If you were hurt at work, you have probably been told there is one claim to make. There are often two, and nobody in the compensation system is required to tell you about the second one.
Workers’ compensation covers treatment and part of your lost wages, regardless of fault. It pays nothing for pain and suffering.
The second claim is against whoever actually caused the injury, where that was not your employer. It runs alongside the compensation claim rather than instead of it, and it covers what compensation does not.
Culver Legal, LLP represents injured workers across San Diego County on those third-party claims. 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.
Can You Sue Your Employer?
Usually not, and it is better to know that plainly than to find out slowly.
Workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against your employer for most workplace injuries. That is the bargain: you get benefits without proving fault, and in exchange you give up the right to sue them.
There are real exceptions, and they are worth checking rather than assuming:
- Your employer had no compensation insurance. Under Labor Code 3706, “if any employer fails to secure the payment of compensation, any injured employee or his dependents may bring an action at law”. Whether they carried it is checkable.
- You are not actually an employee. A genuinely independent contractor is usually outside the compensation system, which removes the exclusive-remedy bar. Somebody labeled a contractor but treated as an employee may be entitled to compensation anyway. The label on the paperwork does not settle it.
- The injury was not caused by your employer at all, which is the common case and the subject of the rest of this page.
Who Else Could Be Responsible?
This is the question worth asking early, because the answer decides whether there is a second claim.
- Another contractor or company on site. On a construction site especially, several businesses work in one place and the one that created the hazard is often not your employer.
- A driver, where you were hurt on the road for work. That is also a car or truck claim, and a commercial vehicle usually brings far larger cover than a personal policy.
- The manufacturer of a machine or tool that was defective or inadequately guarded.
- The owner of the property where you were working, where they controlled the conditions.
- The owner or lessor of equipment that failed.
- A public entity, where the work was on a public project, which changes the deadline sharply.
Each of those carries its own insurance, and a third-party claim is where pain and suffering, full lost earnings and future losses are recoverable.
Was anyone at that workplace not employed by your employer?
Then there may be a second claim that pays for what compensation does not. It is worth one conversation.
If a Public Entity Is Involved, the Deadline Is Six Months
A great deal of work in this county happens on public projects and public property: roads, schools, transit, county and city facilities.
Where a public entity is a defendant, a written claim must be presented within six months under Government Code 911.2, rather than the ordinary two years, and no lawsuit can be filed until it has been.
Which entity, and where the claim goes:
- The City of San Diego. Risk Management Department, 1200 Third Ave., Suite 1000, on the city’s RM-9 form. Since 11 December 2023 the city no longer accepts first-notice claims by email, so it is the portal, mail, or in person.
- San Diego MTS, which is a separate public agency, at 1255 Imperial Avenue.
- The county, a school district or the state, each with its own process.
This deadline is easy to miss precisely because the compensation claim is running. People reasonably assume something is being handled, and the six-month clock on the entirely separate civil claim runs out while they are attending appointments.
Keep Your Own Copies of Everything
Work injuries have a records problem other claims do not, and it is worth understanding.
Treatment is often directed through the employer’s medical provider network, which means the records sit with a provider the insurer chose rather than one you did. That is not a scandal, it is how the system works, but it does mean the medical narrative is being written inside a system with an interest in the outcome.
Keep your own copies as you go, including what you reported and when, and any written communication about the injury.
Report it in writing. An unreported injury is the hardest kind to pursue later, and retaliating against a worker for reporting an injury or making a claim is unlawful in California.
Where You Were Treated, and Where the Case Would Be Heard
For a serious injury, San Diego’s catchment area trauma system decided which hospital holds the records: you were taken to the trauma center for where the injury happened. The adult Level I centers are Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego and UC San Diego Medical Center.
A third-party 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.
The compensation claim does not go there at all. It runs through the state’s own administrative system on a completely separate track, which is part of why the two are so easily confused.
Two years is the deadline for the civil claim under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1.
Were you hurt on a public project?
Six months, and the compensation claim running does not pause it. That is the one people lose.
Why Call Culver Legal?
We look for the second claim, because the compensation claim is usually already running and the civil claim is the one that pays for what compensation does not.
We will tell you plainly what we handle. Where a matter is purely a workers’ compensation question, we will say so and point you to somebody who does that work, rather than take it and hope. That answer costs nothing and it is quicker than finding out after a month.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean.
Where it is a third-party injury claim, 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.
San Diego Work Injury FAQs
Can you sue your workplace for an injury?
Usually not your employer, because workers’ compensation is the exclusive remedy against them for most workplace injuries. There are real exceptions: an employer who failed to carry compensation insurance can be sued directly under Labor Code 3706, and somebody who is genuinely an independent contractor is often outside the system altogether. The more common route is different, though. Where somebody other than your employer caused the injury, a separate civil claim against them runs alongside the compensation claim, and that is where pain and suffering and full lost earnings are recoverable.
What is a third-party claim and how do I know if I have one?
It is a claim against whoever caused your injury when that was not your employer: another contractor on site, a driver who hit you while you were working, the manufacturer of a machine that failed, or the owner of the property. The quickest test is simply whether anybody at that workplace was employed by a different company than you. If so, it is worth asking.
Do I have to choose between workers’ compensation and a civil claim?
No. They run together, and pursuing one does not forfeit the other. They are different systems with different deadlines, different decision-makers and different rules about what can be recovered, which is precisely why they get confused. The compensation system may have a right to be repaid out of a civil recovery, and that is something to plan for rather than be surprised by.
My employer’s insurer is directing my treatment. Is that normal?
It is how the system generally works, with treatment directed through a medical provider network. What follows from it is worth knowing: the records are being generated by a provider the insurer selected, so keeping your own copies as you go, along with a note of what you reported and when, protects you if the account is later disputed.
Can I be fired for reporting a work injury?
Retaliating against a worker for reporting an injury or bringing a claim is unlawful in California. That is cold comfort in the moment, and the practical protection is documentation: report in writing, keep a copy, and take advice before deciding not to report at all, because an unreported injury is the hardest kind to pursue later.
I am undocumented. Can I bring a claim without putting myself at risk?
Yes. Immigration status does not disqualify you from workers’ compensation in California, and it is protected in the civil claim. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either. 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 Work Injury Lawyer
The second claim is the one nobody in the compensation system is required to mention, and where a public entity is involved it runs on six months rather than two years. If you were hurt at work 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.
