More viable roadway injury claims are lost to a missed filing deadline than to any weakness in the underlying facts. A government tort claim highway California matter is subject to procedural requirements entirely separate from, and far stricter than, the rules governing claims against private defendants, and any referring attorney evaluating a case involving a public roadway, a state agency, or a city needs to treat the claim-filing deadline as the very first item on the checklist.
6 months
Deadline to present a claim against a public entity under Government Code 911.2
45 days
Time the entity has to act before a claim is rejected by operation of law
The California Government Claims Act, Government Code section 900 et seq., requires a person with a personal injury or wrongful death claim against a California public entity to present a written administrative claim to that entity within six months of the injury, under Government Code section 911.2. This is dramatically shorter than the two-year statute of limitations that applies to most personal injury claims against private defendants under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. A claimant who waits even a few days past the six-month mark, believing the two-year rule applies because a private contractor is also involved, can permanently forfeit an otherwise valid claim against the public entity.
Government Code section 910 specifies the required contents of a government claim, including the name and address of the claimant, the date, place, and circumstances of the incident giving rise to the claim, a general description of the injury or damage incurred, the names of any public employees involved if known, and the amount claimed or a statement that the claim exceeds the jurisdictional limit of the relevant court. A claim that omits required information can be returned by the public entity as insufficient, and the claimant must correct and resubmit it within the applicable time limits, making careful initial preparation essential rather than a formality to rush through.
Once a claim is properly presented, the entity has 45 days to act under Government Code section 912.4. It may accept, reject, or take no action, which is treated as a rejection by operation of law. Only after that process concludes can the claimant file suit.
Government Code section 911.4 allows an application to present a late claim within a reasonable time not exceeding one year, but only on a showing of good cause such as excusable neglect, mistake, or incapacity, and only if the entity was not prejudiced. Courts apply it narrowly.
Roadway cases often mix public entities and private defendants. Each public entity requires its own timely, properly presented claim, even where a private codefendant remains subject to the longer two-year statute of limitations.
In the underlying matter, timely government claims against every public entity involved preserved the full scope of recovery ultimately achieved.
The case behind this page
How timely claims against every public entity preserved the full scope of recovery in a multi-defendant roadway case.
Read the full caseRelated layout issue
When the roadway layout or a temporary work zone configuration is itself the hazard behind a public-entity claim.
See the design theoryRelated breakdowns from this case and our dangerous condition practice.
We take dangerous condition cases against public entities as counsel or co-counsel and pay statutory referral fees.
Refer a caseGenerally six months from the date of injury for personal injury or wrongful death claims against a California public entity, under Government Code section 911.2, far shorter than the two-year deadline for claims against private defendants.
Under Government Code section 910, a claim must include the claimant's name and address, the date, place, and circumstances of the incident, a general description of the injury, the names of any known responsible public employees, and the amount claimed or a statement that it exceeds the relevant court's jurisdictional limit.
Yes. Each public entity defendant, whether a city, county, or state agency, requires its own timely and properly presented government claim, even if other defendants in the same incident are private parties subject to different deadlines.
