Who counts as a “public entity”
The government claims rules apply when the party responsible for your injury is a public agency or its employee acting on the job. In the Los Angeles area that includes, for example:
- A city (for example, a Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, or Los Angeles city vehicle or a city-maintained sidewalk)
- Los Angeles County
- The State of California, including Caltrans
- Transit agencies such as LA Metro
- Public school districts
Common examples are a crash with a city bus or county truck, a trip on a broken public sidewalk, or a collision caused by a dangerous road condition.
The 6-month claim deadline
A claim for personal injury, death, or damage to personal property, including your car, must be presented to the public entity no later than six months after the incident (Government Code 911.2). This is a written claim on the entity’s form or with the information the law requires, filed with the right office. It is not a lawsuit, but without it, you generally cannot sue.
What happens after you file
- The agency acts on the claim. It can accept, reject, or partly reject it. If it does nothing within the time the law allows, the claim is treated as rejected.
- If you receive a proper written rejection, you generally have six months from the date the notice was mailed or personally delivered to file a lawsuit (Government Code 945.6).
- If no proper written notice is given, the time to sue is generally two years from the injury.
- Day 0The injuryPhotograph the scene and identify the agency: city, county, state, or transit.
- 6 monthsPresent the claimA written government claim to the right public entity (Gov. Code 911.2).
- Agency actsAccept or rejectIf the agency does nothing in time, the claim is treated as rejected.
- +6 monthsFile the lawsuitCounted from the date a written rejection notice is mailed or delivered (Gov. Code 945.6).
Missed the six months? You can apply to present a late claim, within one year of the incident (Gov. Code 911.4).
If you missed the six months
You can apply to present a late claim, but the application must be made within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the incident (Government Code 911.4). The agency then has 45 days to grant or deny it. It must grant late claims in certain situations, for example when the injured person was a minor for the entire six-month period, or when the failure to file was due to mistake, surprise, or excusable neglect and the agency was not prejudiced (Government Code 911.6). If it denies the application, there is a separate court process with its own deadline.
Minors
For most injury claims, the two-year lawsuit deadline is paused while the injured person is under 18. That pause does not apply to the government claim requirement (CCP 352(b)). A child hurt by a school bus or on public property still needs a timely claim.
What to do now
- Write down exactly where it happened. Take photos of the vehicle, sidewalk, or road condition, with something for scale.
- Get the bus number, route, vehicle number, or employee name if you can.
- Keep medical records and bills.
- Talk to a lawyer well before the six months are up. Identifying the right agency, and the right office to serve, takes time.
Related: the first 72 hours after a crash · pedestrian and bicycle accidents