In California, you generally have two years from the date of an accident to file a personal injury lawsuit, three years if only your property was damaged, and as little as six months if a government agency was involved. So the real answer to how long after an accident you can sue in California depends on what kind of harm you suffered and who caused it. Miss the deadline that applies to your situation and the court will dismiss the case, no matter how strong it is.
The Two-Year Default for Injuries
The standard filing window for personal injury claims is two years from the date you were hurt. California Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 covers injuries caused by another person’s “wrongful act or neglect,” which is the statute’s phrasing for negligence.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 335.1 The same two years apply to car crashes, slip-and-falls, bicycle collisions, dog bites, and product injuries.
The clock starts the day of the accident. File on day 731 and the court will throw the case out. There is no grace period for being close.
Three Years for Property Damage
If the accident damaged your vehicle or other property but did not injure you physically, you have three years to sue for repair or replacement costs.2California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 338 Many crashes produce both. When they do, the injury claim still expires at two years even though you have another full year to sue for the car. People sometimes rely on the longer deadline and lose the injury portion of their case.
Medical Malpractice Runs Shorter
Claims against doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other healthcare providers follow a tighter rule. You have one year from the date you discovered the injury, or three years from the negligent treatment itself, whichever comes first.3California Courts. Deadlines to Sue Someone If a surgeon left a sponge inside you during a 2024 operation and you did not learn of it until 2026, the one-year discovery clock begins in 2026. If more than three years have passed since the treatment, late discovery no longer saves the claim.
California also requires written notice to the provider at least 90 days before you file. If you send that notice within the final 90 days of your limitations period, the deadline extends by 90 days so you can file after the notice period runs out.3California Courts. Deadlines to Sue Someone
Six Months to Sue a Government Agency
If a city, county, school district, or state entity caused your injury, you cannot go straight to court. You first have to file a formal administrative claim with the agency, and for personal injury or property damage that claim is due within six months of the accident.4California Legislative Information. California Government Code 911.2
Once the agency sends a written denial, you have six months from the date that notice was mailed or delivered to file suit. If the agency never responds in writing, you have two years from the date of the injury.5California Legislative Information. California Government Code 945.6 A pothole on a city street, a broken railing at a public library, a collision with a county vehicle: all of these trigger the six-month clock, and that is the deadline most people miss.
Two Years for Wrongful Death
When an accident kills someone, surviving family members have two years to bring a wrongful death action under the same statute that governs personal injury claims.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 335.1 The clock runs from the date of death, not the date of the accident. If someone is injured in January and dies in June from those injuries, the family’s two years begin in June. Wrongful death claims against a government entity still require the six-month administrative claim first.
When the Clock Starts Later Than You Think
Not every injury is obvious right away. California’s discovery rule delays the start of the limitations period when you could not reasonably have known you were hurt or that someone else caused it. The clock begins when you actually suspect wrongdoing, or when a reasonable person in your position would have suspected it.6Justia. CACI No. 455 – Statute of Limitations – Delayed Discovery
This is not a blanket extension. Once you have reason to suspect an injury and a possible cause, the law expects you to investigate, and you are charged with whatever a reasonable investigation would have revealed.6Justia. CACI No. 455 – Statute of Limitations – Delayed Discovery The rule most often matters in toxic exposure cases, defective medical device claims, and internal injuries that surface months after the accident.
When the Clock Pauses
Several situations can suspend the limitations period after it has started.
Minors and People Lacking Legal Capacity
If the injured person was under 18 or legally incapacitated at the time of the accident, the statute of limitations pauses during that disability.7California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 352 For a child, the two-year personal injury clock effectively starts on their 18th birthday.
One critical exception: this tolling does not apply to claims against government entities.7California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 352 A child injured on a government-maintained playground is still bound by the six-month administrative claim deadline, and a parent or guardian has to act within that window.
The Defendant Leaves California
If the person who caused your accident is out of state, that time does not count against your deadline.8California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure CCP 351 Modern service rules let California courts reach many out-of-state defendants without waiting for them to return, so the practical effect is narrower than it once was, but the statute still exists.
Active Military Duty
The federal Servicemembers Civil Relief Act excludes any time spent on active duty from the limitations period, whether you are the plaintiff or the defendant.9U.S. Government Publishing Office. 50 U.S. Code 3936 – Statute of Limitations The protection is automatic. A servicemember hurt the week before deployment gets the full two years once their active duty ends.
Equitable Tolling
California courts can pause the clock when a person was in good faith pursuing a related legal remedy that gave the defendant timely notice of the underlying claim, such as a workers’ compensation case that overlaps with a third-party lawsuit. Equitable tolling does not apply to the three-year outer limit in medical malpractice cases.10Justia. CACI No. 457 – Statute of Limitations – Equitable Tolling
Tolling Agreements
You and a potential defendant can agree in writing to pause the clock for a defined period. Insurers sometimes accept these when settlement talks are productive but the deadline is near. If negotiations fail, the remaining time on your statute of limitations resumes.
Boats and Maritime Accidents
If your accident happened on navigable waters, such as a boating collision or a dock injury, federal maritime law may apply instead of California’s two-year rule. The federal deadline for maritime personal injury and wrongful death claims is three years from the date the cause of action arose.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 46 U.S. Code 30106 – Time Limit on Bringing Maritime Action for Personal Injury or Death Do not assume state law governs a water accident without checking.
What Happens If You File Too Late
The court dismisses the case. It will not matter how badly you were injured, how clear the other side’s fault was, or how much evidence you have gathered. Once the limitations period runs out, the defendant can move to dismiss and the court must grant it. Medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering: all of it is gone.
The trap is usually not the two-year rule. It is confusing one deadline with another. Someone hit by a city bus who waits eight months to file an administrative claim has already lost the case, even though the general two-year personal injury window is still open. After any accident, identify every possible claim and every possible defendant quickly, because the shortest applicable deadline is the one that controls.