John Roach, Esq. | June 10, 2026 | California Law \ Car Accidents
California Statute of Limitations for Personal Injury Claims: The 2-Year Deadline and Why It Does Not Tell the Whole Story
The single most common question I get from injured people in San Francisco is some version of: “How long do I have to do something about this?”
The short answer most people hear — “you have two years” — is correct as far as it goes. California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 sets a two-year statute of limitations for most personal injury claims. But the two-year rule is the surface of a much more complicated structure. There are deadlines as short as six months. There are exceptions that extend deadlines for years. There are special rules for minors, for incapacitated victims, for fraudulent concealment, and for specific claim types. And there is a long list of cases I have seen barred not because the underlying claim was weak, but because someone relied on the two-year answer without knowing what was sitting underneath it.
I represent injury victims across San Francisco and the Bay Area, and I have practiced personal injury law since 2009. This post covers the actual structure of the California personal injury statute of limitations as an attorney sees it in daily practice — the baseline rule, the exceptions, the deadlines for specific claim types, and the recurring ways insurance companies use the deadline against people who waited too long.
The Basic Rule: Two Years from the Date of Injury Under CCP § 335.1
California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 establishes the foundational two-year statute of limitations for personal injury and wrongful death claims. The statute reads, in relevant part: “Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.”
Three points about this baseline rule matter in practice.
First, the two-year clock generally runs from the date of injury, not the date of the underlying event in every case. For most car accidents, slip-and-falls, and similar incidents, those two dates are the same — the injury occurs at the moment of the crash or fall. For some claims, particularly latent-injury claims and fraudulent-concealment claims discussed below, the clock starts later under the discovery rule.
Second, the two-year deadline applies broadly across the personal injury landscape — car accidents, rear-end collisions, pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, motorcycle accidents, commercial truck collisions, Uber and Lyft rideshare crashes, slip-and-fall premises liability, dog bite cases, and the broad category of negligence-based injuries.
Third, missing the two-year deadline is not a procedural inconvenience. Once the statute of limitations runs, the claim is permanently barred. No amount of merit, sympathy, or unfair circumstance overrides the deadline. Courts dismiss out-of-time lawsuits as a matter of course.
The Six-Month Government Tort Claim Deadline Under Gov Code § 911.2
The single deadline that catches more cases than any other in my practice is not the two-year rule. It is the six-month government tort claim deadline.
If your injury claim is against any public entity — the City and County of San Francisco, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), MUNI, BART, the Golden Gate Bridge District, Caltrans, a school district, a state university, a county hospital, or the State of California itself — California Government Code § 911.2(a) requires you to present an administrative claim to that entity within six months of the date your cause of action accrued.
The administrative claim is a procedural prerequisite under Government Code § 945.4 — you cannot sue a public entity in California unless you first present a timely claim under the Government Claims Act. If the claim is rejected (either expressly or by operation of law after the entity fails to act within 45 days), you then have six months from the rejection notice to file suit under Government Code § 945.6.
Cases where the six-month deadline applies include MUNI bus collisions, BART platform falls, city sidewalk slip-and-falls where the dangerous condition is a sidewalk maintenance issue, crashes with police vehicles or fire trucks, highway collisions where Caltrans roadway design or maintenance contributed, and injuries on school district property. The six-month deadline does not care that the underlying personal injury rule would otherwise give you two years. The Government Claims Act controls.
Late-filed administrative claims can occasionally be excused under Government Code § 911.6, but the late-claim procedure has its own deadlines and substantive requirements, and excusal is not guaranteed.
When the Clock Starts: The Discovery Rule
For most personal injury claims, the two-year clock begins on the date of the injurious event. But for some claims, the clock starts later — when the injured person discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury and its cause.
This discovery rule applies most clearly to latent injuries that do not manifest at the time of the underlying incident. A traumatic brain injury or subdural hematoma that develops symptoms days or weeks after a car crash is still tied to the original two-year clock from the crash date in most cases. But cases involving toxic exposure, certain medical device failures, or asbestos-related injury — where the injurious effect is hidden for years — can have a delayed accrual date under the discovery rule.
