A serious injury caused by someone else can leave you facing medical bills, lost income, and an insurance company focused on paying as little as possible. California law gives injured people the right to pursue compensation, but the process moves on strict deadlines and the rules are not always obvious.
Here are answers to some of the most common questions people ask after an accident or injury in California.
Legally Reviewed By
Founding Partner
Zev Abramson is the founding partner of Abramson Labor Group. He earned his J.D. from Loyola Law School. Before law school, he worked multiple jobs across various industries and saw firsthand how employees’ rights were neglected. In 2015, he founded Abramson Labor Group to help California workers and injured people understand their rights and pursue the justice they deserve.
Right After an Accident
Get medical attention first, even if you feel fine, then call the police, document the scene, and exchange information. Avoid admitting fault at the scene, and don’t give a recorded statement to the other driver’s insurer before speaking with an attorney. A delay in treatment is one of the most common ways insurers reduce a claim.
The steps that protect your health also protect your claim. See a doctor the same day, because some serious injuries, including brain and internal injuries, are not obvious right away, and your medical records become key evidence. Call the police so an official report is created. Photograph the vehicles, the road, and any visible injuries. Get the other driver’s name, insurance, and contact details, and the names of any witnesses.
Be careful what you say. Apologizing or speculating about fault at the scene can be used against you later, and California’s comparative fault rules mean insurers will try to assign as much blame to you as possible. Evidence disappears fast, so acting promptly matters. Learn more about car accident claims.
Document everything and be cautious with the other driver’s insurer. Even when you weren’t at fault, the other side may still try to shift some blame onto you, because under California’s rules any percentage of fault they assign reduces what they pay. Get medical care, preserve evidence, and avoid giving a recorded statement before getting advice.
When the crash clearly wasn’t your fault, the other driver’s insurer may still contact you quickly, sometimes with a fast, low settlement offer or questions designed to get you on record. Anything you say can be used to argue you share fault. You are generally not required to give the other side’s insurer a recorded statement.
Strong evidence is what protects a not-at-fault claim: the police report, photos, witness names, and your medical records. The clearer the fault picture, the harder it is for an insurer to chip away at your recovery. Learn more about car accident claims.
Treat it like any injury crash: get medical care, call the police, document the scene, and exchange information. If you’re injured, you generally have a claim against the at-fault driver for your medical costs, lost income, and pain and suffering, separate from the property damage to your vehicle.
Injury claims and vehicle-damage claims are handled differently, and the injury side is usually where the real value is. Make sure your injuries are documented by a doctor and that the connection between the crash and your injuries is clear in your medical records. If the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured, your own policy’s uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage may apply, which is worth checking early. Learn more about car accident claims.
Call the police and report it, get medical care, and write down everything you remember, the vehicle, direction, and any partial plate. In California, leaving the scene of an injury crash is a serious criminal offense for the driver, but even if they’re never found, your own uninsured motorist coverage may pay for your injuries.
Under California law, fleeing the scene of a crash that caused property damage is a misdemeanor, and fleeing a crash that caused injury or death can be charged as a felony. That is the driver’s criminal exposure. On the civil side, your focus is recovering for your injuries.
If the fleeing driver is identified, you can pursue a claim against them directly. If they are never found, your own uninsured motorist coverage often steps in to cover a hit and run, which is one reason reporting it promptly to the police and your insurer matters. Any witnesses or nearby camera footage can be critical, so note them early. Learn more about car accident claims.
Deadlines, Fault & the Claim Process
For most injury cases, you generally have two years from the date of the injury to file a lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. If a government entity is involved, a formal claim must usually be filed within six months, which is much sooner.
The two-year clock generally runs from the date of the accident. For claims involving a government entity, such as a dangerous road condition or a government vehicle, you must file a written claim with that agency within six months before you can sue. This is mandatory, and courts enforce it strictly.
Some situations can pause or shift these deadlines, such as an injured minor or an injury that could not reasonably have been discovered right away. Because missing a deadline can permanently end a strong case, it is safest not to assume you have extra time.
Yes. California follows a pure comparative negligence rule, so you can recover even if you were partly at fault, and even if your share is large. Your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault rather than eliminated.
If your total damages are $100,000 and you’re found 20 percent at fault, you can still recover $80,000. This is different from states where partial fault bars you entirely. Insurers know this rule, which is why they often work to assign as much fault to you as possible, every percentage point they shift onto you reduces what they pay. Arguments that you “weren’t paying attention” are a negotiation over percentages, not an automatic end to your claim.
It varies widely. A straightforward claim with clear fault and completed treatment can resolve in a few months, while a serious or disputed case can take a year or more. One factor matters more than most: settlement value is hard to measure until your medical treatment is far enough along to know the full extent of your injuries.
Settling too early, before you know whether you’ll need further treatment, risks accepting less than your claim is worth, because once you sign a release you generally cannot reopen it. Disputes over who was at fault, the severity of injuries, or the amount of damages all extend the timeline. The trade-off between speed and full value is one of the key things an attorney helps you weigh.
Common Types of Injury Claims
California requires every rider and passenger to wear a DOT-compliant helmet, but not wearing one does not bar your claim. At most it can affect the portion of damages tied to head or neck injuries a helmet might have reduced. It has no effect on who caused the crash.
