California gives a family two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. That comes from the Code of Civil Procedure, section 335.1.
One exception cuts that to six months, and it ends more cases than any other rule in this area. It applies when a public body is involved.
When does the six month deadline apply?
The Government Claims Act sets it. Under Government Code section 911.2, a claim against a public body has to be presented within six months of the death.
A public body means a city, a county, the state, a transit agency, a school district or a public hospital. The six months is a claim you present to that body, and it comes before any lawsuit.
Which Los Angeles cases involve a public body?
More than families expect. Any of these puts a case under the six month rule.
- A Metro bus or a Metro train.
- A city or county vehicle, including a police car or a fire engine.
- A crash caused by a road defect, a broken signal or a missing sign.
- Care at a county hospital such as LAC and USC Medical Center or Harbor UCLA.
- A school bus, or a school district employee driving for work.
Los Angeles has a large number of these on the road every day. A family that waits nine months on a Metro case has usually lost the claim before anyone opens a file.
What happens if the six months passes?
There is a second chance, and it is not automatic. Government Code section 911.4 lets you apply to present a late claim within one year of the death.
The public body may say no. When it does, you have to ask a court for permission, and you have to show a good reason for the delay.
Does the two year clock ever start later than the death?
Sometimes. The two years usually begins on the date of death, not the date of the accident. A person who dies weeks after a crash gives the family a later start.
Delayed discovery can also apply where the cause of death was hidden. That argument is fact specific, so nobody should plan around it.
Does medical malpractice change the deadline?
Yes. When the death came from medical care, section 340.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure applies instead of the general rule.
That section gives one year from the date the family discovered the injury, or three years from the injury itself, whichever comes first. A public hospital adds the six month claim on top, so two clocks apply at once.
Our guide to telling a bad outcome from medical malpractice explains what has to be shown before the deadline is worth worrying about.
What if the person who can file is a child?
California pauses some deadlines for minors. Section 352 of the Code of Civil Procedure covers that pause, and the rules differ for government claims and for medical cases.
A guardian can file on a child’s behalf without waiting. In most families that is the better route, because evidence gets harder to find every month.
How this plays out in Los Angeles
The six month rule is the one that catches people here. So many roads, buses and hospitals in this county belong to a public body. A crash on a city street with a signal that was dark can be a claim against the city.
Our team looks for the public body question in the first conversation, not in month five. If one is involved, the claim goes in first and the lawsuit follows.
What to do now
- Write down the date of death, not the date of the accident.
- Ask whether a bus, a public vehicle, a road defect or a public hospital was part of it.
- If the answer is yes, treat six months as your deadline and move now.
- Gather the death certificate, the police or incident report and any hospital records.
Do not wait for the police report to arrive before you call someone. Reports on fatal collisions in Los Angeles can take months, and the deadline does not pause while you wait.
Ask which deadline applies to your family
We can usually tell you which clock you are on in one conversation. The answer turns on who was involved, not on how complicated the case looks.
There is no fee to ask, and no fee unless we win. Here is how we work as a wrongful death lawyer in Los Angeles, and how to reach our team in English, Spanish or Armenian.
