Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, you have two years from the date of injury to file a lawsuit for assault, battery, personal injury, or wrongful death caused by another person’s wrongful act or negligence.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 335.1 – Time of Commencing Actions Miss that window and a court will almost certainly dismiss the case for good. Several situations change the math, though, and one of them — claims against a government entity — shortens the real deadline to six months.
What the Two-Year Rule Covers
The statute reaches any action for “assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.”1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 335.1 – Time of Commencing Actions That language picks up most of the common ways people get hurt: car crashes, slip-and-fall injuries, dog bites, defective products, and intentional acts like assault and battery. Wrongful death claims brought by surviving family members are also covered.
Two frequent injury scenarios sit outside Section 335.1 and have their own deadlines. Treating them like a regular personal injury case is a common and expensive mistake.
- Medical malpractice runs under CCP Section 340.5: one year after you discover the injury or three years after the date of injury, whichever comes first. The one-year discovery clock can expire well before Section 335.1’s two years would.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 340.5
- Property damage runs under CCP Section 338, which allows three years. If a crash damages your car and injures you, the two claims have different clocks.
When the Two Years Start
For most incidents the start date is obvious: the day of the accident, the bite, the fall. The clock runs from that date whether or not you have decided to pursue a claim.
California also recognizes a discovery rule for injuries whose existence or cause is not immediately apparent. In those cases the clock starts when you discover, or reasonably should have discovered, both the harm and its connection to someone else’s conduct.3California Courts. Deadlines to Sue Someone The classic illustration is a surgical instrument left inside the body: the injury exists from day one, but the patient has no way to know until symptoms appear. Gradual-onset conditions from toxic exposure work the same way.
The trigger is not the day you figured it out for certain. It is the day a reasonable person in your position would have had enough information to suspect something was wrong.4Justia. California Civil Jury Instructions No. 455 – Statute of Limitations – Delayed Discovery Waiting for a confirmed diagnosis does not keep the clock from running once that suspicion exists.
Filing Means Filing
Filing means getting a formal complaint on file with the appropriate California Superior Court before the two years run out. Sending a demand letter, talking with an insurance adjuster, or hiring a lawyer does not satisfy the deadline. If the complaint lands on day 731, the defendant can move to dismiss and the court will grant it.
Many people burn through the two years in settlement talks, assuming the negotiation will finish before the deadline matters. Adjusters know the deadline too. The safer approach is to file the complaint even while talks are going well; you can voluntarily dismiss the lawsuit after a deal is reached.
What Pauses the Clock
California tolls — pauses — the two-year period in several situations. When the condition ends, the remaining time picks up where it stopped.
Minors
If the injured person is under 18 when the injury occurs, the entire period of minority is excluded. The two-year clock does not begin until the person turns 18.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 352 A child hurt at 10 has until age 20 to file. Two caveats: this tolling does not apply to claims against government entities, and medical malpractice uses its own, less generous rules for minors under Section 340.5.
Mental Incapacity
If the injured person lacks legal capacity when the cause of action arises, the time spent in that condition does not count against the two years.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 352 The clock resumes once capacity returns. This tolling also does not apply to government claims.
Imprisonment
If the injured person is in prison when the cause of action accrues (on a sentence of less than life), CCP Section 352.1 excludes the time of imprisonment from the limitations period, capped at two additional years. In practice that gives an incarcerated plaintiff up to four years total from the date of injury.
Defendant Out of State
Under CCP Section 351, if the person who injured you leaves California after the cause of action arises, the time of their absence does not count.6California Law Revision Commission. Tentative Recommendation Tolling Statute of Limitations When Defendant Is Out of State The practical reach of this provision has narrowed as California courts have gained personal jurisdiction over more out-of-state defendants, but the rule is still on the books.
Government Defendants: Six Months, Not Two Years
If a government employee or agency caused your injury, the two-year statute is not your operative deadline. California’s Government Claims Act requires you to present a written claim to the government entity within six months of the date of injury.7California Legislative Information. California Government Code 911.2 This applies whether the defendant is a city, a county, the state, or an employee acting within the scope of duties. Until the claim has been presented and either rejected or deemed rejected, you cannot file a lawsuit at all.8California Legislative Information. California Government Code GOV 945.4
Once the entity rejects the claim, you have six months from the rejection notice to file in court. The two-year period under Section 335.1 does not apply to that post-rejection window. The tolling rules for minors and incapacitated persons under CCP Section 352 also do not apply to government claims.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 352 A child hurt by a city bus faces the same six-month claim deadline as an adult, though courts can grant relief from a late filing in limited circumstances.
If anything about your injury could involve a government entity — a pothole on a public road, a police encounter, a public transit crash, a dangerous condition on government property — treat the six-month claim deadline as your real deadline.
What Happens if You File Late
The consequence is simple. If the defendant raises the expired statute of limitations, the court must dismiss. The strength of your evidence, the severity of your injuries, and the clarity of the other side’s fault do not change the result. Absent one of the tolling exceptions above, no appellate court will rescue a late-filed claim. That is why the deadline, however arbitrary it feels in a given case, has to be treated as the first fact in any injury matter rather than the last.