California law gives extra time to someone who lacks the legal capacity to make their own decisions, and most people never learn that it exists.
Under Code of Civil Procedure 352, where a person was either under the age of majority or lacking the legal capacity to make decisions when the cause of action accrued, that period of disability does not count toward the deadline. For a family dealing with a serious brain injury, that provision can be the difference between a claim that exists and one that does not.
There is a hard limit on it. Subdivision (b) says the tolling does not apply to a claim against a public entity or public employee. So where a city vehicle, a public road defect or a public employee was involved, the six-month written claim deadline runs regardless of capacity.
But a missed deadline is not automatically the end of it, and this is the part almost nobody is told. Under Government Code 911.4 a written application can be made to the public entity for permission to present a late claim, within a reasonable time and no more than one year after the claim arose. Under Government Code 911.6 the board shall grant that application where one of several grounds applies, and two of them are directly on point here: that the injured person was physically or mentally incapacitated during the claim period and for that reason did not present a claim, and that the person died before the six months expired.
Two further grounds matter here and are easy to miss, because they are the ones most people actually fall under. Government Code 911.6(b) also requires the application to be granted where the injured person was a minor for any part of the six months, or was physically or mentally incapacitated for any part of it, provided the application is made within six months of them turning eighteen or of the incapacity ending, or a year after the claim accrued, whichever comes first.
“Shall grant” is the statute’s word, not ours. In computing that one-year window, time during which the person is mentally incapacitated without a guardian or conservator is not counted.
None of that is a reason to wait. It is a reason to ask rather than to assume a claim is gone because a date has passed.
Culver Legal, LLP acts for people with serious brain injuries and their families across Long Beach on contingency, with case costs advanced. Nothing to pay up front, no fee unless we win. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
The Deadlines, Set Out Plainly
Two years from the date of injury under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1, in the ordinary case.
Paused during incapacity under CCP 352(a), where the person lacked legal capacity to make decisions when the claim arose.
Six months to present a written claim where a public entity is involved, under Government Code 911.2, and the capacity tolling does not extend that one, though Government Code 911.4 and 911.6 provide a separate late-claim route described above. In Long Beach the claim is filed with the City Clerk, 411 West Ocean Blvd. Separately, Government Code 945.4 bars a lawsuit for money damages until that claim has been presented and the entity has either acted on it or is treated as having rejected it, which happens automatically after 45 days of no decision, and under Government Code 912.4 a claim is deemed rejected if the city does nothing for 45 days.
And presenting the claim is not the last deadline. Once the entity mails or delivers a written rejection, Government Code 945.6 gives you six months from the date of that notice to file suit. If the entity never sends a written rejection, the period is two years from when the cause of action accrued instead. A claim that is ignored therefore leaves more time than one that is formally rejected, which is the opposite of what most people expect.
Not sure whether a deadline has passed?
Capacity can pause the ordinary clock, and where the six-month public entity deadline was missed there is a statutory route back. One conversation establishes which applies.
What These Claims Are Actually Built From
The medical records are the starting point, not the case. What tends to decide a serious brain injury claim is documentation of how daily life changed, and most of it comes from outside a hospital.
Records from before the injury, which is the part people never think to gather. Work appraisals, academic records, pay history, and anything showing what somebody was capable of beforehand. Without a baseline there is nothing to measure the change against, and the other side will supply its own account of what they were like.
Employment records afterwards. Hours reduced, duties reassigned, roles that could not be resumed, absences.
Accounts from the people who see daily life. Statements from family, colleagues, friends and teachers carry real weight, precisely because they describe the person and their routine rather than offering an opinion about the injury, which is the clinicians’ territory.
The cost of what comes next, which where the effects are lasting can include care, equipment, therapy, adaptations and lost earning capacity. What that amounts to is established by expert evidence rather than asserted, and it is one of the case costs we advance rather than ask families to fund.
None of that is medical opinion, and none of it is ours to give. Diagnosis, prognosis and treatment are questions for the treating clinicians. Our job is to make sure what they find is properly documented, properly valued, and presented before a deadline runs.
