If you were hurt in a California car accident, you generally have two years from the date of the crash to file a personal-injury lawsuit under CCP § 335.1. Devoted Injury Lawyers is a California PI firm with 51 years combined experience. Statewide case evaluation, 24/7. No fee unless we win.
Most claims are won or lost in the first 72 hours. Here are the seven steps that protect your case and your health while the evidence is still fresh.
See a doctor, paramedic, or ER - even if you feel okay. Soft-tissue injuries often surface 24–72 hours later. Documentation now equals stronger evidence later.
A police or CHP report locks in the other driver's identity, insurance, and an initial account of what happened. California Vehicle Code § 20008 requires reporting any accident with injury within 24 hours.
Vehicle positions before they are moved, damage from multiple angles, road conditions, skid marks, traffic signs, injuries, the other driver's plate and insurance card.
Witnesses move on quickly. A name and phone number captured on day one is worth more than any expert testimony months later.
The other driver's insurer will call within 24 hours and ask for a recorded statement. You are not required to give one. The CA Department of Insurance explains exactly that.
Receipts, prescriptions, mileage to medical appointments, photos of bruises as they evolve, missed-work documentation. Keep a single folder or photo album from day one.
Free, 24/7. You speak directly to a California-licensed lawyer who will tell you what you have and what to do next. Do this before any recorded conversation with the insurance company.
Providing 24/7 statewide case evaluations. Share your story with us, and we'll answer your questions to help you navigate the best path forward.
Police and CHP reports, scene photos, vehicle data downloads, surveillance footage from nearby businesses, accident-reconstruction experts when liability is contested.
We handle each call, letter, and demand. You stop talking to adjusters. We document your medical course and present the full picture in a written demand.
If the insurer won't pay fair value, our litigation attorney files suit, takes depositions, and prepares for trial. Most cases settle once we file - but we prepare each one for court.
Once a settlement or verdict comes in, we coordinate medical lien negotiations, payoff, and disbursement. You should not have to manage your own recovery while you're healing.
Most California car-accident cases turn on the same handful of code sections. Here they are in plain English, with the primary-source citation each one comes from.
You generally have two years from the date of the accident to file a personal-injury lawsuit in California. Miss the deadline and you may lose your right to recover, regardless of how strong the underlying facts are.
If a public entity is involved - a city bus, a county vehicle, a state-maintained road - you need to serve a notice of claim within six months under Gov. Code § 911.2. The shorter clock catches injured drivers off guard more than any other rule.
Since January 1, 2025, California drivers are required to carry at least $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident in bodily-injury liability coverage, plus $15,000 in property-damage liability. SB 1107 (the Protect California Drivers Act) raised the minimums from the old $15k/$30k/$5k figures that had stood for decades.
These are minimums, not maximums. Many drivers carry more - and when the at-fault driver doesn't have enough coverage, your own uninsured / underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) policy is often the second source of recovery under Cal. Insurance Code § 11580.2.
California uses pure comparative negligence. Your recovery is reduced by your share of fault, but you can recover something even if you were mostly at fault. The rule comes from Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804 and is applied by CACI Jury Instruction 405.
Worked example. Your damages are $100,000. A jury finds you 30% at fault and the other driver 70%. You recover $70,000. If you were 90% at fault, you still recover $10,000. Many drivers walk away from valid claims because they assume partial fault means no recovery - it doesn't.
California's tort-damages rule says the measure of damages is the amount which will compensate for the full detriment proximately caused by the wrong. In practice that means both economic damages (the bills you can add up) and non-economic damages (pain, suffering, and quality of life).
Negligence itself is governed by Civ. Code § 1714: each person is responsible for injury they cause to others by want of ordinary care.
California organizes tort damages into two categories. Your case may include both. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Past results disclaimer. Prior results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome in your case. Each case is different and depends on its unique facts, the applicable law, the available insurance coverage, and other factors.
Our office is at 3548 Seagate Way, off Oceanside Boulevard, in Oceanside, near College Boulevard. We grew up around these freeways. We know the I-5 corridor through downtown Oceanside, the I-5 / SR-78 interchange, the SR-76 connector to inland North County, and the SR-78 stretch through Vista and San Marcos. We also handle cases on each California highway, from the Bay Area down to the border. According to the California Office of Traffic Safety, San Diego County reports tens of thousands of injury crashes each year, and the I-5 corridor is consistently among the highest-volume.
When you call us about a North County crash, you don't have to explain where the 5 splits south of SR-78. You don't have to spell "Camp Pendleton." You don't have to draw a map.
Talk to a California car accident attorney today.
You call (888) 760-2529 or send the form. A licensed California attorney calls back, usually within the hour. We listen, ask the right questions, and tell you what you have.
If you hire us, you stop talking to adjusters. We send the representation letter, request the police report, gather your records, and shoulder each call, letter, and recorded request.
See your doctors. Heal. We coordinate with providers, document the case as it builds, and come to you with decisions that need your input.
Names withheld for privacy, facts preserved for transparency. Each case is unique - yours included.
A high school student sustained serious injuries requiring arm surgery after being involved in a rollover accident as a passenger. The incident occurred while exiting Interstate 5.
Read the case study→During an evening bike ride in Twentynine Palms, a father was struck by a distracted driver who ran a stop sign, leaving him with multiple fractures and requiring several surgeries.
Read the case study→Walking his French bulldog in the morning, our client was suddenly attacked by a Cane Corso. He sustained multiple injuries, including bite wounds to his thigh, a chipped tooth, forehead abrasions, and a back injury.
Read the case study→Past results disclaimer. Prior results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict a similar outcome in your case. Each case is different and depends on its unique facts, the applicable law, and the available insurance coverage.
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Hundreds of cases since 2014. Fluent Spanish.
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