The moments after a crash are a blur of adrenaline, confusion, and fear. You check whether you are hurt, look at the damage to your car, and wonder how you will get to work tomorrow. Then the real ordeal starts: calls from an adjuster, mounting medical bills, and the realization that someone else’s carelessness just upended your life.
Insurance companies are businesses first, and their profit depends on paying you as little as possible, as slowly as possible. California law gives you more leverage than most people realize, and knowing how to use it can make the difference between a fair recovery and a low offer.
How Long You Have to File a California Car Accident Claim
Generally, you have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal injury lawsuit. If you were hit by a government vehicle, city bus, police car, or Caltrans truck, you may have only six months to present a formal government claim. A separate three-year deadline generally applies when you are pursuing damage to your vehicle or other property.[1]
Missing a controlling deadline can end your right to recover, no matter how strong the evidence was. Limited exceptions and late-claim procedures may apply in some cases, but they should never be assumed.
The two-year clock keeps running while an adjuster trades friendly check-ins and repair estimates with you. A claim that still feels active can quietly expire. That is why we open the legal file early, even when a settlement looks likely.
California’s Fault Rule in Car Accident Cases
California vehicle accident laws establish a pure comparative negligence system: you can recover money even if you were partly at fault. If a jury finds you 20 percent responsible, you can generally recover 80 percent of your proven damages.[2]
Do not let an adjuster tell you that you have no case merely because you were speeding or may have made a mistake. Your share of fault must be supported by the evidence.
A driver’s violation of a safety law may also create a rebuttable presumption of negligence. This is sometimes called negligence per se. The rule applies when the violation caused the type of harm the law was designed to prevent and the injured person belonged to the group the law was intended to protect.[2]
Common safety violations in California car accident cases include:
- Holding and operating a phone while driving. California courts have confirmed that this can include looking at a mapping application while holding the phone.
- Driving faster than conditions safely allow, even when traveling below the posted speed limit.
- Following another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent.[3]
- Failing to stop at a red light or stop sign, or making an unsafe turn or lane change without signaling.
Liability Can Extend Beyond the Other Driver
Most car accident claims target the driver who caused the crash, but the driver is not always the only responsible party. Depending on the facts, other parties can share liability:
- Government entities: a poorly designed intersection, a malfunctioning traffic signal, or an unrepaired road defect can support a claim against the city, county, or state agency responsible for the roadway, subject to the shorter six-month government claim deadline.
- Vehicle and parts manufacturers: a defective airbag, brake system, tire, or seatbelt that failed to perform as designed can support a product liability claim independent of driver fault.
- Employers: when the at-fault driver was working at the time of the crash, their employer can share liability under respondeat superior.
- Vehicle owners: an owner who knowingly allows an unsafe or unlicensed driver to use their vehicle can face separate liability.
Identifying every liable party matters because each may carry separate insurance, which directly affects the total compensation available to you.
Insurance Settlement Offers After a California Car Accident
Here is the trap. An adjuster may call soon after the crash, sound friendly, and offer a quick check to close the file.
Do not sign a release before you understand the full extent of your injuries and losses. Once you sign a settlement release and accept payment, you generally cannot reopen the claim because your symptoms worsen or future treatment becomes necessary.
A properly built settlement accounts for future medical needs, reduced earning ability, and long-term limitations, not just the bills already received.
Insurance companies use standardized claim-evaluation systems that can reduce a person’s injuries to data points. Without strong evidence, you are a claim number. Depending on the case, accident reconstruction, vehicle event data, medical evidence, photographs, and witness testimony can establish what happened and what the crash cost you. And if your own or the other driver’s insurer denies or delays a valid claim without a legitimate basis, that conduct can become a separate insurance bad faith claim.
Types of Car Accident Cases We Handle
Los Angeles traffic is notorious for a reason. We handle the full spectrum of motor vehicle accidents, and several of the categories below have their own dedicated page going deeper into that specific crash type.
Rear-End Collisions
Rear-end collisions often cause whiplash and spinal injuries that do not surface, or worsen, until days after the crash, which is exactly why insurers dispute these soft-tissue claims so often.
Head-On Collisions
Among the most catastrophic crash types, often involving a driver who crossed the centerline due to distraction, impairment, or a medical emergency. Fault investigation focuses heavily on lane position and pre-impact vehicle data.
Rideshare Accidents (Uber/Lyft)
Rideshare accidents turn on the driver’s app status at the moment of impact. California generally requires at least $1 million in primary liability coverage after a driver accepts a ride request and until the ride is completed, and reaching that policy may require trip records and app data most people never think to request.[4]
Hit-and-Run Accidents
If the other driver flees, you are not out of options. A claim under your Uninsured Motorist coverage may cover the loss, subject to your policy and California’s notice, reporting, physical-contact, and proof requirements.[5] When the at-fault vehicle cannot be identified, California generally requires physical contact between that vehicle and yours, a police report within 24 hours, and a claim filed with your own insurer within 30 days.
Drunk Driving Accidents (DUI)
Drunk driving accidents may support punitive damages when clear and convincing evidence meets California’s heightened legal standard, and a criminal DUI conviction against the other driver can become powerful evidence in your separate civil claim.[6]
T-Bone and Intersection Crashes
T-bone and intersection crashes often turn on which driver had the right of way, a question that traffic-camera footage, witness statements, vehicle damage, and signal-timing records can help answer.
