If you were hurt on a bus or trolley in San Diego, the most important thing on this page is a deadline, and it is far shorter than the one almost everyone assumes.
MTS is a public agency. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System describes itself in its own board policy as “a California public agency”, and that policy requires all claims for money or damages against MTS and its subsidiaries, the bus company and the trolley company, to comply with the California Government Claims Act.
That means a written claim within six months, not a lawsuit within two years.
Culver Legal, LLP represents injured passengers and road users across San Diego County. We work on contingency and advance the costs of the case, so there is nothing to pay up front and no fee unless we win. If there is no recovery, you are not charged those costs either. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
Who Operated It, and What That Changes
Everything about the deadline, which is why it is the first question in the case.
MTS, including the buses and the trolley. Both operate under MTS as subsidiaries and both are covered by the same policy, so Government Code 911.2 applies: a written claim within six months, and no lawsuit until it has been presented.
Where that claim goes matters and it is not obvious. It goes to MTS at 1255 Imperial Avenue, Suite 1000, not to the City of San Diego. The city’s own claims department says the same thing from its side and directs transit claimants elsewhere. A claim presented to the city instead has not been presented at all.
A school bus. A district-operated bus makes the school district the defendant, a public entity in its own right, on its own six-month clock. Families miss this one more than any other, because a child’s injury takes time to declare itself and nobody tells the parents a clock started on the day.
A charter, tour, party, employee shuttle or intercity coach. These are private operators, so the ordinary two-year limit under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 applies and they carry commercial policies.
You do not have to have been a passenger. Somebody in a car, on a bicycle or on foot who is struck by a bus is on the operator’s clock, not their own.
Were you hurt on an MTS bus or trolley?
Six months, not two years, and the claim goes to MTS rather than the city. Do not wait for paperwork.
A Bus Operator Owes You More Than Ordinary Care
Civil Code 2100 requires that “a carrier of persons for reward must use the utmost care and diligence for their safe carriage, must provide everything necessary for that purpose, and must exercise to that end a reasonable degree of skill.”
That is a higher standard than the ordinary duty owed by a driver on the road, and it applies to a public operator as much as a private one.
In practice it changes the question. It is not simply whether the driver did something obviously wrong. It is whether the operator did everything it reasonably could: maintenance, inspection, training, supervision, and the condition of the vehicle itself.
Passengers also stand, without seat belts, on a vehicle that stops hard. A sudden stop or sharp turn that a car occupant would barely register can seriously injure someone standing on a bus, and that sits squarely within the carrier’s duty rather than outside it.
What to Do, and What Disappears
- Write down the bus or trolley number and the route before you leave. On a public-entity claim those two details identify the correct defendant faster than anything else at the scene.
- Get medical attention the same day, even for something that seems minor.
- Report it to the driver or the operator and ask for an incident number.
- Photograph the interior, including where you were standing or seated.
- Get names from other passengers, who scatter within minutes and are almost impossible to find afterwards.
Onboard camera footage decides most of these cases and it sits on a retention loop. A preservation request has to reach the operator before the loop comes round. That is the single most time-critical thing in a transit claim, and it is why the six-month deadline understates the real urgency.
Where You Were Treated, and Where the Case Would Be Heard
San Diego runs a catchment area trauma system, so you were taken to the trauma center for where the incident happened rather than the nearest hospital. The adult Level I centers are Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego and UC San Diego Medical Center, with Rady Children’s Hospital as the pediatric Level I.
That matters more than usual on a public-entity claim, because the claim has to be presented while treatment is still running.
A bus injury claim seeking more than $35,000 is an unlimited civil case, filed at the Hall of Justice, 330 West Broadway, and heard in San Diego County before a San Diego County jury.
Children Are Treated Differently, But Not As Differently As Parents Expect
Code of Civil Procedure 352 pauses the ordinary limitation period while an injured person is under 18. That sounds like there is time, and against a private operator there generally is.
The six-month government claim is not paused the same way.
So a child hurt on a school bus, or on an MTS bus or trolley, needs an adult acting within months rather than years. This is the most costly misunderstanding on this page.
Was your child hurt on a school bus?
Being a minor does not pause the six-month government deadline. Call before it runs.
Why Do San Diego Clients Choose Culver Legal?
We establish the operator first, because that single fact decides whether you have six months or two years, and getting it wrong is not recoverable.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean.
The economics are simple. Contingency, costs advanced, nothing up front and no fee unless we win. We advance the case costs, and if there is no recovery you are not charged those costs either. Culver Legal has recovered $200 Million and counting, and the phone is answered 24 hours a day.
San Diego Bus Accident FAQs
I was hurt on an MTS bus. Is the deadline really six months?
Treat it as six months and act now. MTS’s own board policy describes it as a California public agency and requires claims against MTS and its subsidiaries, the bus company and the trolley company, to comply with the Government Claims Act. That means a written claim presented within six months before any lawsuit is possible. It goes to MTS at 1255 Imperial Avenue, not to the City of San Diego. Do not wait for a police report or for treatment to finish, because the deadline pauses for neither.
Can you sue a bus driver?
The driver can be named, but the employer is the defendant that matters, because a public employer is responsible for what its employee does in the course of the job and it is the one carrying the money. The more useful point is that suing the driver does not avoid the six-month claim requirement. The claim still has to be presented to the entity first.
Does the trolley count as a bus for this?
For the deadline, effectively yes. The trolley company and the bus company are both MTS subsidiaries and the same policy covers claims against both, so a trolley injury runs on the same six-month government claim as a bus injury.
Nobody gave me any paperwork and the bus drove off. Do I still have a claim?
Yes. The operator holds the records that matter, including maintenance logs, driver history and onboard camera footage, and those come through the claim rather than being handed over at the scene. What helps most is anything you noted at the time: the route, the vehicle number, the time and the direction of travel.
The operator says the driver did nothing wrong. Does that end it?
Not necessarily. A carrier of persons for reward owes passengers the utmost care and diligence under Civil Code 2100, which is a higher standard than ordinary care. The question is whether the operator did everything it reasonably could, including maintenance, training and supervision, not simply whether the driver made an obvious mistake.
I am undocumented. Can I bring a claim without putting myself at risk?
Yes, and the protection is stronger than most people expect. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of a person’s immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either. It cannot be raised at trial and it cannot be asked about beforehand. It is not a question we ask you, and it is not a question the other side gets to ask.
Contact a Culver Legal San Diego Bus Accident Lawyer
Six months is not long, it starts on the day of the injury rather than the day somebody explains the rule, and the footage that proves the case is on a shorter loop than that. If you or your child was hurt on a bus or trolley anywhere in San Diego County, reach us at (310) 600-7881 at any hour. The review costs nothing.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Culver Legal, LLP is a California law firm. The information on this page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
