Injured on Government Property: California's Six-Month Rule

Most people injured on public property assume they have the same two years everyone else has. They do not, and the gap between the assumption and the rule is where otherwise sound claims die.

Short answer: before suing a California public entity for injury you must first present a written government claim, generally within six months of when the cause of action accrues. Only after that process can a lawsuit follow. This is general information, not legal advice.

The rule

Government Code section 911.2 requires that a claim relating to a cause of action for death or for injury to person, personal property, or growing crops be presented "not later than six months after the accrual of the cause of action." Claims relating to any other cause of action carry a one-year presentation deadline.

This is a precondition, not a formality. The claim goes to the entity first; the lawsuit comes later, and only within the timeframes that follow the entity's response or failure to respond.

Where this catches people

Public property is not always recognisable as public:

• City and county sidewalks, kerbs, and crosswalks
• Parks, trails, playgrounds, and public pools
• Transit platforms, stations, buses, and light rail
• Schools, colleges, and district facilities
• Libraries, civic centres, courthouses, and government offices
• Public parking structures and municipal lots
• Roadways — defective design, missing signage, broken signals, unrepaired hazards

The same applies to crashes involving a government vehicle, which is covered in our Folsom car accident guide.

What a government claim contains

A claim is a specific document, not a letter of complaint. It generally needs to identify the claimant and an address for notices, state the date, place, and circumstances of the loss, give a general description of the injury or damage, name the public employees involved if known, and state the amount claimed or an indication of the jurisdictional classification. Entities commonly publish their own claim form, and using it avoids avoidable disputes about sufficiency.

After it is filed

The entity reviews and either accepts, rejects, or does nothing. A formal rejection starts a further, much shorter period in which suit must be filed — materially shorter than the ordinary two-year statute. Where the entity does not act, a different timeline applies. The practical point is that the six-month presentation deadline is the first of several, not the only one, which is why these matters benefit from early evaluation rather than late.

If the six months has already passed, a late-claim application is sometimes possible on specified grounds, but relief is discretionary and narrow. It is a remedy, not a plan.

The other hurdle: immunities

Public entities also have statutory immunities that private defendants do not, including protections relating to recreational trails and to certain discretionary decisions. That does not make these claims unwinnable — dangerous-condition claims against public entities are brought successfully — but it does mean the facts matter with unusual precision. Exactly where the fall happened, and exactly what caused it, can determine whether an immunity applies at all.

Practical steps

1. Identify the owner early. If there is any possibility the property is public, treat the six-month clock as running from the date of injury.
2. Photograph the defect and its surroundings, including anything that fixes the location precisely — addresses, signage, landmarks.
3. Report it to the responsible agency and keep the reference number.
4. Request records of prior complaints about the same condition; a known, unrepaired hazard is a materially stronger case.
5. Get medical care promptly and keep documentation, as described in our guide to who pays your medical bills.

Because the window is short and the rules are technical, these claims are worth evaluating quickly. Our California premises liability attorneys can determine whether a public entity is involved and what deadline actually applies. Start with a free case evaluation — no fee unless we recover for you, and outcomes depend on the facts of each case.