Facing a Misdemeanor Hit-and-Run Charge in California

Attorney Answer

Start with a criminal-defense lawyer in the county where the case is filed, and say nothing about the accident to anyone until you have. A misdemeanor hit-and-run is a criminal charge, not an insurance dispute, and the one thing you still control is whether the prosecution gets a statement from you it does not already have.

The charge comes from Cal. Veh. Code § 20002(a), which requires the driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting only in damage to property, including vehicles, to stop immediately at the nearest location that will not impede traffic. A violation is a misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

The word "misdemeanor" is doing real work in your question. If anyone had been hurt, the governing section would be Cal. Veh. Code § 20001(a), which requires the driver of a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in injury to a person other than himself or herself, or in the death of a person, to stop immediately at the scene. Its penalties run to a year in county jail and a fine of $1,000 to $10,000, and where there was death or permanent serious injury, two to four years in state prison or 90 days to a year in county jail. If your paperwork names § 20002, you are on the property-damage side of that line. Confirm which section it names before you assume anything.

Two clocks are now running, and they are not the same clock. The criminal case runs on the dates printed on your court paperwork, and the appearance date is the one that cannot slip. The other driver's claim for the damage to their car runs separately, on Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1), which allows three years for an action for injuring goods or chattels.

Because you are facing a charge, the advice ordinarily given to people in accidents is the wrong advice for you. Do not write out your version of events, do not record it, and do not explain it to the other driver, to an officer, or to any insurance adjuster. Anything you produce can be used against you, and none of it can be taken back. Keeping what already exists is a different thing, and is worth doing carefully.

What you can do

1. Consult a criminal-defense lawyer in the county where the charge is pending, before you speak to police, the other driver, or any insurer about the accident.

2. Do not create any new account of what happened — no written statement, no voice memo, no text, no social-media post.

3. Collect the documents that already exist and give them to that lawyer: the citation or complaint, any DMV correspondence, photographs already taken, repair estimates, and your insurance declarations page.

4. Copy the case number and the appearance date exactly as they appear on your paperwork, and ask your lawyer whether you have to be there in person.

5. Ask your lawyer when and how to notify your own insurer, and whether paying for the property damage would help or hurt the criminal case. Those two decisions interact, and doing them in the wrong order is expensive.

6. Ask your lawyer what a conviction would do to your license, and hand over anything the DMV has sent you.

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. In a criminal case the controlling date is the appearance date on your own paperwork, and missing it makes everything worse. On the civil side, Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1) sets three years for a claim for damage to a vehicle. Which deadlines actually apply to you depends on your facts and on what you have been charged with — have a local criminal-defense attorney read the paperwork now rather than later.