FAQs

In most cases, two years from the date of the injury (California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1). Three important exceptions:

• Claims against a city, county or state agency — you generally have only six months to file a written government claim (Government Code § 911.2). This catches people who fall on a public sidewalk or are hit by a government vehicle.
• Property damage — three years (Code of Civil Procedure § 338).
• Injured children — the clock is generally paused until they turn 18, so a minor typically has until age 20. That pause does not apply to the six-month government claim deadline.

Miss the deadline and the claim is usually gone no matter how strong it was. If you are close to a deadline, call us today.

Four things have to line up: someone owed you a duty of reasonable care, they breached it, that breach caused your injury, and you have real damages — medical treatment, lost income, or lasting physical harm. The hard part is rarely the law; it is proof. That is why the evidence you gather in the first days matters more than almost anything else. A free consultation costs you nothing and tells you quickly whether there is something worth pursuing.

• Get medical attention, even if you feel fine. Gaps in treatment are the first thing an adjuster attacks.
• Photograph everything — vehicles, the scene, road conditions, your visible injuries.
• Get names and phone numbers for every witness. They disappear fast.
• Report the incident, and get the report number.
• Do not give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer, and do not sign anything.
• Keep every bill, receipt and out-of-pocket expense.

Yes — the initial consultation is free. Bring whatever you already have: the police or incident report, photos, insurance information for everyone involved, medical records or discharge paperwork, and any letters the insurance company has already sent you. If you have none of that, come anyway. Part of our job is tracking down what is missing. You can reach us through our contact page or by calling (619) 600-0000.

You can still recover. California follows pure comparative negligence, which means your compensation is reduced by your share of fault but is never eliminated by it. If a jury finds you 30% responsible for a $100,000 loss, you recover $70,000. Even a plaintiff found mostly at fault can recover something. This is exactly why insurers work so hard to pin a percentage on you early — every point of fault they assign is money off your claim.

No. You have a duty to cooperate with your own insurer. You have no obligation to give a recorded statement to the at-fault party’s insurance company. Adjusters are trained to ask questions that sound sympathetic and produce quotable answers — “I’m feeling okay” becomes evidence you were not hurt. It is entirely appropriate to say you are represented and give them our number.

Our office is at 298 Third Avenue in downtown Chula Vista, and we represent injured people across San Diego County — San Diego, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, Spring Valley and the surrounding communities. Our service areas page lists every community we cover.

Yes. Se Habla Español and Si Parla Italiano. Being able to explain a claim in the language you think in is not a small thing — medical histories and accident descriptions lose detail in translation, and detail is what wins cases. You can learn more about our team and the firm’s history.

Two separate obligations. You must report to law enforcement any crash involving injury or death. Separately, California requires an SR-1 report to the DMV within 10 days of any crash involving injury, death, or property damage above the statutory threshold — and that duty applies even if the police already came. Failing to file can put your driving privilege at risk. Notify your own insurer promptly too; most policies require it.

This is where your own uninsured/underinsured motorist (UM/UIM) coverage does the work. In California, UM coverage must be included in your policy unless you signed a written waiver, so check your declarations page before assuming you have none. Two things worth knowing:

• California’s minimum liability limits rose to $30,000 per person / $60,000 per accident / $15,000 property damage for policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025. Serious injuries still blow past that easily.
• California UIM is gap coverage, not extra coverage. It only pays if the at-fault driver’s limits are lower than your own UIM limits, and it is reduced by what they already paid. If your UIM limit equals theirs, it pays nothing.

Using medical payments coverage or UM coverage after a crash you did not cause should not be treated the same as an at-fault claim, and California regulations limit surcharging drivers who were not substantially at fault. Insurers do not always apply that correctly. Do not let the fear of a rate increase stop you from getting treatment — an untreated injury costs far more than a premium adjustment.

No, and it is extremely common. Adrenaline masks pain for hours or days, and soft-tissue injuries, concussions and disc injuries often declare themselves late. Get evaluated as soon as symptoms appear and tell the provider it followed a collision, so the connection is in the record. The longer the gap between crash and first treatment, the harder the insurer will argue something else caused it.

