What to Do When Your Injury Lawyer Goes Silent

Attorney Answer

Your lawyer's silence is a real problem, and the case number is the fastest way to find out whether anything has actually been filed. Get that answer this week — if nothing was filed and the deadline is close, waiting is the one thing that cannot be undone.

Two clocks matter here. 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.” That is the personal injury deadline. Damage to your car runs on a different one — Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1) allows three years for injury to goods or chattels. If your lawyer filed a lawsuit within the applicable period, the deadline is satisfied and the court file will show it; that is precisely what a case number would tell you. If nothing was filed, the period has kept running the whole time.

You are entitled to know whether a case exists and what is happening in it. A lawyer who will not tell a client the case number, and who cannot be found at the office, is not meeting the basic obligations of the relationship. Those obligations come from the rules governing California lawyers rather than from statute, so a local attorney or the State Bar is the right place to take that part of it.

If a deadline was missed, there is a separate and short clock on a claim against the lawyer. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.6(a) requires an action against an attorney for a wrongful act or omission, other than actual fraud, to be brought within one year after the client discovers, or through reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts constituting the act or omission, or within four years of the act, whichever comes first. Discovering that no case was filed can start that one-year period running.

What you can do

1. Send your lawyer a written request — by email and by letter — asking for the case number, the court and county where it was filed, and the current status. Keep a copy of what you sent and when.

2. Ask, in the same letter, for a complete copy of your file.

3. Check the public case index for the superior court in the county where the crash happened, or call that court's clerk and ask them to search by your name. Filed cases are public record and you do not need a lawyer to look.

4. Take the collision report, your medical records and any insurer correspondence to a second lawyer for a review of whether suit was filed in time.

5. If your lawyer still will not respond, you can file a complaint with the State Bar of California, which handles attorney discipline. You do not need a lawyer to do that.

6. Ask a local lawyer about Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.6 if it turns out a deadline was missed, because that claim has its own short window.

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. Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1 sets two years for a personal injury claim and Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1) sets three years for damage to the car; Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 340.6(a) governs any claim against the lawyer. Whether any of those periods has run on your facts — and whether a lawsuit already stopped the clock — turns on details this page does not have. Do not try to work the dates out yourself; put them in front of a local attorney now.