A helmet issue is treated as a damages question, not a bar to recovery. An insurer may argue that the absence of a helmet worsened a head or neck injury, which can reduce that specific portion of damages under the comparative negligence rule, but it doesn’t change fault for the crash and has no bearing on injuries a helmet wouldn’t have prevented. Riders are also frequently blamed for crashes that weren’t their fault. Learn more about motorcycle accident claims.
Commercial trucks are governed by federal safety regulations on top of California law, and more than one party can be responsible, the driver, the trucking company, a cargo loader, or a parts maker. Key evidence, like the truck’s electronic driving logs, can also be lost quickly if it isn’t preserved.
Federal rules govern how long a driver can be on the road, how trucks are maintained, and how companies vet drivers, and a violation can be strong evidence of negligence. Because several parties may share liability and each may carry separate insurance, identifying everyone responsible is central to the claim. Trucking companies often start investigating within hours, so preserving records early matters. Learn more about truck accident claims.
Often, yes, even if you were crossing outside a crosswalk. California drivers must use reasonable care for pedestrians, and a driver who was speeding, distracted, or impaired can be held responsible. Being outside a crosswalk doesn’t automatically make you at fault.
Under California Vehicle Code section 21950, drivers must yield to pedestrians in crosswalks and must keep using care even when a pedestrian crosses improperly. California’s Freedom to Walk Act also limited when a pedestrian can be cited for crossing outside a crosswalk. Because of pure comparative negligence, even partial fault on your part doesn’t end the claim. Learn more about pedestrian accident claims.
A property owner can be responsible when they were negligent in maintaining the property and that negligence caused your injury. Under California Civil Code section 1714, owners owe a duty of reasonable care to lawful visitors. The key question is usually whether the owner knew, or should have known, about the hazard and failed to fix it or warn you.
To win a slip and fall claim, you generally must show the owner controlled the property, was negligent in maintaining it, that you were harmed, and that the negligence was a substantial factor in causing the harm. The central issue is often “notice”, whether the owner actually knew about the hazard, or whether it existed long enough that a careful owner should have found and fixed it. A fall on government property generally requires a claim within six months, while most others follow the two-year deadline. Learn more about slip, trip and fall claims.
Because a brain injury can be serious without being visible. Someone can have real problems with memory, focus, and mood while appearing fine, and mild to moderate traumatic brain injuries don’t always show up on standard CT scans or MRIs. Insurers use that to argue the injury isn’t serious.
Documenting a brain injury usually takes more than one scan. Neuropsychological testing, specialized imaging, and medical expert testimony are commonly used to connect the symptoms to the accident and show how they affect daily life and work. Because the long-term costs, ongoing care and lost earning capacity, can be substantial, this evidence is central to the value of the claim. Learn more about brain injury claims.
Under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60, the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner and the children (and grandchildren of a deceased child) generally have the right to file. If there are none, others who would inherit under California’s succession laws, such as parents or siblings, may file. Certain financial dependents may also qualify.
California limits who can bring a wrongful death claim, and generally all eligible family members must join in a single lawsuit rather than filing separately. The claim is separate from any criminal case and seeks compensation for the family’s losses. Like most injury claims, it is generally subject to the two-year deadline, with the six-month rule applying where a government entity is involved. Learn more about wrongful death claims.
Lawyers, Cost & Compensation
For a minor incident with no injuries, often not. But when you’re injured, the fault is disputed, or the insurer’s offer seems low, an attorney is usually worth it, because injury claims are where insurers work hardest to limit what they pay, and a lawyer’s job is to counter that.
The clearest signs it’s worth getting an attorney: you have real injuries and medical bills, you’ve lost income, fault is being contested, multiple parties are involved, or the insurer is pressuring you toward a quick settlement. Because personal injury lawyers work on contingency, there’s no upfront cost to find out whether you have a strong claim, which removes most of the risk of simply asking.
Abramson Labor Group works on a contingency basis, so there are no fees unless we win your case. You pay nothing upfront, and the fee comes as a percentage of the recovery rather than an hourly bill.
A contingency arrangement means the cost of pursuing a claim doesn’t fall on you while the case is ongoing, and it aligns the firm’s interest with getting you the best possible result. This structure is common in personal injury cases specifically because injured people often can’t afford hourly legal fees on top of medical bills and lost income.
Be cautious. An early offer isn’t automatically bad, but it often arrives before the full extent of your injuries and costs is known, which tends to favor the insurer rather than you. Once you accept and sign a release, you generally can’t go back for more.
Insurers move quickly to limit what they pay, and a fast offer can be based on incomplete information, especially if your treatment isn’t finished. Serious injuries sometimes reveal their full cost only over time, and a release signed early forecloses recovering for those later costs. Understanding the full picture of your medical needs and losses before agreeing to anything is what protects the value of your claim.
California injury claims can generally recover economic losses, such as medical expenses and lost income, and non-economic losses, such as pain and suffering. Serious cases can also account for future costs, like ongoing care and reduced earning capacity.
Economic damages cover measurable losses: past and future medical bills, lost wages, and other out-of-pocket costs. Non-economic damages cover harms that are real but harder to quantify, such as pain, emotional suffering, and loss of enjoyment of life. The value of any individual claim depends on the specific injuries, the strength of the evidence, and how clearly fault can be established, so amounts vary widely from case to case.
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