The discovery rule is not a license to wait. The clock starts when the injured person has reason to suspect a wrongful cause, not when the full extent of the injury is known. Courts construe “reasonable diligence” strictly. Claiming you did not know is not enough — you must show you could not have known despite reasonable inquiry.
Tolling Exceptions: Minors, Incapacitation, and Fraudulent Concealment
Tolling is a legal mechanism that stops or pauses the running of the statute of limitations. California recognizes three primary tolling doctrines that affect personal injury cases.
Tolling for minors. Under California Code of Civil Procedure § 352(a), the statute of limitations is tolled for any person under 18 years of age at the time the cause of action accrues. The two-year clock does not start running until the minor’s 18th birthday. So a child injured at age 10 has until age 20 to file. This tolling does not apply to government tort claims under § 911.2 — minors still must file the six-month administrative claim within six months of the injury, although special procedures may allow late-claim relief in some circumstances.
Tolling for legal incapacity. Code of Civil Procedure § 352(a) also tolls the statute for persons “lacking the legal capacity to make decisions” at the time of injury. This applies to severe traumatic brain injury cases where the injured person cannot understand or manage their legal rights, comatose patients, and certain cognitive-impairment cases. The clock starts when capacity is restored — or, in cases where it never is, the tolling continues.
Tolling for fraudulent concealment. If the defendant actively concealed facts that would have alerted the plaintiff to a claim, the statute of limitations may be tolled until those facts are or should have been discovered. This doctrine requires affirmative acts of concealment, not mere silence, and it is narrowly applied.
Special Deadlines for Specific Personal Injury Claim Types
Several categories of personal injury claims have their own statute of limitations rules that override or modify the general two-year rule under § 335.1.
Wrongful Death — Two Years from Date of Death
Wrongful death claims under California law are governed by Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, but the two-year clock runs from the date of death, not the date of the underlying injurious event. So if a person is injured in a crash and survives for nine months before dying of those injuries, the wrongful death clock starts at death, not at the crash. The decedent’s surviving personal injury claim (the survival action under CCP § 377.30) has its own slightly different timing rules.
Medical Malpractice — CCP § 340.5
Medical malpractice claims are governed by Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5, which sets a unique two-track deadline: three years from the date of injury OR one year from the date the plaintiff discovers (or should have discovered) the injury, whichever expires first. This shorter discovery deadline catches many medical malpractice cases by surprise. For minors, § 340.5 has its own modified tolling rules that are tighter than the general § 352 tolling for minors.
Product Liability — Two Years (CCP § 335.1)
Product liability personal injury claims fall under the general § 335.1 two-year rule. A separate ten-year statute of repose under CCP § 337.15 applies to construction defects (cuts off liability ten years after substantial completion regardless of injury date), but does not apply to ordinary product liability personal injury.
Assault and Battery — Two Years
Intentional torts of assault and battery are explicitly listed in § 335.1 and share the two-year deadline. This includes claims arising from physical altercations, security failures on commercial property, and certain intentional driving conduct.
Property Damage Only — Three Years (CCP § 338)
If your claim is for property damage only with no personal injury, Code of Civil Procedure § 338 provides a three-year deadline. This matters in some crash cases where the property damage component (vehicle repairs or total loss) and the personal injury component are pursued separately.
How Insurance Companies Use the Statute of Limitations Against You
Insurance carriers know the statute of limitations cold. Their playbook around the deadline is consistent across every major insurer I have negotiated with.
Stretching settlement negotiations. Adjusters will often engage in slow, frustrating negotiation for the first 18 to 22 months after a crash — making low offers, requesting more documentation, asking for additional medical records, scheduling repeated phone calls. The strategy is to delay until the two-year deadline is close enough that the injured person feels pressured to take a low offer rather than retain an attorney and file suit. The countermove is to file the lawsuit well before the deadline approaches, which shifts the leverage entirely.
“Friendly” assurances of coverage. Some adjusters will hint or imply that their company is committed to resolving the claim, encouraging the injured person to keep negotiating rather than retain counsel or file suit. Verbal assurances do not toll the statute of limitations. The deadline runs whether the adjuster is being friendly or hostile.
