Deadlines
How long you have to sue in California
The statute of limitations is not a technicality a judge can forgive. If you file after it runs, the other side moves to dismiss and the case ends without anyone ever hearing what happened to you.
The common deadlines
Written contract: 4 years, from the breach. Oral contract: 2 years. Personal injury: 2 years from the injury. Property damage: 3 years. Fraud: 3 years from discovery. Unpaid wages: 3 years, or 4 under the unfair competition law.
Claims against a government entity are the trap: you generally must file an administrative claim within 6 months before you can sue at all.
When the clock starts
Usually the day the harm happened. For fraud and some professional negligence, it starts when you discovered the problem, or reasonably should have. That discovery rule saves cases, but you have to be able to explain why you could not have known sooner.
What pauses the clock
The deadline can be tolled while the plaintiff is a minor, while they are incarcerated, while the defendant is out of state, or while a required administrative process runs. Tolling is fact-specific and worth confirming rather than assuming.
If you are close to the line
File first and fix details later. A case filed one day inside the deadline survives; a perfect complaint filed one day late does not. The filing date is what the statute measures, not the service date.
We check your deadline before you file
Tell us when it happened and what kind of claim it is. If the deadline is close, you get a warning up front instead of finding out after you pay a filing fee.
Check my caseKeep reading
- How to sue someone in CaliforniaThe whole process, from deciding what to ask for to getting the papers served, without hiring anyone.
- How to answer an eviction in CaliforniaTen court days, one form, and the defenses most tenants never know they have.
- Small claims or civil courtThe trade you are making: speed and simplicity against how much a judge is allowed to award you.
file my case is a self-help document preparation service, not a law firm, and this page is not legal advice. Deadlines and fees change; confirm yours before you file.