California Statute of Limitations for Negligence: Deadlines and Tolling

The California statute of limitations for negligence is two years for personal injury or wrongful death and three years for damage to property only. Both deadlines generally start on the date of the incident, and missing them almost always ends the case no matter how strong the underlying claim. Several situations shorten or extend the window, and claims against government agencies run on a much tighter schedule.

The Two Baseline Deadlines

Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 sets the two-year limit for any lawsuit seeking compensation for bodily injury or death caused by someone else’s negligence. Car crashes, slip-and-fall injuries, dog bites, and similar carelessness-based claims all fall under this rule.¹

When negligence damaged only your property and no one was physically hurt, Code of Civil Procedure section 338 gives you three years to sue. This covers damage to a vehicle, a fence, or other belongings.²

Many incidents involve both. A crash that broke your arm and totaled your car still carries the shorter two-year deadline for the injury claim. The safest move is to file everything within two years so you don’t accidentally forfeit the injury portion while waiting on the property damage.

When the Clock Starts

For most negligence claims, the deadline begins the day the injury happens. California recognizes an important exception called the discovery rule. When you have no way of knowing you were injured or what caused it, the clock doesn’t start until you discover the problem or should have discovered it through reasonable effort.³

A contractor who installs defective plumbing behind your walls is the textbook example. You wouldn’t know about the damage until water seeps through months later, and the filing window opens then rather than on the day the plumber finished.

Courts don’t wait for complete knowledge. Under the inquiry notice standard, the clock begins once you suspect that someone did something wrong to you, meaning wrong in the everyday sense rather than as a legal conclusion. You don’t need to know the specific legal theory. If enough facts have surfaced to make a reasonable person start asking questions, the clock is running whether you investigate or not.³

The discovery rule protects people who couldn’t have known despite acting reasonably. It does not protect people who ignored warning signs. If symptoms appeared and you chose not to see a doctor, a court can find that a diligent person would have investigated sooner and start the clock from that earlier point.

What Pauses the Clock

Tolling is the legal term for pausing a deadline that has already started or preventing it from starting at all. Several rules apply.

Minors and People Lacking Legal Capacity

Under Code of Civil Procedure section 352, if the injured person is under 18 or lacks legal capacity to make decisions at the time of injury, the time spent in that condition doesn’t count. A child hurt in a playground accident has until two years after her 18th birthday to file.⁴

Imprisoned Plaintiffs

Code of Civil Procedure section 352.1 provides tolling for people in prison when their claim arises, capped at two years and inapplicable to claims against government entities.⁵

Defendant Out of State

Code of Civil Procedure section 351 pauses the clock during any period when the person you need to sue is outside California. If they were already out of state when the injury happened, the full filing period starts when they return.

Active Military Service

Under the federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, time spent on active military duty does not count toward any state statute of limitations, whether the servicemember is the plaintiff or the defendant.⁶

Defendant’s Bankruptcy

A defendant’s bankruptcy filing triggers an automatic stay under federal law that halts most civil lawsuits, including negligence claims. Because the stay prevents you from filing or continuing a suit, it effectively pauses your deadline for the duration of the bankruptcy.⁷

Equitable Tolling

California courts also recognize equitable tolling, a judge-made doctrine that can pause the deadline when you were pursuing the same claim through another legal channel. The classic scenario is a workplace injury: you file a workers’ compensation claim first, then later realize you also have a negligence claim against a third party. To qualify, your earlier filing must have given the defendant timely notice, involved the same underlying facts, and reflected a good-faith choice to pursue the other remedy first. Equitable tolling is decided by the judge, not a jury, and California courts have held that it does not apply to legal malpractice claims under section 340.6 or to the three-year outer limit for medical malpractice under section 340.5.⁸

Claims Against a California Government Entity

Suing a California city, county, or state agency works nothing like suing a private person. You must first file an administrative claim with the agency, and the window is far shorter than the standard two years. For personal injury, wrongful death, or property damage, you have six months from the date of the incident. Other negligence claims get one year.⁹

Six months goes by fast when you’re recovering from an injury. Missing it can kill the case entirely, even if you’re well within the normal two-year statute.

