Restitution After a Drunk-Driving Crash When the Civil Deadline Has Passed

Attorney Answer

Two answers, and you need both. A civil lawsuit over a 2020 crash is very likely too late — California gives two years for an injury claim, and a prosecution starting now does not extend that clock. Restitution in the criminal case is a separate route, not governed by that deadline, and it is the one to move on. Contact the prosecutor's victim-services unit and ask to be recorded as a victim, before the case resolves — restitution is decided in that case, not afterward.

Start with the civil deadline; it drives everything else. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 provides: "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." A claim for damage to a vehicle runs three years under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1). Both ordinarily start on the date of the accident, and a crash in 2020 is outside both on their face.

Narrow rules can pause the period. Under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a), if the person entitled to bring the action was, when the claim accrued, under the age of majority or lacking legal capacity to make decisions, the time of that disability is not counted. Whether that applies to you turns on your own facts — worth one phone call rather than assuming. What does not extend the deadline is the timing of the prosecution; the criminal case runs on its own schedule.

If a civil claim were open, this is the framework — and it still shapes what you document. Cal. Civ. Code § 1714(a) makes everyone responsible for an injury occasioned to another by their want of ordinary care, except so far as the injured person brought the injury on themselves. That last clause is comparative fault, and California's is a pure version: in Daly v. General Motors Corp., 20 Cal. 3d 725 (1978), the California Supreme Court reaffirmed a system under which a claimant's recovery is reduced in proportion to their own share of fault and never barred outright. Cal. Civ. Code § 3333 measures damages as the amount that will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused, whether or not it could have been anticipated — medical costs, lost income and loss of use of your car, provable only with records.

Now restitution, where your effort should go. In California a criminal court can order a convicted defendant to pay a victim's losses, and that order is made in the criminal case, so the civil deadline does not govern it. What may be included and how it is proved are their own subject. The path is the one every prosecutor's office uses: the victim-witness or victim-services unit, which registers you as a victim, tells you what documentation the court will want, and when it has to be in. A state victim compensation program is separate again; ask about both in the same conversation.

What you can do

1. Call the prosecutor's office handling the case and ask for the victim-witness or victim-services unit. Ask to be recorded as a victim entitled to notice and to be heard, and give the case number if you have it.

2. Ask that unit what documentation of loss the court will want and the date by which it must be submitted. Write down the answers and who gave them.

3. Gather and copy everything showing what the crash cost you: medical bills and records, what your health insurer paid, repair estimates or a total-loss valuation, rental receipts, and pay records for work you missed.

4. Ask about the state's victim compensation program and whether any of your losses qualify; it is separate from restitution, with its own rules.

5. If you had uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage at the time, ask that insurer in writing what its deadline is and whether the claim is still open.

6. Ask a local personal-injury attorney to check your dates against Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 before you accept that the civil claim is gone. The exceptions are narrow but real, and only a lawyer with your file can tell you. Most lawyers offer a brief initial call at no cost, and a few minutes on your specific dates is worth more than any general guidance, including this page.

⏱ Time limits apply. An injury claim runs under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1, two years, and a vehicle-damage claim under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1), three; both ordinarily from the accident. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a) pauses the clock only for a claimant who was a minor or lacked legal capacity when the claim arose, and the prosecution does not extend any of these. Nothing here computes a date for you. Have a local attorney review your dates now, and do not wait for the criminal case to finish — restitution is decided inside it.