Category: Legal Guides

California gives most injured people two years to bring a personal injury lawsuit, counted from the day of the injury (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). If a city, county, school district or other public agency caused the harm, the first deadline is much shorter: you have six months to submit a written claim to [...]

After a crash in a rental car in California, the renter's own auto insurance usually pays first, both for injuries to other people and, if the renter carries collision coverage, for damage to the rental itself. The rental company pays for someone else's injuries only if the rental contract gave the renter liability [...]

No. California is an at-fault state, also called a tort state, so the driver who caused a crash and that driver's insurance company pay for the other people's injuries and losses. You do not have to clear a medical-bill threshold before suing, and you can claim pain and suffering from the at-fault driver from the [...]

A California car insurance claim for vehicle damage alone usually wraps up within a few weeks, while a claim that includes injuries commonly takes several months to more than a year, because the insurer will not pay full value until your medical treatment is complete. State regulations set the pace in between: the [...]

A motorcycle accident claim in California is a demand for payment from the driver who caused the crash, usually paid by that driver's insurer, and it becomes a motorcycle accident lawsuit only when the insurer refuses a fair settlement. Riders can recover medical costs, lost income, the value of the bike and gear, and [...]

A yield sign means you must slow down, be ready to stop, and let any vehicle or pedestrian that is already in the intersection, or close enough to be an immediate hazard, go first. In California, Vehicle Code section 21803 requires the driver facing the sign to keep yielding until it is reasonably safe to [...]

Most California bus accident cases take one to three years. A stage-by-stage timeline for public transit, school bus, and private bus company [...]

Tell your own insurer about the crash right away, because your policy requires prompt notice, but hold off on giving the other driver's insurer a recorded statement or signing anything until you know how badly you are hurt. If only your car was damaged, a do-it-yourself claim usually works fine. If you were hurt, [...]

California has some of the strictest distracted-driving laws in the country, and they do more than generate tickets: when a distracted driver causes a crash, breaking these laws helps prove they were at fault. This guide explains the three Vehicle Code sections that govern phone use behind the wheel, what actually [...]

Yes, in California you can sometimes recover more than the at-fault party's insurance policy limits, but how you get there depends on the facts. The policy limit caps what that insurer pays, not what you are owed, and there are several routes to recover beyond it: the at-fault person's own assets, your own [...]