Why an Early Offer Is a Problem Here Specifically
Every insurer makes early offers. On a brain injury claim the timing does something particular.
A settlement is final. It cannot be reopened because the effects turned out to be longer-lasting or more expensive than anyone expected. On a claim where the long-term picture is the whole value, settling before that picture is understood means settling against the lowest figure the claim will ever carry.
That is not an argument for delay. It is an argument for knowing what you are agreeing to, and for not being asked to decide while somebody is still in the early stages of treatment.
Who Might Be Responsible
Brain injuries in Long Beach arise from the same events as the rest of this lane, and the responsible party depends on the event rather than on the injury.
- A car, motorcycle or truck collision.
- Being struck as a pedestrian or cyclist.
- A fall on unsafe property, where the question is what the owner knew or should have known.
- A construction site, where the company that caused the injury is often not the employer.
- A public entity, where the deadline is six months rather than two years.
Where Would the Case Be Heard?
At the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse, 275 Magnolia. Since October 2022 the Los Angeles Superior Court has assigned newly filed personal injury cases to the judicial district where the incident arose, so a Long Beach injury is heard in Long Beach, before a jury drawn from here. A claim seeking more than $35,000 is an unlimited civil case.
Supporting someone with a brain injury?
The review costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Start gathering records from before the injury, not only after.
Long Beach Brain Injury FAQs
Can you sue someone for causing a brain injury?
Yes, where the injury was caused by another party’s negligence, and the claim covers medical costs, lost earnings, the loss of future earning capacity, the cost of ongoing care, and pain and suffering. The claim is normally against that party’s insurance. Who to bring it against depends on how the injury happened rather than on the injury itself: a driver, a property owner, a contractor, or a public entity.
My relative cannot manage their own affairs. Have we missed the deadline?
Possibly not, and this is worth asking about before assuming the worst. Code of Civil Procedure 352 provides that where a person lacked the legal capacity to make decisions when the claim arose, that period does not count toward the limitation period. The important exception is that this tolling does not apply to claims against a public entity or public employee, where a written claim must still be presented within six months. If that six months has already passed, there is still a route: under Government Code 911.4 and 911.6 a written application can be made for permission to present a late claim, within a year of the claim arising, and the board shall grant it where the injured person was incapacitated during the period and for that reason did not claim. Whether it applies to your situation is a question worth putting to a lawyer rather than answering from a web page.
How long do brain injury cases take to settle?
Longer than most, and for a reason that works in your favor rather than against you. The value of these claims turns on long-term effects and long-term costs, so a case settled before those are understood is settled for less than it is worth. What drives the timeline is how long the picture takes to become clear, how many parties are involved, whether liability is disputed as well as value, and whether a public entity is a defendant, which adds a claims process before anything is filed. Nobody can honestly give you a number at the start.
What should I not say to a personal injury lawyer?
Nothing, which is the honest answer and the opposite of what the question expects. The conversation is confidential, and the facts that feel damaging are usually the ones that need handling properly rather than hiding: a previous injury, a gap in treatment, a share of the responsibility, an earlier claim. Those things surface anyway, and they are far easier to deal with when they are known early. What you should be careful about is what you say to the other side’s insurer, which is a different conversation entirely.
Is it worth pursuing if the injury seems mild?
That is a decision to make once the position is clear rather than in the first weeks, for a legal reason rather than a medical one: a settlement is final and cannot be revisited, whatever happens afterwards. What the injury turns out to involve is a question for the treating clinicians, not for us. A review costs nothing, and where a claim is not worth pursuing we will say so.
What does it cost?
Nothing up front. These claims are handled on contingency, so the fee is a percentage of what is recovered and there is no fee if there is no recovery. Case costs, which on a serious brain injury claim can include expert analysis of future care and earning capacity, are advanced rather than billed to the family as they arise.
Contact a Culver Legal Long Beach Brain Injury Lawyer
If the injured person lacks legal capacity, the ordinary two-year deadline may be paused. The six-month public entity deadline is not, but where it has already passed a statutory late-claim route may still be open. Call (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.