Single-Vehicle and Rollover Accidents
Not every serious crash involves a second vehicle. A rollover caused by a road defect, a tire failure, or a vehicle stability problem can still support a claim against a government entity or a manufacturer, even with no other driver involved.
What a California Car Accident Claim Can Recover
A car accident claim is not limited to the bills you have today. It should account for the full financial and human cost of the crash.
- Economic damages: ambulance fees, emergency care, surgeries, future treatment, rehabilitation, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity.
- Diminished value: the remaining reduction in a vehicle’s resale value after repairs. This loss may be recoverable when it can be proved.
- Non-economic damages: pain and suffering, emotional distress, disability, disfigurement, and the loss of activities the crash took from you.
- Wrongful death: when a crash takes a loved one’s life, surviving family members can pursue wrongful death damages, including lost financial support and loss of companionship.
Ordinary California car accident cases generally are not subject to a single statutory cap on non-economic damages. The cap under California Civil Code section 3333.2 applies to professional-negligence claims against healthcare providers, not ordinary auto-negligence cases. Proposition 213, codified at Civil Code section 3333.4, may still limit or bar non-economic damages for an uninsured owner-driver or a driver convicted of DUI, in specific circumstances.[7]
Uninsured Motorist Coverage and Accident Reporting in California
When the driver who hit you has no insurance, or not enough insurance, your own uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage may apply if that coverage is included in your policy.[5] California requires every insurer to offer this coverage when issuing a policy; a driver can only go without it by signing a written waiver, which many people do not realize they signed.
Your insurer effectively takes the place of the at-fault driver for purposes of the covered claim. That does not make the process automatic. Your carrier may still dispute coverage, fault, causation, or the value of your losses.
One duty is yours no matter who was at fault. A crash involving injury, death, or more than $1,000 in property damage generally must be reported to the California DMV on an SR-1 form within 10 days.[8]
A police report or insurance report does not replace the SR-1. You remain responsible for making sure the required report is filed.
How Haffner Law Builds Your Car Accident Case
A recorded statement, a repair estimate, and a quick settlement check are how insurers try to close a file before you understand what your claim is worth. We slow that process down. Depending on the case, we pull vehicle event data, dashcam and traffic-camera footage, and accident reconstruction analysis to establish exactly what happened, and we identify every party whose negligence may have contributed, not just the driver named on the police report.
We also build the damages side of the case with the same rigor, working with treating physicians to document future medical needs and with economists when lost earning capacity is significant, so a settlement reflects the full arc of what the crash cost you rather than the bills you have already received.
California Car Accident Law FAQs
What should I do immediately after a car accident?
Call 911 when someone may be injured, the roadway is dangerous, traffic is blocked, or a driver appears impaired. A police report can preserve useful information, but it does not conclusively decide civil fault.
Photograph the vehicle damage, roadway, traffic controls, debris, and visible injuries. Exchange required information, collect witness contacts, and seek prompt medical evaluation when you have symptoms or concerns about an injury. Do not admit fault or guess about what happened.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer for a car accident?
For a serious, disputed, or high-value claim, legal representation can make a substantial difference. An attorney can preserve evidence, identify every potentially responsible party, evaluate insurance coverage, document future losses, and challenge an insurer’s attempt to shift fault or minimize damages.
How long does a car accident settlement take?
Some claims resolve within months. Others take longer because medical treatment is ongoing, liability is disputed, several parties are involved, or a lawsuit becomes necessary.
Settling before the medical picture is clear can leave future treatment and long-term losses unpaid. Maximum medical improvement means the point at which a medical condition has stabilized and substantial further recovery is not expected, although ongoing care may still be needed.
What if the other driver has no insurance?
Your own uninsured motorist coverage may apply if it is included in your policy and the claim satisfies California’s requirements. Your insurer may still dispute coverage, fault, or damages, so the claim must be supported by evidence.[5]
Can I still recover if a government entity was involved?
Yes, but the deadline is far shorter. Claims against a public entity, such as a city bus or a Caltrans vehicle, generally require a formal administrative claim within six months of the crash rather than the standard two years.[1] Missing that window can permanently bar an otherwise strong claim.
What if a defective vehicle part contributed to my crash?
A product liability claim against the manufacturer can proceed independently of, or alongside, a claim against the at-fault driver. This is common in cases involving airbag failures, brake defects, tire blowouts, and seatbelt malfunctions, and it often requires preserving the vehicle itself before it is repaired or scrapped.
Speak With a California Car Accident Lawyer
Skid marks fade. Traffic cameras overwrite footage. Witnesses move away. The longer you wait, the harder it becomes to prove your case.
Lead attorney Joshua Haffner was nominated for 2012 Trial Lawyer of the Year by the Consumer Attorneys of California, and our attorneys serve Los Angeles from Haffner Law’s Sherman Oaks office, with additional coverage across our California locations.
Call Haffner Law at (213) 514-5681 for a free case evaluation. We advance all case costs, and you owe no attorney fees or reimbursed costs unless we recover money for you.
