The California personal injury statute of limitations gives you two years from the date of your injury to file a lawsuit in most cases. That deadline comes from Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1 and covers the usual range of claims: car accidents, slip-and-falls, dog bites, assault and battery, and most product liability and wrongful death suits.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1 Miss the deadline and the court will almost certainly dismiss the case no matter how strong your evidence is. Several categories of claims run on shorter clocks, and claims against government entities follow an entirely different process, so the two-year rule is the starting point, not the whole picture.
“Filing” means your complaint is actually submitted to the court. Contacting a lawyer, opening an insurance claim, or sending a demand letter does not count.
When the Two-Year Clock Starts
The clock usually begins on the date the injury happens. California also recognizes a “discovery rule” that shifts the start date when the harm wasn’t immediately obvious. Under that rule, the two years begin when you discover, or reasonably should have discovered, both the injury and the fact that someone else’s conduct caused it.2California Courts. Deadlines to Sue Someone
This matters most when symptoms develop gradually. If you walk away from a car accident feeling fine but develop chronic back problems six months later, the two years may start when you first noticed those symptoms and connected them to the crash. The discovery rule also comes up in toxic exposure cases and with defective medical devices, where the injury can be hidden for a long time.
For wrongful death, the two years run from the date of death rather than the date of the underlying injury.1California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1
Deadlines That Aren’t Two Years
Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice runs on a shorter and more complex clock. You must file within one year of discovering the injury, or within three years of the date it occurred, whichever comes first.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.5 The three-year outer limit is an absolute ceiling with only three exceptions: fraud by the provider, intentional concealment, or a foreign object (like a surgical sponge) left inside the body.
Children injured by medical negligence generally must file within three years of the alleged wrongful act. Children under six get the longer of three years or until their eighth birthday.3California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.5
There’s also a notice step. Before filing a medical malpractice lawsuit you must give the healthcare provider at least 90 days’ written notice of your intent to sue. The notice has no required form but needs to describe the legal basis for the claim and the injuries you suffered. If you serve the notice within the final 90 days before your filing deadline, you get an extra 90 days to file. Serve it earlier and no extension applies.4California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 364
Property Damage
If someone’s negligence damaged your property, you have three years to file suit for that damage.5California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 338 When one accident causes both bodily injury and property damage, two different clocks run at once: two years for the physical injuries and three years for the damaged vehicle or other property.
Libel and Slander
Defamation claims must be filed within one year of the defamatory statement.6California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 340
Sexual Assault of an Adult
Civil claims for sexual assault that occurred after the victim’s 18th birthday follow the longer of two deadlines: 10 years from the date of the assault, or three years from the date the victim discovers that an injury resulted from the assault. California has also created revival windows for older claims. Assaults that occurred on or after January 1, 2009, but would otherwise be time-barred, can be filed through December 31, 2026. A separate revival provision extends certain claims through December 31, 2027.7California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.16
Childhood Sexual Abuse
For abuse that occurred on or after January 1, 2024, there is no time limit at all; survivors can file a civil lawsuit at any age. For abuse that occurred before that date, the statute of limitations in effect on December 31, 2023, governs.8California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.1 A defendant found to have actively covered up the abuse can be ordered to pay up to triple damages.
Survival Actions
When someone with a valid personal injury claim dies before the deadline runs, the claim doesn’t die with them. The estate can file within six months after the death or within whatever time remained on the original limitation period, whichever is longer.
Claims Against Government Entities
Suing a California state agency, county, city, or public employee runs on a much tighter track. You cannot go straight to court. You must first file an administrative claim with the government entity, and you have only six months from the date of the injury to do so.9California Legislative Information. California Government Code Section 911.2
The entity has 45 days to act. If it doesn’t respond within that window, the claim is automatically deemed rejected on the last day of the 45-day period.10California Legislative Information. California Government Code Section 912.4
Once the claim is rejected, your next deadline depends on whether you received written notice. If the entity sends a written rejection notice, you have six months from delivery of that notice to file suit. If no written notice is given, you have two years from the date your cause of action originally accrued.11California Legislative Information. California Government Code Section 945.6
When the Clock Pauses
California law tolls, or temporarily pauses, the statute of limitations in a few specific situations. Tolling doesn’t reset the clock. It freezes the clock until the qualifying condition ends, then the remaining time resumes.
If the injured person is under 18, the statute does not run until they turn 18. A child injured at age 10 would have until their 20th birthday to file. If you lacked the legal capacity to make decisions at the time of injury, the clock is tolled until that incapacity ends.12California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 352
Neither of these tolling rules applies to claims against government entities. A minor injured by a city bus or on government property must still meet the six-month administrative claim deadline. A parent who waits for the child to turn 18 before pursuing a government tort claim will find the deadline expired years earlier.
What Does Not Pause the Clock
This is where most people get into trouble. You file an insurance claim after an accident, the adjuster starts requesting records and making offers, months pass in back-and-forth negotiations, and the statute of limitations is running the entire time. Informal negotiations do not toll the deadline under California law. Neither does filing an insurance claim, hiring a lawyer, or exchanging demand letters. The only thing that stops the clock from expiring is actually filing a lawsuit with the court, or qualifying for one of the specific tolling provisions above. Adjusters know this. They have no obligation to warn you the deadline is approaching, and some are content to let negotiations drag past it.
What Happens If You Miss the Deadline
If you file after the statute of limitations has expired, the defendant will raise it as a defense and the court will dismiss the case. That dismissal ends your ability to recover compensation through the courts for that injury. There is no general “good cause” exception. Sympathetic facts will not save a late filing. The rare exceptions involve fraud or intentional concealment by the defendant, and those require specific proof.
Because the consequences are permanent, treat the applicable deadline as a hard cutoff rather than a target date. If your deadline is approaching and you haven’t filed, the filing itself is more urgent than perfecting the case. You can amend a complaint after filing; you cannot file one after the statute has run.