Usually some combination of your health insurance, the medical payments (MedPay) coverage on your auto policy, and in some cases providers who agree to treat on a lien and wait for the case to resolve. The at-fault driver’s insurer does not pay bills as you go — it pays once, at the end. Part of what a lawyer does is line up treatment now and then negotiate down the liens and reimbursement claims at settlement so more of the recovery reaches you.

Passengers are almost never at fault, which usually makes liability the simplest part of the case. The complication is which policy pays — it may be the driver of either vehicle, or both. Rideshare adds another layer: coverage depends on whether the app was off, on and waiting, or actively on a trip, and the higher commercial limits only apply in certain phases. Sorting that out early matters.

Report it to police immediately and to your own insurer — uninsured motorist coverage is designed for exactly this, including phantom-vehicle cases where the other driver is never identified. Those claims usually require prompt reporting and independent corroboration, so witness names, nearby business surveillance and dashcam footage become critical. Surveillance video is often overwritten within days, which is why moving fast matters more here than in almost any other case type.

California requires a DOT-compliant helmet for every rider and passenger, of any age (Vehicle Code § 27803). Riding without one can support a comparative fault argument — but only as to injuries a helmet would have prevented. It has no logical bearing on a broken leg or a shattered shoulder. You can still recover; expect the defense to try to stretch the argument well past where it belongs.

Because bias is cheap leverage. Adjusters routinely open with a theory that the rider was speeding, weaving or “came out of nowhere,” often before reviewing any evidence. Countering it takes physical proof — scene measurements, vehicle damage patterns, sight-line analysis and sometimes an accident reconstruction expert. Riders who accept the first characterization of the crash usually accept the first offer too.

Riders absorb the energy of a crash directly, so the injuries skew severe: fractures requiring hardware, road rash needing grafts, ligament and joint damage, traumatic brain injury and spinal injuries. That changes what a claim must account for — not just current bills, but future surgeries, permanent restrictions, lost earning capacity and long-term care. Settling before the medical picture is stable is the most expensive mistake a rider can make.

It helps. “I didn’t see the motorcycle” is an admission of failure to keep a proper lookout, not a defense. Drivers have a duty to look for all traffic, and left-turn collisions in front of an oncoming rider are among the most common — and most provable — motorcycle cases. Get that statement documented in the police report or a witness account before the driver’s story improves.

No. California only requires bicycle helmets for riders under 18 (Vehicle Code § 21212). There is no statewide adult helmet mandate, so an adult riding without one has broken no law. A defense lawyer may still raise it as comparative fault for a head injury, but it cannot be used to reduce recovery for injuries unrelated to the head.

Yes, and they changed recently. A few points that matter to a claim:

• New for 2026: an electric bicycle must have a rear red reflector or red light at all hours, not only after dark (Vehicle Code § 21201). Expect insurers to raise this in daytime collisions.
• Class 3 e-bikes require a helmet for riders of every age, and no one under 16 may operate one.
• A device that has been modified to exceed 20 mph on motor power alone, or 750 watts, is legally not an electric bicycle — which can change both liability and whether coverage applies at all.

Often, yes. California has no statewide sidewalk-riding ban — it is governed by local ordinance and varies between San Diego, Chula Vista and neighboring cities. Riding against traffic does violate the Vehicle Code. Either fact can support a comparative fault argument, but because California uses pure comparative negligence, being partly at fault reduces a recovery rather than ending it.

Then your claim is likely against a public entity, and the timeline changes drastically. Government Code § 835 allows claims for a dangerous condition of public property, but you generally must file a written government claim within six months, and you will need to show the agency knew or should have known about the defect with enough time to fix it. Photograph the defect with a scale reference immediately — road crews repair the evidence.