Withholding the existence of a government defendant. In a multi-defendant crash — say, an Uber driver hits you in a SFMTA bus lane and the crash is partly attributable to a signal malfunction — the at-fault driver’s insurance company has no incentive to point out that you may also have a claim against the City. By the time the injured person realizes the government claim exists, the six-month tort claim deadline has often run.
Quick early settlement releases. In the first weeks after a crash, before injuries have fully developed, insurers sometimes offer a quick settlement contingent on a broad release. Signing closes the door before the full extent of injuries is known. The release becomes the de facto statute of limitations — and the underlying two-year clock becomes irrelevant because the claim has been resolved by contract.
What to Do If You Are Approaching a Deadline
If you are reading this and the deadline on your case is approaching, three actions matter most.
Calendar every potential deadline immediately. Two-year SOL from the date of injury. Six-month government tort claim from the date of injury if any public entity may be involved. Insurance policy notice requirements (your own carrier’s deadline, often 30 days). Any rejected-claim deadline if a government claim has already been denied.
Talk to a San Francisco personal injury attorney the same week. Consultations with my office are free and conducted personally — no associate handoffs. A consultation costs nothing and clarifies which deadlines apply, which exceptions might help, and what immediate filings might be necessary to preserve the case. Waiting another month to call when the deadline is two months away is a meaningful risk.
Do not rely on the insurance adjuster’s timeline. If your case is approaching the statute of limitations and the insurance company is still negotiating, that is not a signal you have plenty of time. It is a signal you may not. Filing the lawsuit preserves the claim regardless of where negotiation stands.
Frequently Asked Questions
Two years from the date of injury, under California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. This applies to most car accidents, slip-and-falls, dog bites, and general negligence claims. Several exceptions can shorten or extend this baseline, including the six-month government tort claim deadline under Government Code § 911.2 for claims against public entities.
Six months from the date of injury to file an administrative claim under California Government Code § 911.2. After the claim is rejected (or six months pass without action), you have an additional six months to file suit under § 945.6. The six-month rule applies to any public entity — MUNI, BART, the Golden Gate Bridge District, Caltrans, school districts, the City and County of San Francisco. Missing the administrative claim deadline bars the entire claim against the government defendant, regardless of merit.
In most cases, the clock starts on the date of the injurious event — the day of the crash, the day of the fall. For latent injuries (toxic exposure, certain medical conditions), the discovery rule may delay the start until the injury and its cause are or should have been discovered through reasonable diligence. The discovery rule is not a license to wait — courts apply a strict “reasonable diligence” standard.
Under California Code of Civil Procedure § 352(a), the personal injury statute of limitations is tolled until the minor turns 18. So a child injured at age 10 has until age 20 to file a personal injury lawsuit. Tolling for minors does not apply to government tort claims under § 911.2 — the six-month administrative claim deadline still applies, although late-claim relief may be available in some circumstances.
Not knowing the law is not a basis for extending the statute of limitations. The deadline runs whether or not the injured person understood the rules. The discovery rule applies only when the injury or its cause was hidden, not when the injured person was unaware of legal options. This is why early consultation with an attorney matters — calendaring deadlines is one of the first things an experienced attorney does.
Wrongful death claims in California are governed by Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 and have a two-year statute of limitations. The clock runs from the date of death, not from the date of the underlying injurious event. If the deceased had survived for a period of time before dying of injuries, the wrongful death clock starts at death, not at the original accident.
In most cases, missing the deadline permanently bars the claim. Limited exceptions exist — tolling for minors or legal incapacity, the discovery rule for latent injuries, and fraudulent concealment doctrine — but each requires specific facts that fit the doctrine. Talk to an attorney even if you think the deadline has passed. Some cases that look time-barred have applicable tolling that the injured person did not realize.
Talk to a San Francisco Personal Injury Lawyer About Your Deadline
If you have been injured in San Francisco or the Bay Area and have any question about deadlines applicable to your case, call my office for a free consultation the same week the question comes up. With $25 million+ recovered for Bay Area clients and the resources to file quickly when a deadline is approaching, I handle every case personally — no associate handoffs. Call (415) 851-4557 or email john@representmyinjury.com to discuss the timing on your case. If you have not yet read it, my step-by-step action plan for what to do after a car accident walks through evidence preservation in the first 72 hours.