California Tort Claims Act: Deadlines, Late Claims, and Court Petitions

Under the California Tort Claims Act, the filing deadline is six months from the date of the injury for personal injury, wrongful death, and damage to personal property, and one year from accrual for most other claims, including breach of contract and damage to real property. You have to present that written claim to the public entity before you can sue. Miss the six-month or one-year window and your only path forward is a late claim application, which itself has to be filed within one year of when the cause of action accrued.¹

The Two Filing Deadlines

Government Code Section 911.2 draws one line and it matters which side of it your claim falls on.

Personal injury, wrongful death, or damage to personal property: six months after the cause of action accrues.
All other claims, including breach of contract and damage to real property: one year after accrual.

These are not soft deadlines. Missing by a day can permanently bar the claim, and Government Code Section 945.4 makes prior presentation of a claim an absolute prerequisite to suing a public entity for money damages. File a lawsuit without first presenting the claim and letting the agency reject it (or letting the response window run), and the court will dismiss the case.²

When the Clock Starts

In most cases the clock starts on the date the injury happens. California applies a delayed discovery rule when the injured person could not reasonably have known about the harm at the time. Under that doctrine, accrual is postponed until you discover, or through reasonable diligence should have discovered, the facts giving rise to the claim. Courts look at whether you were genuinely unaware of the injury and whether you could have uncovered the relevant facts sooner. It comes up in medical malpractice by a public hospital, toxic exposure on government property, and infrastructure defects that cause latent damage.

What Happens After You File

Once the public entity receives your claim, it has 45 days to act. The agency can accept and offer a settlement, reject the claim outright, or ask you in writing to agree to more time. If it does nothing within 45 days, the claim is deemed rejected on the last day of that period.³

The deemed-rejection matters because it starts the next clock. Whether you get a formal rejection letter or hear nothing, the result is the same: you now have a limited window to sue.

The Lawsuit Deadline After Rejection

This is where a lot of claims die. After rejection, the deadline to file suit in superior court depends on whether the agency sent you written notice:

Written notice given: six months from the date the rejection notice is personally delivered or deposited in the mail.
No written notice: two years from the date the cause of action accrued.

The six-month window is the one that catches people off guard. After spending weeks or months preparing and filing the administrative claim, it is easy to assume there is plenty of time to find a lawyer and draft a complaint. There isn’t. Six months goes fast, and courts enforce this deadline strictly.⁴

If You Missed the Six-Month or One-Year Deadline

Government Code Section 911.4 allows an application for leave to present a late claim. The application has to be submitted within a reasonable time and no later than one year from the date the cause of action accrued. That one-year cap is the outer wall. Past it, no application, no relief, no lawsuit.

The application must include a copy of the proposed claim and an explanation of why the original deadline was missed. The agency then has 45 days to grant or deny it. Silence for 45 days counts as denial.⁵⁶

Grounds the Agency Must Accept

Section 911.6 lists six grounds. If any one of them applies, the agency has to grant relief:

Mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, provided the delay did not prejudice the agency’s ability to defend the claim.
The applicant was a minor for the entire filing period.
The applicant was a minor for part of the filing period, as long as the application is filed within six months of turning 18 or one year after accrual, whichever comes first.
Physical or mental incapacity throughout the filing period.
Physical or mental incapacity during part of the filing period, as long as the application is filed within six months of the incapacity ending or one year after accrual, whichever comes first.
Death before the filing period expired.

Prejudice is the pressure point on the first ground. Courts look at whether the delay caused evidence to disappear, witnesses to become unavailable, or the agency’s investigation to be meaningfully impaired.⁶

What Counts as Excusable Neglect

California courts decide this case by case. A reasonable mistake about the law or a misunderstanding of the filing deadline can qualify if a reasonably prudent person in the same circumstances would have made the same error. Clerical mistakes, like misreading a deadline on a calendar, have been found excusable. Simple indifference or a vague claim of being too busy will not qualify. If you had a lawyer, the court evaluates the lawyer’s conduct as well, and an attorney’s failure to calendar a deadline is typically held against the client.

Petitioning the Court When the Agency Says No

If the agency denies the late claim application or lets 45 days pass without acting, Government Code Section 946.6 allows a petition to the superior court for relief. File the petition within six months of the denial or deemed denial.

The petition has to show three things: that you applied to the agency and were denied, that the late claim application was filed within a reasonable time not exceeding one year from accrual, and that at least one of the six grounds under Section 911.6 applies. It also has to include the information a claim itself requires under Section 910.

The court decides independently, based on the petition, supporting affidavits, and any evidence at the hearing. For excusable neglect, the court grants relief unless the public entity proves it would be genuinely prejudiced by the late claim. For claims involving minors, incapacity, or death, prejudice is not weighed against you.

If the court grants the petition, you have 30 days to file the civil complaint. That deadline is hard. The court will not extend it, and missing it wastes the entire petition effort.⁷

Minors and Incapacitated Claimants

Children injured by government negligence get some protection, but less than many parents assume. Being a minor does not automatically pause the six-month claim deadline. It is a ground for late claim relief. If the child was under 18 during the entire filing period, the agency must grant the application. If the child was a minor for only part of that period, relief is still available as long as the application is submitted within six months of the child’s 18th birthday or one year after accrual, whichever comes first.⁶

Section 911.4 adds tolling for the one-year outer limit on late claim applications. Time does not count while a person is mentally incapacitated and lacks a guardian or conservator. For minors who are dependents of the juvenile court and in the custody of the public entity they need to file against, additional tolling applies if the entity failed to make a required report of injury or abuse to the court or the minor’s attorney.⁵

Physical or mental incapacity works the same way. Incapacity throughout the filing window requires the agency to grant relief. Incapacity during part of the window requires the application within six months after the incapacity ends or one year after accrual, whichever comes first.

Federal Entities Are Not Covered

If a federal agency or a federal employee acting officially caused the injury, the California Tort Claims Act does not apply. Those claims go through the Federal Tort Claims Act, which sets its own deadline: two years from accrual to file the administrative claim, and six months after denial to sue in federal court.⁸ Federal claims use Standard Form 95 and go directly to the federal agency involved. The federal system also carries broad immunity exceptions, including a discretionary function defense that shields policy-level decisions.⁹

Identify whether the responsible entity is federal, state, or local before you file anything. A California tort claim aimed at a federal agency, or a federal claim aimed at a city or county, burns time you cannot get back.

1
Justia. California Government Code 910-913.2 – General
2
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 945.4
3
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 912.4
4
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 945.6
5
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 911.4 – Application for Leave to Present Late Claim
6
California Legislative Information. California Government Code 911.6
7
Justia. California Government Code 946.6 – Petition for Relief from Claim Requirements
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2401 – Time for Commencing Action Against United States
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 2680 – Exceptions