Injury Claims Against the City of Los Angeles

Not every injury on a Los Angeles street involves a private driver or a private property owner. A cracked sidewalk, an unlit crosswalk, a missing stop sign, a county hospital, a city bus — all of these put a public entity on the other side of the claim. When that happens, the ordinary two-year deadline is not the one that governs, and people lose otherwise valid cases by assuming it is.

The six-month government claim

Before you can sue a California public entity for personal injury, the Government Claims Act requires you to present a written claim directly to that entity. Government Code section 911.2 sets the deadline at six months from the date the cause of action accrues — in most injury cases, the date of the incident. Government Code section 945.4 then bars a lawsuit unless a claim was presented and acted on, or deemed rejected.

Six months is short. It runs while you are still treating, still gathering records, and often still trying to work out which agency is responsible. That last question is not trivial in Los Angeles, where a single intersection can involve the City of Los Angeles, the County of Los Angeles, Caltrans, Metro and a neighboring city. Claims filed with the wrong entity do not preserve the deadline against the right one.

What happens after the claim is filed

The entity generally has 45 days to accept or reject the claim. If it sends a written rejection, Government Code section 945.6 gives you only six months from the date that notice was mailed or personally delivered to file suit. If the entity never responds, the claim is deemed rejected and a longer period — two years from accrual — applies. The trap is the written rejection: it shortens the window dramatically, and it arrives as an ordinary piece of mail that is easy to set aside.

If the six-month claim deadline has already passed, Government Code section 911.4 allows an application to file a late claim within one year of accrual, and section 946.6 allows a petition to the court for relief when that application is denied. Relief is discretionary and the grounds are narrow. It is a repair, not a plan.

Dangerous condition of public property

The most common theory against a city or county is a dangerous condition of public property under Government Code section 835. It requires showing that the property was in a dangerous condition at the time of the injury, that the injury was proximately caused by that condition, that the kind of injury was reasonably foreseeable, and either that a public employee created the condition or that the entity had actual or constructive notice of it early enough to have fixed it.

Notice is where these cases are usually won or lost. Prior complaints, 311 service requests, maintenance records, prior collision reports at the same location and photographs showing a defect that clearly developed over months all go to whether the entity should have known. Public entities also have statutory immunities — design immunity under section 830.6 for a plan that was approved in advance and was reasonable, and immunity for certain trail and recreational conditions — which is why an early evaluation matters.

Sidewalks, crosswalks and buses

Pedestrian injuries make up a large share of public entity claims in Los Angeles. Uneven sidewalk panels lifted by tree roots, missing curb ramps, signal timing, and burned-out street lighting are recurring issues. Public transit adds another layer: a public bus operator is held to the heightened duty of a common carrier under Civil Code section 2100, but the claim still runs through the six-month government claim process. Our pedestrian accident practice page covers how those claims are investigated, and the slip and fall guide explains the evidence that matters in a fall case.

What to do in the first weeks

• Photograph the defect immediately, with something in frame for scale, before it is repaired.
• Note the exact location — nearest address, cross streets, direction of travel.
• Get medical treatment and keep every record and bill.
• Identify witnesses and any nearby businesses with cameras; footage is often overwritten within days.
• Do not wait for the entity to contact you. Nothing about the six-month clock depends on them.

Deadlines are the whole game here

Most injury deadlines in California are governed by Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 and run two years. Public entity claims are the largest exception, and medical malpractice, minors and wrongful death each follow their own rules. Our article on California injury claim deadlines in Los Angeles lays those out, and the statute of limitations tool gives a quick orientation.

If a government agency may be responsible for your injury, do not let the six-month window run while you decide. Hollywood Injury Law Center offers a free case review and charges attorney's fees on a contingency basis — no fee unless you win. Call (323) 850-0101 or request a free case review.

This is general information, not legal advice. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.