California's Two-Year Deadline for Injury Claims After a Crash

Attorney Answer

Possibly — and this is precisely the zone where it matters. Two years is the outer limit for a personal injury claim in California, so a claim surfacing around the two-year mark is either just inside the line or just outside it. Which one depends on the exact date a lawsuit was filed, not on when you first heard about it. That is a question for a lawyer with the court papers in hand, today rather than next month.

The governing statute is Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1: "Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another." That is the period for the injury half of any claim against you.

Three things routinely make an apparently late claim timely, and they are why you should not assume you are safe.

First, the claim may not all run on two years. Vehicle damage runs on a different and longer period — three years under Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1) for an action for taking, detaining, or injuring goods or chattels. A single lawsuit can be too late on the injury half and still in time on the repair half.

Second, the period can be suspended. Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a) provides that where a person entitled to bring an action was, when the cause of action accrued, under the age of majority or lacking the legal capacity to make decisions, the time of that disability does not count against the limitations period. If the injured person was a child, the arithmetic is different.

Third — and this is the one that catches people — being sued is not the same as being served. A lawsuit can be filed inside the deadline and delivered to the defendant considerably later, and the filing date is what the statute measures. Serving papers is governed by separate rules that this page does not cover, so the filing date on the first page of the court documents is the number that matters. Have a lawyer read it.

Also be clear about what "trying to sue" means in your situation. A demand letter from a person or their lawyer is not a lawsuit and does not stop any clock. An actual filed complaint does.

What you can do

1. Send everything you have received to your auto insurer today, in writing, and keep proof you sent it. Your policy has its own prompt-notice duty, and this is the step that puts the carrier's lawyers on the case rather than you.

2. Look for a filing date and case number on whatever you received. If they are there, you have a filed case, and the date is the fact everything turns on.

3. If you were formally served with a summons and complaint, treat it as urgent. The deadline to respond is short and is set by court rules, and missing it can lead to a default judgment even where the claim itself is out of time.

4. Do not reply to the other person or their lawyer directly, and do not offer or pay anything. Route all of it to your insurer.

5. Preserve what already exists: the police report number, photos, repair estimates, and any correspondence. Do not write out a new account of the crash for anyone but your own lawyer. Before you give any statement about how the crash happened — to police, to an investigator, or to the other side — speak with a local criminal-defense attorney.

6. Ask a local attorney to compare the filing date against Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 and to tell you whether a limitations defense is available. It generally has to be raised properly to do any good.

7. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific facts is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. Injury claims run under Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1's two years, vehicle damage under Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1)'s three, and Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a) can suspend either where the claimant was a minor or lacked legal capacity. When each period started and whether it has run depends entirely on your facts and on the actual filing date. Have a local attorney check the dates now — a defense that exists is still lost if nobody raises it in time.