California Statute of Limitations: Filing Deadlines

California civil filing deadlines are not one number. They range from six months for a claim against a government agency to four years for a written contract, and the clock that ends a case early is usually a short or discovery-triggered one nobody expected. This is a tour of the deadlines that actually bite, statute by statute, with the caveat that this is general legal information, not advice about any one claim.

How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in California?

Most claims for injury to a person, including collisions, falls, dog bites, and wrongful death, carry a two-year period under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, generally running from the date of injury. Two years sounds generous until it is spent on medical treatment and insurance negotiations, neither of which stops the clock.

Property damage from the same event runs on a different schedule (three years under § 338), so a single crash can carry two deadlines at once. The California Attorney Registry does not assess any individual claim; the sections below map the deadlines the public record and the statutes name. For how injury claims are structured, see our overview of personal injury attorneys and the law.

What is the deadline to sue a government agency in California?

When the responsible party is a public entity (a city, county, school district, transit agency, or the state), the Government Claims Act generally requires a written claim for injury to person or personal property to be presented to the entity within six months of accrual under Government Code § 911.2. A lawsuit filed without that step is generally not saved by the two-year statute.

Two companion provisions complete the picture:

• Missed the six months? A written application for leave to present a late claim may be made under Government Code § 911.4, but it must come within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year from accrual, and relief is not automatic.
• Claim rejected? Government Code § 945.6 then gives a short window to sue, generally six months from the written rejection notice. A longer period applies only if proper written notice was never given.

The pattern: the moment a public entity might be involved, the six-month presentation deadline generally comes first.

As of September 2026, the standard California limitation periods described here remain those set by statute: two years for most personal injury under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1, six months to present most government claims under Government Code § 911.2, three years or one year from discovery for medical malpractice under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5, one year for defamation under § 340, four years for a written contract under § 337, and two years for an oral one under § 339. Specific facts (a minor plaintiff, delayed discovery, fraud, concealment, or a defendant absent from the state) can change when a clock starts or whether it pauses. These are questions of law applied to facts, and the registry indexes the public roll rather than analyzing any single claim.

Medical malpractice: two clocks, the first one wins

Professional negligence claims against health care providers run under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5: three years from the date of injury, or one year from the date the plaintiff discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury, whichever comes first. In practice the one-year discovery clock controls more often than the three-year one, and "should have discovered" is judged objectively. Minors and cases involving fraud, concealment, or a retained foreign object follow their own rules within the same section. Our medical malpractice brief covers how these claims sit in the record.

The one-year statutes that surprise

Two claims people routinely assume carry years actually carry one:

• Defamation. Libel and slander claims must be brought within one year under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.
• Legal malpractice. Claims against attorneys run under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.6: one year from actual or constructive discovery, with a four-year outer limit, subject to the tolling grounds listed in the statute (including continued representation on the same matter).

The three-year family and the four-year contract

Code of Civil Procedure § 338 collects a set of three-year claims that come up constantly: damage to real or personal property, liability created by statute (the basis for many wage claims), and fraud, with the wrinkle that a fraud claim is not deemed to accrue until the aggrieved party discovers the facts constituting it. Contract claims split by formality: four years for breach of a written contract under § 337, but two years for an oral one under § 339. Claims under the Unfair Competition Law carry their own four-year period under Business and Professions Code § 17208.

Tolling: real, narrow, and not a plan

California law pauses limitation periods in defined circumstances. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 352, the clock is generally tolled while the plaintiff is a minor or lacks legal capacity, though government claims and medical malpractice follow their own, less forgiving timing rules. Section 351 can toll the period while a defendant is absent from the state. Courts also apply a delayed-discovery rule in limited situations where an injury or its cause was not reasonably knowable. Each doctrine is fact-intensive.

Deadline reference table

The habit these deadlines keep teaching: fix the accrual date, list every deadline that could apply, and note that the earliest one is generally the one that governs. Deadline questions are exactly what an early consultation covers, and verifying a California attorney's license takes about two minutes before the first call. The full attorney index draws from the public roll maintained by the State Bar of California.