Workers’ compensation pays nothing for pain and suffering. If somebody other than your employer caused your injury, there is a second claim that does, and it is separate from your comp case.
That is the part most injured workers are never told. Workers’ compensation is a no-fault system: it covers medical treatment and a portion of lost wages regardless of who was at fault, and in exchange it generally bars suing your employer. It does not bar suing anybody else.
Culver Legal, LLP brings civil claims for injured workers across Long Beach on contingency, with case costs advanced. Nothing to pay up front, no fee unless we win. We advance the case costs, and if there is no recovery you are not charged those costs either. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour.
When Somebody Other Than Your Employer Is Responsible
These are the situations where a civil claim exists alongside a comp claim, and they are more common than people expect.
You were driving for work and another driver hit you. The at-fault driver is a third party, and this is the example most easily missed, because the compensation claim gets opened for you and the civil one does not.
Another company’s employee caused it. On shared sites, in warehouses, at delivery points and on construction sites, the person who created the hazard often works for a different company entirely.
A machine, tool or component failed. The manufacturer, distributor or maintenance contractor may be responsible, and that is a claim your employer’s insurer has no reason to pursue for you.
You were injured on premises somebody else controls. A property owner or occupier owes duties to people lawfully there, including workers.
A defective or unsafe vehicle, where the fault lies with whoever built, sold or serviced it.
In each of those, the civil claim covers what workers’ compensation does not, including pain and suffering, the full extent of lost earnings and future earning capacity.
Hurt at work by someone who is not your employer?
That is a separate civil claim, and it covers what workers’ compensation does not.
If Your Employer Had No Workers’ Compensation Coverage
There is a specific provision for this and it is short.
Labor Code 3706 provides that if any employer fails to secure the payment of compensation, any injured employee or their dependents may bring an action at law against that employer for damages, as if this division did not apply.
The last phrase is the important one. Where the employer has not secured coverage, the ordinary bar on suing them falls away and the claim proceeds as a civil action. If you were told there is no insurance, or you suspect there is none, that is worth establishing rather than accepting.
How Long Do You Have to Sue for a Work-Related Injury?
Two years from the date of injury for a civil claim against a third party, under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
Six months to present a written claim where a public entity is a responsible party, under Government Code 911.2. Which entity decides where that claim goes. Where it is the City of Long Beach, it is filed with the City Clerk at 411 West Ocean Blvd; a school district, a state agency or a transit agency each has its own process and its own address. Separately, Government Code 945.4 bars a lawsuit for money damages until the 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 nothing happens 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.
Workers’ compensation is a separate system with its own deadlines and its own process, and those are not the deadlines above. Report a workplace injury to your employer promptly. Where a comp matter needs handling as well, we will tell you plainly rather than leave you to find out.
What Each Claim Actually Pays
The two remedies do not overlap as much as people assume, and the gap is the reason the second one matters.
| Workers’ compensation | Third-party civil claim | |
|---|---|---|
| Do you have to prove fault? | No. It is a no-fault system | Yes. Negligence has to be established |
| Medical treatment | Covered | Covered |
| Lost wages | A portion of them | The full loss, including future earning capacity |
| Pain and suffering | Nothing | Recoverable |
| Who it is against | Your employer’s insurer | Whoever else was responsible |
The pain and suffering row is the one that surprises people, and on a serious injury it is often the largest part of what a civil claim is worth. Somebody who accepts that compensation benefits are all that exists has not settled their claim. They have simply never made it.
The Most Commonly Missed Case: Driving for Work
If you were injured in a collision while driving for work, there are almost always two claims, and the second one is regularly overlooked because the first is handled for you.
Your employer’s insurer opens a compensation claim because that is their process. Nobody in that process has any reason to pursue the at-fault driver on your behalf, and that driver is an ordinary third party whose liability insurance responds like it would in any other collision.
That claim is subject to the ordinary limits: California’s minimum liability coverage is $30,000 for injury to one person on policies issued or renewed on or after January 1, 2025, and $15,000 on older policies, so where the other driver carries the minimum, other sources matter. It is also subject to the ordinary two-year deadline, which runs whether or not a comp claim is open.
What to Do
Report the injury to your employer in writing and keep a copy. A dated report anchors everything that follows, in either system.
Write down which companies were on site and who was doing what. In a third-party claim the identity of the other company is the case, and crews move on.
Photograph the scene and the equipment before it changes.
Get medical attention and be precise about how it happened. The mechanism recorded in the first medical note gets quoted back for the life of the claim.
Do not give a recorded statement to another company’s insurer without advice.
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. A claim seeking more than $35,000 is an unlimited civil case.
Not sure whether you have a second claim?
The review costs nothing and commits you to nothing. One conversation establishes who else was involved.
Long Beach Work Injury FAQs
How long do I have to sue for a work-related injury in California?
Two years from the date of injury for a civil claim against a third party, under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1. Six months where a public entity is a responsible party, and that deadline is for presenting a written claim rather than filing a lawsuit, and it is presented to the entity concerned: the City Clerk where the City of Long Beach is responsible, or that entity’s own claims process where it is a school district, a state agency or a transit agency. Workers’ compensation is a separate system with separate deadlines, so the answer depends on which claim is being asked about, and often both exist at once.
I am already receiving workers’ compensation. Can I still bring a claim?
Often yes. Workers’ compensation is no-fault coverage from your employer’s insurer and it pays nothing for pain and suffering. A civil claim against a third party who caused the injury, another company’s worker, a driver, a manufacturer, a property owner, covers what compensation does not. Receiving benefits does not remove that right, and pursuing one does not mean giving up the other.
Who counts as a third party?
Anyone other than your employer whose negligence contributed. The most common is another driver where you were injured driving for work. Others are another company’s employee on a shared site, the manufacturer of equipment that failed, a maintenance contractor, or the owner of premises you were working on. If more than one company was involved in what happened, that question is worth asking.
What if my employer has no workers’ compensation insurance?
Then the ordinary bar on suing your employer does not apply. Labor Code 3706 provides that where an employer has failed to secure the payment of compensation, an injured employee or their dependents may bring an action at law against that employer for damages as if the workers’ compensation system did not apply. Whether coverage exists is a fact worth establishing rather than assuming either way.
Can I be fired for making a claim?
If that is a concern, say so at the outset rather than after something has happened, because how it is handled differs depending on which claim it touches. Where something has already happened at work in response, that is an employment question rather than part of the injury claim, and it is worth raising when you call so it can be pointed in the right direction. We cover employment matters in Long Beach separately.
Does my immigration status affect my claim?
No. Under Evidence Code 351.2, 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 cannot be asked about beforehand.
Contact a Culver Legal Long Beach Work Injury Lawyer
If somebody other than your employer caused your injury, there is a claim workers’ compensation does not cover. If a public entity was involved, the deadline is six months. 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.
