The personal injury claims process in California

Every personal injury claim, whatever the accident, is built on the same frame: someone owed you a duty of care, they broke it, that break caused your injury, and the injury is real and documented. This page walks through that frame and then through the arc of a claim, from the day of the crash to the day it resolves. The practice pages cover what is specific to each kind of accident; this is the machinery underneath all of them.

It is general information, not legal advice, and it does not tell you whether you have a case.

The four elements of a negligence claim

1. Duty

Everyone has a general duty to use reasonable care so their conduct does not injure others (Civ. Code, § 1714). For a driver, that means driving as a reasonably careful person would. For a property owner, keeping the property reasonably safe. For a doctor, meeting the professional standard of care. Duty is rarely the fight — almost everyone owes some duty. The fight is usually about the next three.

Sources: Civ. Code, § 1714 (general duty of ordinary care); CACI No. 401 (basic standard of care), Judicial Council of California Civil Jury Instructions (2026 edition).

2. Breach

Breach is the failure to use reasonable care — speeding, running a light, leaving a spill on the floor, ignoring a known hazard. It is measured against what a reasonably careful person would have done in the same situation. When the conduct also violated a safety statute — a speed limit, a right-of-way rule, a building code — the violation can establish breach by itself, a rule called negligence per se (Evid. Code, § 669). The other side can try to rebut the presumption by showing the violation was reasonable given the circumstances, such as an emergency. A police citation, an admission, physical evidence, and independent witnesses all go to breach.

Sources: Evid. Code, § 669 (presumption of negligence from a statutory violation); CACI No. 400 (negligence — essential factual elements); CACI No. 418 (presumption of negligence per se) and CACI No. 420 (rebutting the presumption).

3. Causation

The breach has to be a substantial factor in causing your injury. It does not have to be the only cause, but it has to be more than a trivial one. Causation is where an insurer fights hardest, and it has two parts. Factual cause: did this crash actually produce this injury, or does the injury trace to a pre-existing condition, a later event, or a gap in treatment? Scope of liability: is this the kind of harm a careful person would have foreseen? Medical records that connect the injury to the event, and treating providers who will say so, are what carry this element.

Sources: CACI No. 430 (causation: substantial factor); CACI No. 431 (causation: multiple causes). How the medical side is attacked and defended: treatment gaps · pre-existing conditions.

4. Damages

You have to have suffered actual harm, and it falls into two buckets:

• Economic damages — the losses with a receipt or an invoice: past medical bills, the reasonable cost of future medical care, lost earnings, lost earning capacity, and out-of-pocket costs.
• Non-economic damages — the losses without a price tag: physical pain, mental suffering, disfigurement, physical impairment, inconvenience, and the loss of the ability to do things you used to do.

A spouse may also have a claim for loss of consortium — the loss of the injured person's companionship and support. California does not cap non-economic damages in an ordinary injury case; it does in a medical malpractice case. This site does not state figures or ranges.

More: what affects the value of a claim.

Comparative fault

If you were partly at fault, California reduces your recovery by your percentage of fault — and does not bar the claim, no matter how large your share. This is "pure" comparative fault, and it is different from states that cut off recovery at 50 percent. When more than one person is at fault, each defendant is fully responsible for the economic damages but only for its own share of the non-economic damages (Proposition 51; Civ. Code, § 1431.2).

Sources: Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804 (pure comparative fault); Civ. Code, § 1431.2 (Proposition 51); CACI No. 405 (comparative fault of plaintiff); CACI No. 431 (causation: multiple causes).

Deeper: comparative fault · what if I was partly at fault?

The deadline

A claim that is not filed in time is over, regardless of how strong it is. The general deadline for an injury claim is two years from the injury (Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1). Medical negligence has its own clock, and a claim against a city, county, transit agency, school district, or the state must be presented in writing within six months before you can sue at all.

Sources: Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1.

Deeper: statute of limitations · government claims.

How a claim moves

Investigation and preservation

The first weeks are about locking down evidence before it disappears: the police or incident report, photos, surveillance and dashcam footage, witness statements, and the physical evidence itself. Where a vehicle, product, or data recorder matters, a preservation letter goes out to whoever controls it. Insurers get notice of the claim.

Treatment to maximum medical improvement

A claim generally should not settle until your medical condition is stable enough to know the long-term picture — the point doctors call maximum medical improvement. Settling before then means guessing at future care and permanent effects, and a release cannot be undone. This is the single biggest driver of how long a claim takes.

More: how long a claim takes.

The demand

Once the medical picture is clear, I send the insurer a demand — a package that lays out liability, the medical records and bills, the wage loss, the effect on your life, and a settlement number. Where liability is clear and the harm plainly exceeds a modest policy, that can be a policy-limits demand, which creates bad-faith exposure for an insurer that unreasonably refuses.

More: the demand letter.

Negotiation

Offers go back and forth. Many claims resolve here. The adjuster's job is to close the file for as little as possible, and comparative fault, the treatment record, and the available coverage are the levers each side pulls.

Lawsuit and discovery

If the deadline is close or the offer is unreasonable, I file suit. Then both sides exchange documents, answer written questions under oath, and take depositions. Experts are retained — a reconstructionist, treating and retained physicians, an economist, a life-care planner as the case requires. You will likely be deposed and may be sent for a defense medical examination.

More: depositions.

Mediation and trial

Most filed cases still settle, often at a mediation with a retired judge or experienced neutral. The ones that do not go to a jury. A statutory offer to compromise under Code of Civil Procedure section 998 can shift costs onto a party that rejects a reasonable offer and does worse at trial. California generally requires a filed case to be brought to trial within five years (Code Civ. Proc., § 583.310).

Sources: Code Civ. Proc., § 998 (offer to compromise); § 583.310 (five years to trial).

More: settlement or trial · mediation and arbitration.

Resolution and the liens

When the case resolves, the recovery pays, in order: the advanced case costs, the attorney fee, and the liens and reimbursements — health insurance, Medi-Cal or Medicare, hospital liens, med-pay subrogation. What is left is yours. Reducing those liens is part of the work and directly affects what reaches you.

More: health insurance liens · Medi-Cal and Medicare liens · medical payments coverage.

The fee

We work on a contingency fee, meaning no attorney's fee unless we recover for you. Clients remain responsible for case costs advanced, including if there is no recovery.

There is no charge for the case review call, no hourly bill, and no fee unless I recover for you. If a case needs a trial, I bring in a trial firm and split the one fee with them without adding to your cost — see how this works.

Submitting this does not create an attorney-client relationship until a written agreement is signed.

Common questions

What do I actually have to prove in a personal injury claim?

Four things: that the other person owed you a duty of reasonable care, that they breached it, that the breach was a substantial factor in causing your injury, and that you suffered real harm. If any one of the four does not hold up, the claim fails.

Do most claims settle or go to trial?

Most settle, many before a lawsuit is even filed. A case goes to trial when liability is genuinely disputed, the insurer will not make a reasonable offer, or a deadline forces the filing. A lawyer who is ready to try the case has more leverage in the settlement talks.

How long do I have to bring a claim?

Generally two years from the injury (Code Civ. Proc., § 335.1). Medical negligence and claims against a government entity run on shorter, different clocks. Confirm the one that applies to you early — see the statute of limitations page.

What does it cost to hire you?

I work on a contingency fee. There is no hourly bill and no fee unless I recover for you. Case costs are advanced as the case goes. The details are on "How this works."