A government tort claim MTA California filing is not a formality attorneys can treat like the standard two year statute of limitations for private defendants. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority is a public entity, and claims against it are governed by the California Government Claims Act, a framework with a dramatically shorter timeline and its own procedural traps for counsel unfamiliar with public entity litigation.
6 months
Deadline to present a claim under Government Code 911.2
45 days
Time the agency has to act before a claim is deemed denied
1 year
Outer limit to seek discretionary late-claim relief under 911.4
Government Code section 911.2 requires that a claim relating to a cause of action for death or injury to person be presented to the public entity not later than six months after the accrual of the cause of action. This is not a filing suggestion. It is a mandatory precondition to filing suit against MTA or any other California public entity, and failure to comply generally bars the claim entirely, regardless of the underlying merits. Attorneys accustomed to the two year personal injury statute of limitations that applies to private defendants under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 can easily miscalculate the deadline in a case involving a public entity co-defendant, particularly when the case initially appears to involve only private parties and a public entity's involvement, such as a transit agency bus, only becomes apparent after initial investigation.
A government claim must include the claimant's name and address, the date, place, and circumstances of the incident, a general description of the injury or damage, the name of the public employee causing the injury if known, and the amount claimed or an indication that the claim exceeds the jurisdictional limit of the applicable court. Vague or generic claims risk rejection on procedural grounds, so the factual narrative should be specific enough to put the agency on genuine notice of the claim while avoiding overcommitting to a damages theory before full investigation is complete.
Leave to present a late claim under Government Code section 911.4 is discretionary, requires a showing of mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, and must be filed within a reasonable time not to exceed one year after accrual. Never plan around it as a backstop.
Once a claim is properly presented, the public entity generally has 45 days to act. If it does not, the claim is deemed denied by operation of law, which then starts a separate clock for filing suit.
After denial, the claimant has six months from written notice of denial under Government Code section 945.6, or two years from accrual if no notice was given. Missing this second deadline can be just as fatal as missing the first.
Claim strategy and evidence preservation must move on parallel, immediate tracks rather than sequential ones.
The case behind this page
The preserved video was central to overcoming the defense, which is why claim strategy and evidence preservation must move on parallel tracks.
See the transit agency resultRelated deadline
Why the preservation demand should go out the same day, well before the six month claim deadline arrives.
Preserving the bus videoRelated breakdowns from this bus common carrier case.
We take MTA and other public entity injury cases as counsel or co-counsel and move immediately on claim presentation. Statutory referral fees paid.
Refer a caseSix months from the date the cause of action accrued, under Government Code section 911.2, a dramatically shorter period than the two year statute of limitations that applies to private defendants.
The claim is generally barred entirely, regardless of the strength of the underlying facts, unless a court grants discretionary relief to present a late claim under Government Code section 911.4, which is narrow and unreliable.
The claimant's name and address, the date, place, and circumstances of the incident, a description of the injury, the name of the responsible public employee if known, and the amount claimed or an indication the claim exceeds the applicable court's jurisdictional limit.