Surveillance footage, incident reports, inspection and sweep logs, and photographs of the hazard before it is cleaned up. Store video systems commonly overwrite in days or weeks, and once that footage is gone the strongest proof of how long a spill sat there goes with it. Photograph everything at the scene, report the fall to a manager and ask for a written incident report, and get names of employees and witnesses. Then get a preservation letter out fast.

Usually the city or county that owns and maintains it, which puts the claim under the Government Claims Act and its six-month filing deadline. The adjacent property owner is generally not liable to an injured pedestrian merely for failing to repair the sidewalk, though exceptions exist where the owner created the defect or a local ordinance shifts responsibility. Determining who owns and who maintains that stretch of concrete is one of the first things we do — and the six-month clock is running while you find out.

No. It is a comparative fault argument, and California’s pure comparative negligence rule means it reduces a recovery in proportion to your share of the blame rather than eliminating it. Expect it in essentially every premises case — distraction, footwear, an open and obvious hazard, using a phone. The response is to keep the focus on what the owner knew and how long the hazard sat there.

Yes, and it is worth understanding that a homeowner’s or renter’s liability policy — not your friend personally — is what typically responds. That distinction is why people who assume a claim would be an attack on someone they care about often decide differently once it is explained. In rentals, responsibility may fall on the landlord, the property manager, or both, depending on who controlled the area and knew about the condition.

Assume the carrier is already investigating. Many dispatch an investigator to the scene the same day, while the injured person is still in an emergency room. Preserve what you can — photographs, the truck’s USDOT number, the trailer number, witness information — and get counsel involved quickly enough to send a spoliation letter demanding the carrier preserve the electronic data before it cycles out of the system. Weeks matter here.

Drivers must yield to pedestrians in marked and unmarked crosswalks, and California’s “daylighting” parking restrictions near intersections exist specifically to keep pedestrians visible. That said, pedestrians also have duties — not to leave a curb suddenly into the path of a close vehicle, and to use available crosswalks in some settings. Fault is frequently shared, which under pure comparative negligence reduces a recovery without barring it.

California Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 sets the list: the surviving spouse or domestic partner, children, and the issue of deceased children; if there are none, those who would inherit under intestate succession. Certain financially dependent people — putative spouses, stepchildren, parents and in some cases a dependent minor who lived in the household — may also qualify. Who has standing is a threshold question worth resolving before anything else.

The heirs’ own losses: financial support the decedent would have provided, funeral and burial expenses, and the loss of the decedent’s love, companionship, comfort and guidance.

An important 2026 change: a separate claim, the survival action, used to allow recovery of the pain and suffering the person experienced before death. That authorization expired for cases filed on or after January 1, 2026, and the legislature did not extend it. Survival claims filed now are generally limited to the decedent’s pre-death economic losses and punitive damages. The heirs’ own wrongful death claim is unaffected. Filing date now carries real consequences.

Generally two years from the date of death (Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1) — and only six months if the claim is against a public entity. Given the 2026 change above, and how quickly evidence in catastrophic cases becomes unavailable, waiting is costly in ways that are not obvious at the time.

By adding up what can be documented and then discounting for risk. The components are past and future medical expenses, lost wages and lost earning capacity, property damage, and non-economic damages for pain, suffering and loss of enjoyment. Those are then weighed against the real variables: clarity of liability, your share of fault, the credibility of the medical records, available policy limits, and how the case would play to a San Diego County jury. Anyone quoting you a number before reviewing the records is guessing.

It is compensation for the human cost of an injury — physical pain, anxiety, disruption, activities you no longer do. California has no formula and no statutory cap for it in ordinary injury cases; a jury determines what is reasonable. Adjusters often apply internal software and multipliers, but those are negotiating tools, not law. What actually moves this number is documented evidence of how the injury changed daily life.

To your own insurer, likely yes, under your policy’s cooperation clause. To the other side’s insurer, no. Recorded statements are taken to lock in your account before you know the full extent of your injuries, and casual phrasing gets quoted back months later. If you must give one, do it with counsel involved.