The claim itself must identify you, describe the incident and the harm, name any public employees you believe caused it, and address the amount sought. Government Code section 910 contains a quirk: if your claim is under $10,000 you include the dollar amount, but if it exceeds $10,000 you do not list a figure and instead indicate whether the case would qualify as a limited civil case.¹⁰

Once filed, the agency has 45 days to accept or reject the claim.¹¹ Silence counts as a rejection. After a rejection, whether express or by silence, you have six months from the mailing date of the rejection notice to file suit in court.¹² Send the claim by certified mail with return receipt or hand-deliver it to the agency clerk so you have proof of the filing date.

If you miss the six-month window, Government Code section 911.4 lets you apply for permission to file a late claim within one year of the injury. The application must include a written explanation for the delay and the proposed claim itself. If the entity denies the late-claim application, you can petition the court for relief. Once the one-year mark passes, that option disappears.¹³

Claims Against the Federal Government

When a federal employee’s negligence causes your injury, such as an accident with a postal truck or malpractice at a VA hospital, the Federal Tort Claims Act requires an administrative claim first. You have two years from the date the claim accrues to submit a Standard Form 95 to the responsible agency. Missing this deadline permanently bars the claim.¹⁴

After filing, the agency has six months to decide. If it denies the claim or fails to respond within six months, you can treat the silence as a denial and file suit in federal court. The lawsuit must be filed within six months of the mailing date of the denial. Filing in court before the agency acts, or before the six-month waiting period expires, will get the case dismissed.¹⁵

Medical Malpractice

Medical negligence claims follow a stricter timeline. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5, you must file within one year of discovering the injury or three years from the date it actually occurred, whichever comes first.¹⁶

The “whichever occurs first” language is the trap. If a surgical error happened four years ago and you only discovered it last month, you are already past the three-year cap. Three narrow exceptions can push past that cap: proven fraud by the provider, intentional concealment of the harm, or a foreign body with no medical purpose left inside your body. Outside these three, the three-year wall holds.¹⁶

Legal Malpractice

Claims against attorneys follow a parallel structure with a longer outer boundary. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 340.6, you must file within one year of discovering the attorney’s error or four years from the date the error occurred, whichever comes first.¹⁷

Section 340.6 spells out specific pauses: the attorney has made the error but no actual harm has resulted yet; the same attorney is still representing you on the same matter; the attorney willfully concealed the mistake (which pauses only the four-year deadline, not the one-year discovery period); a physical or legal disability prevents you from suing; or a fee arbitration between you and the attorney is still pending.

Continuing representation is the one that matters most in practice. While the same attorney is still actively handling the matter where the error happened, the clock does not run. The moment you hire a new lawyer or the original attorney withdraws, both the one-year and four-year periods begin.¹⁷

1
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 335.1 – The Time of Commencing Actions Other Than for the Recovery of Real Property
2
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 338 – Statute of Limitations
3
Justia. CACI No. 455 Statute of Limitations – Delayed Discovery
4
California Legislative Information. California Code CCP 352 – General Provisions as to the Time of Commencing Actions
5
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 352.1 – Imprisonment Tolling
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3936 – Statute of Limitations
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 U.S. Code 362 – Automatic Stay
8
Justia. CACI No. 457 Statute of Limitations – Equitable Tolling – Other Prior Proceeding
9
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 911.2 – Claim Presentation Deadline
10
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 910 – Contents of Claim
11
California Courts | Self Help Guide. Ask a Government Agency to Pay You by a Deadline
12
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 945.6 – Actions Against Public Entities
13
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 911.4 – Late Claim Application
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States
15
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2675 – Disposition by Federal Agency as Prerequisite; Evidence
16
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 340.5 – Professional Negligence
17
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure 340.6 – Actions Against Attorneys