Fell on a city sidewalk? You may have only 6 months

Most people have heard that California gives you two years to bring a personal injury case. What far fewer people know is that when your fall happened on government property — a city sidewalk, a public park, a courthouse entrance — a much shorter clock may control: a government claim generally must be filed within 6 months.

Before anything else: this article is general information, not legal advice. Deadlines shift with the facts, and only a lawyer who reviews your situation can tell you which dates apply to you.

Two different clocks

For a fall at a private business — a grocery store, a mall, a restaurant — the general California deadline to file a personal injury lawsuit is 2 years from the date of injury.

But when the responsible party is a public entity — a city, a county, the State of California, a school district, a transit agency — the Government Claims Act adds an earlier, separate step. Before you can sue, you generally must first file a written administrative claim with that entity, and for injury claims the deadline is generally 6 months from the date of the incident.

Miss that step, and you can lose the right to sue at all — even though the two-year window is still technically open. That mismatch catches people constantly.

Why sidewalk falls are the classic trap

A cracked, lifted, or crumbling sidewalk feels like nobody's property, so people treat it like a private-business fall and assume they have years. Often the sidewalk is the city's responsibility — and sometimes an adjacent property owner shares responsibility, which is one more reason the ownership question needs answering early.

Figuring out which entity owns the spot where you fell is itself a task: city versus county, or a sidewalk bordering state property, can each point to a different claim form and a different office.

What a government claim involves

The claim is not a lawsuit. It's a written form — most cities and counties publish their own — that generally asks for:

• Your name and contact information.
• The date, place, and circumstances of the fall.
• A description of your injuries and losses.
• The amount claimed, or for larger cases, a statement about jurisdiction.

The entity then typically has a period to respond. Most claims are rejected or ignored — that's normal and expected. The rejection is what opens the door to filing a lawsuit, usually within a further limited window after the rejection. The claim isn't a formality you can skip; it's the key that unlocks the courtroom.

If the 6 months already passed

Not necessarily fatal, but urgent. California allows an application for "leave to present a late claim" in limited circumstances, generally filed within a year, and relief is not automatic. If you're anywhere near — or past — the 6-month mark, treat it as an emergency and speak with a lawyer promptly. Again: general information, not legal advice.

Evidence disappears even faster than deadlines

While the claim clock runs, the physical evidence has its own, faster clock:

• Photograph the defect now. Sidewalk cracks get ground down, patched, or repaired — often shortly after someone reports a fall. Take photos from several angles, with something for scale (a coin, a shoe) next to the height difference.
• Note the exact location. Street address, cross streets, GPS pin. "Somewhere on Elm Street" is not enough to investigate later.
• Look for cameras. Nearby businesses or homes may have cameras facing the sidewalk. Their footage is typically overwritten quickly — often within days to a few weeks, depending on the system — so a preservation request needs to go out fast.
• Identify witnesses. Names and phone numbers, even if the conversation was brief.

Where our tool fits

We don't file government claims for you, and we don't hold any entity's records. What our service does is help you act during the window that matters most: documenting the scene, generating preservation requests for nearby camera footage, and organizing the facts — dates, location, witnesses — that a government claim and any lawyer you hire will need.

Don't let the short clock run out

If your fall involved a sidewalk, park, or any public property, assume the 6-month clock is running until someone qualified tells you otherwise. Use our free tool below to start preserving your evidence today.

Sources checked for this guide

• California Government Code section 911.2
• California Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1