Simple cases with clear liability and completed treatment can resolve in a few months. More serious injuries take longer, largely because settling before you reach maximum medical improvement means guessing at the cost of future care. After an agreement is reached, expect additional weeks for the release, the insurer’s check, and lien resolution before funds are disbursed.

A lien is a right of reimbursement asserted against your recovery — by a health insurer, a government program, or a provider who treated you on the promise of being paid at the end. Yes, valid liens are paid from the settlement. They are also frequently overstated, and they can often be reduced through negotiation or by applying the rules that limit reimbursement. Lien work happens after the headline number is agreed and has a direct effect on what you actually keep.

A denial is a position, not a conclusion. Common ones — you were at fault, the injury is pre-existing, the treatment was excessive — are answerable with evidence: reconstruction, prior medical records showing your actual baseline, treating physician opinions. If an insurer handles a claim unreasonably, California law also provides remedies for bad faith handling. Denials should be tested, not accepted.

The large majority of personal injury cases settle. But cases settle well only when the other side believes you are genuinely prepared to try them — insurers track which firms file, work up and actually try cases, and price accordingly. Preparing a case for trial is the most reliable way to improve a settlement, even when trial never happens.

1. Investigation — evidence preservation, reports, witnesses, scene work.
2. Treatment — you finish care and reach maximum medical improvement, so the full extent of the injury is known.
3. Demand and negotiation — the claim is presented with documentation and negotiated.
4. Filing suit — if negotiation fails or a deadline approaches.
5. Discovery — written questions, document exchange, depositions, experts.
6. Mediation or settlement conference — where many cases resolve.
7. Trial — if no fair resolution is reached.

Months for a straightforward claim with clear liability and completed treatment. A year or more once a lawsuit is filed, and longer for catastrophic injuries where future care must be established by experts. The single largest variable is medical: a case cannot be valued accurately until your condition stabilizes. The second is whether the insurer disputes liability.

Most clients never see a courtroom, because most cases settle. If a lawsuit is filed, you will likely give a deposition — sworn testimony, questions from the defense attorney, in a conference room rather than a courtroom. It is a normal step, and preparation makes it manageable. You will not be sent into one unprepared.

It proceeds toward trial. In practice, filing suit changes the economics for the other side — defense costs begin accruing, discovery exposes weaknesses in their position, and cases that stalled at a low offer frequently move at mediation or on the eve of trial. Being willing to file is often what makes settlement possible.

• Posting on social media. Defense investigators look. A photo of you at a birthday party gets offered as proof you are fine, context removed.
• Gaps in treatment. Every missed appointment becomes an argument that you had recovered.
• Giving recorded statements to the other side’s insurer.
• Signing anything — especially a blanket medical authorization or a release — without having it reviewed.
• Waiting. Evidence degrades, witnesses move, video is overwritten, and deadlines arrive.

Call (619) 600-0000 or use our contact form. Tell us what happened and when, and bring whatever documentation you already have. The consultation is free, and you will leave it knowing whether you have a claim worth pursuing and what the deadlines are — whether or not you hire us. Our office is at 298 Third Avenue, Chula Vista, CA 91910.

Disputes involving insurance policies themselves rather than the underlying accident — coverage questions, denied or underpaid claims, and situations where an insurer has handled a claim unreasonably. Policy language and the timing of notices matter enormously in these matters, so bring the policy and any correspondence to a first conversation.

Yes. Estate planning is about deciding in advance who makes decisions and who receives what, so that a court and a statute do not decide for you. For most families that means a will or a trust together with powers of attorney and health care directives. Get in touch to discuss what fits your situation.

The firm handles criminal defense matters. If you have been arrested or charged, the most important thing is to avoid discussing the facts with law enforcement before you have counsel — that decision has more effect on the outcome than almost anything that follows. Call as early as possible.

Advising owners on the legal side of running and structuring a business — entity choice, agreements between owners, contracts, and the risk and liability questions that surface as a company grows. Frank De Santis has been practicing law in California since 1983, and much of that perspective is what business clients are actually engaging. Read more about the firm.