Less Time Than You Think
Two years seems like a long time. In real life, weeks and months go by faster than anyone thinks they will.
After an accident, the first few months are often spent going to the doctor, going to physical therapy, and trying to get back to normal life. Pain, medicine, and the stress of being hurt take up all of your attention. When you’re having a hard time getting through each day, legal issues seem far away.
Negotiations over insurance often go on for months without a solution. Adjusters might ask for more paperwork, argue with medical records, or just take longer to respond. People who have been hurt often think they should wait to see how settlement talks go before hiring a lawyer.
In the meantime, the evidence gets worse. Witnesses forget things. The security footage gets erased. Papers go missing. The defendant’s insurance company is aware of this. They benefit from the delay, not you.
If you need expert witnesses for your case, they will need time to look over records, do analyses, and write reports. It could take medical experts months to fully understand your condition. If an investigation is delayed, accident reconstruction experts may not be able to find evidence that is no longer there.
It takes time to get ready for lawsuits. It takes time to write a complaint, get the right documents, and make sure that the process is served correctly. An attorney who gets a case just days before the deadline has an impossible job.
Preserving Your Rights
Taking action right away protects your legal rights and the strength of your claim in the future.
Get medical help right away after an injury, even if the symptoms don’t seem serious. Medical records made soon after the accident show how you were hurt and how the accident caused your injuries.
Write down everything you can. Take pictures of injuries, damage to property, and the scene of the accident. Get the contact information of the witnesses. Get copies of police reports, incident reports, and any other official papers.
Don’t think that your injuries will heal quickly. Some conditions get worse over time or only show how bad they are after months of treatment. It takes time to fully understand how much damage you’ve done, which is why it’s important to keep your legal options open early on.
Talk to a lawyer as soon as possible. A free consultation with a personal injury lawyer can help you figure out what to do, even if you’re not sure if you have a good case.
An experienced lawyer can find out what deadlines apply, look into your case while the evidence is still fresh, and talk to insurance companies for you while you focus on getting better.
Don’t assume your claim is dead just because you think the statute of limitations may have already passed.
Sometimes, tolling provisions, the discovery rule, and other exceptions make deadlines longer in ways that aren’t always clear. A lawyer can look at your situation and see if there are still good options.
The Injury Firm Protects Your Rights
In California, people who are hurt in an accident have two years to file a lawsuit. There are thousands of choices to make about treatment, paperwork, negotiation, and legal strategy during those two years. Every choice you make changes how much your claim is worth and how easy it is to hold wrongdoers accountable.
The Injury Firm helps clients who have been hurt in Orange County, Los Angeles County, San Diego County, and Riverside County. We know how filing deadlines work, when they don’t apply, and how to build cases that get the most money while avoiding being thrown out of court.
Call (949) 575-8875 for a free consultation. There is no fee unless we recover compensation for you.
The clock started running the moment you were injured. Make sure someone is watching it on your behalf.
DISCLAIMER:
This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. For personalized legal guidance about your personal injury case, contact The Injury Firm for a free consultation.
