Statute of Limitations in California in Long Beach, CA Every Clock That Can Apply

Filing deadlines are the one part of an injury claim that cannot be repaired after the fact. This page collects the periods that most often apply to a Long Beach injury, and the provisions that change them.

The general injury period

Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 fixes a two-year window covering assault, battery, and an individual's injury or death brought about by another party's wrongful act or neglect (CCP 335.1, FindLaw). Two years is the default for collisions, premises injuries, dog bites and most other injury claims against private parties.

Professional negligence is different

Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5 governs suits for injury or death against a health care provider premised on professional negligence: three years from the injury date, or a year from when the plaintiff found the injury or reasonably should have found it, whichever of those comes first, with the three-year limit tolled only on proof of fraud, intentional concealment, or the presence of a foreign body with no therapeutic or diagnostic purpose. Minors have separate periods, including three years from the alleged wrongful act, and for a minor under the full age of six, three years or before the eighth birthday, whichever is longer (CCP 340.5, FindLaw). A pre-suit notice requirement can extend the period by 90 days when the notice is served within 90 days of expiration (CCP 364, FindLaw).

Public entities operate on a shorter schedule

A claim against a city, county, district or state agency has to reach the entity within six months of accrual where death or harm to a person or to personal property is involved, and within a year for other causes of action (Gov. Code 911.2, leginfo). Once a claim is rejected, the deadline to file suit is six months from the date written notice under section 913 was delivered or mailed, or two years from accrual where that notice was not given in accordance with section 913 (Gov. Code 945.6, FindLaw). A person who waits eighteen months on the assumption that two years applies may already be barred.

Minority and incapacity

Code of Civil Procedure section 352 provides that where someone entitled to sue was a minor when the claim accrued, or then lacked the legal capacity to make decisions, the span of that disability drops out of the limitations calculation. Subdivision (b) states that the section does not apply to an action against a public entity or public employee on a cause of action for which a claim is required to be presented under the Government Code provisions (CCP 352, leginfo). That exclusion is why a child injured by a city vehicle is not protected by the usual minority tolling for the claim presentation step.

Incarceration

Code of Civil Procedure section 352.1 provides that if a person entitled to bring an action was, when the cause of action accrued, imprisoned on a criminal charge or in execution under the sentence of a criminal court for a term less than for life, the time of that disability is not part of the limitations period, not to exceed two years, and subdivision (b) excludes actions against public entities or employees requiring claim presentation (CCP 352.1, FindLaw).

Latent construction defects

Where an injury arises from a latent deficiency in the design, planning, supervision or observation of construction, or construction of an improvement to real property, Code of Civil Procedure section 337.15 bars an action brought more than ten years after substantial completion (CCP 337.15, FindLaw). This is a repose provision, meaning it can extinguish a claim before anyone is injured.

Filing is not the last deadline

Code of Civil Procedure section 583.310 requires that an action be brought to trial within five years after the action is commenced against the defendant (CCP 583.310, FindLaw). Cases are dismissed under this rule, which matters to anyone whose case has been pending for years while treatment or appeals continue.

Federal maritime and harbor claims

A worker covered by the federal Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act faces a one-year deadline to file a claim for disability or death, measured from the injury or death, or from the date of last payment where compensation was paid without an award, with the period not beginning until the worker is aware, or should reasonably have been aware, of the relationship between the injury and the employment, and with a two-year rule for occupational disease that does not immediately cause death or disability (33 U.S.C. 913, Cornell LII). A harbor-area injury can involve both this federal deadline and a state deadline for a claim against a third party.

Why the earliest applicable date is the one that matters

Multiple deadlines can apply to a single incident: a six-month claim to a city, a one-year federal claim, a two-year action against a driver, and a shorter accrual date if discovery rules are contested. Building a schedule around the earliest applicable date, rather than the most generous one, is the only approach that survives a mistake about which rule governs.

This page summarizes California and federal deadlines in general terms and is not legal advice, and no attorney-client relationship arises from reading it. Anyone unsure which deadline applies should raise the question with the attorney who advertises on this site without delay.