California · Updated
Injured in California: deadlines, rules and lawyers
Most of what to do after an injury is the same everywhere. The deadline to file, and a few other rules, are set by each state. Here are California’s, each with the law it comes from. This is general information, not advice about your case.
We don’t list firms in California yet. You can still check how to look up a lawyer’s license.
Know this first
Step 1: Your deadline to file in court
We don’t show California’s deadline here until we have checked it against the official text. Ask a lawyer, or each firm you call, which deadline applies to you.
When the clock starts, and whether an exception applies, can depend on the facts. A lawyer can tell you your exact date.
How fault is counted
Step 2: If you were partly at fault
We don’t show California’s rule for shared fault here until we have checked it against the official text. If you may have been partly at fault, ask a lawyer how that affects your claim.
Next
Step 3: What to do with this
- Write down the datesThe day you were hurt, the day treatment ended, and anything a government body or hospital sent you.
- Ask a lawyer about your factsThese rules have exceptions that depend on details. A lawyer licensed in California can tell you which ones apply.
- Ask each firmWhich deadline applies to me, does a notice need to go out, and by when?
How to check a lawyer’s license in California
Each state keeps a public list of lawyers. Before you hire anyone, look the lawyer up by name and read what the listing says about their license. If it isn’t clear, call the office that keeps the list.
Search the State Bar of California’s list of lawyersLink checked 7 Nov 2026
Case types
Each case type’s page has California’s deadline and rules for it.
More about deadlines
- What to do after a car accident: learn your deadline
Plain steps after a crash: stay safe, get care, keep a record, talk to insurance companies carefully, and learn your state’s deadline to file.
- After a truck accident: your deadline to file still applies
How a crash with a big commercial truck differs from a car crash: federal safety rules, more than one company involved, larger insurance, and records that are only kept for a while.
- After a motorcycle or bike crash: your deadline to file
What’s different when you were on a motorcycle or a bicycle: keeping your helmet and gear, your rights on the road, helmet rules, fault, road hazards and insurance.
- Hit by a car while walking: your deadline to file
What to do if a car hit you while you were walking: first steps, the evidence that disappears fastest, whose insurance may pay, how fault gets argued, and your deadlines.
- After a slip and fall: your deadline to file
What to do after you fall on someone else’s property: get care, report it, keep a record, and learn the questions that decide a premises case, including falls on public property and at work.
- Wrongful death basics: the deadline often starts at the death
If someone in your family died because of another person’s carelessness: what a wrongful-death claim is, who can bring it, how it differs from a survival claim, getting records, and the deadline.
- Hurt at work: your deadlines
What to do after an injury on the job: get care, tell your employer in writing, and learn how workers’ compensation works and when a separate injury claim against someone else may exist.
- After a dog bite: your deadline to file
What to do after a dog bites you or your child: get care, find out who owns the dog, keep a record, and learn how state rules on dog bites differ.
- After a head or brain injury: deadlines keep running while you recover
What to do after a head injury from a crash, a fall or another accident: get checked, keep a record of how you feel, get help from family, and why legal deadlines keep running while you recover.
- When medical care goes wrong: deadlines are often different, and strict
What to do if you think a doctor, hospital or clinic hurt you: get care, get your records, and learn the extra steps and short deadlines that medical-malpractice claims often have, state by state.
- Deadlines in every state
The usual deadline in all 50 states and DC, side by side. Where we haven’t checked one yet, we say so.
How we list firms
How we list firms
We don’t rank firms. Listing is free and doesn’t depend on buying anything.
Firms are listed for free, in A–Z order. Every fact shows its source and date. We don’t recommend lawyers, and we don’t pass on your details.
This is general information, not legal advice.