How Long Do You Have to Sue the Police?

Six months. For many people hurt by police in California, that is how long they have to take the first legal step, and most of them have never heard of it. Miss it, and a strong state-law case can be gone before a lawyer ever reads the file.

I get calls every month from people who did everything else right. They saved the video. They found the witnesses. They waited until the criminal case was over, or until they felt ready to talk about it. Then they find out the clock started the day it happened. This post lays out every deadline in order, so that does not happen to you.

The full timeline, step by step

Step 1: The clock starts on the day of the incident

For most police cases, the claim “accrues” when the incident happens: the day of the arrest, the beating, the search, or the shooting. That is day one.

Step 2: File the government claim within six months

Section 911.2 says a claim for death or for injury to a person or personal property must be presented no later than six months after the cause of action accrues. The claim goes to the public entity that employs the officer. For a city or county, that means delivering or mailing it to the clerk, secretary, or auditor, or to the governing body at its principal office (Government Code section 915). For a state agency such as the CHP, the claim goes to the Department of General Services, with a $25 filing fee or a fee waiver request.

The claim does not have to read like a lawsuit, but it must include specific information under Government Code section 910: your name and address, where notices should be sent, the date, place, and circumstances of what happened, a general description of your injuries, the names of the employees involved if you know them, and, for claims over $10,000, no dollar amount but a statement of whether it would be a limited civil case.

This requirement also protects the officer. Under Government Code section 950.2, if your state-law claim against the agency is barred because you did not file on time, your state-law claim against the individual officer is generally barred too.

Step 3: The agency has 45 days to respond

Once the claim is presented, the agency’s board has 45 days to act on it (Government Code section 912.4). Many agencies send a written rejection. Some say nothing at all. If the 45 days pass with no decision, the claim is treated as rejected on the last day.

Step 4: File the lawsuit

This is where people get caught a second time. Under Government Code section 945.6:

• If the agency sends a written rejection notice, you must file suit no later than six months after the notice is personally delivered or mailed.
• If the agency never sends a proper written notice, you generally have two years from the date of the incident.

That second six-month window is shorter than people expect. A rejection letter is not the end of the case. It is the starting gun for the next deadline.

What if you already missed the six months?

It may not be over, but the path is narrow and it closes fast.

• Late claim application. You can ask the agency for permission to file a late claim. The application must be made within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the incident, and it must explain the delay (Government Code section 911.4).
• The agency decides within 45 days. It must grant the application if, among other grounds, the delay was due to mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect and the agency was not prejudiced, or if the injured person was a minor for the entire six-month period (Government Code section 911.6).
• Court petition. If the agency denies the application, you can petition the superior court for relief, but the petition must be filed within six months after the denial (Government Code section 946.6).

One trap for families: time spent as a minor still counts toward the one-year late-claim limit. A child’s case is not automatically paused.

What if criminal charges are still pending?

This comes up constantly in false arrest and excessive force cases, because the police often file charges against the person they hurt. Government Code section 945.3 says you cannot bring a civil lawsuit against the officer or the agency, based on conduct related to the charges, while those charges are pending in superior court. The statute of limitations for filing the lawsuit is paused during that time.

Here is the part I want every reader to hear: do not assume that pause covers the six-month government claim. File the claim on time anyway, even while the criminal case is open. It costs nothing to protect the deadline, and it can cost everything to guess wrong.

Federal claims: two years, no government claim

A federal civil rights lawsuit under section 1983 does not require a government claim first. The U.S. Supreme Court held that state notice-of-claim rules cannot be applied to these federal claims (Felder v. Casey, 1988). For the filing deadline, federal courts borrow the state’s personal injury limit, which in California is two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. When the clock starts is a question of federal law (Wallace v. Kato, 2007). In a false arrest case, for example, it can start when the person is held under legal process rather than the moment of arrest.

Your deadline checklist

• Write down the date of the incident. That is day one.
• Mark six months from that date. That is the government claim deadline for state-law claims.
• Mark two years from that date. That is the usual outer limit for federal section 1983 claims.
• When a rejection letter arrives, mark six months from the date it was mailed or delivered. That is your lawsuit deadline on the state claims.
• If criminal charges are pending, still file the government claim on time.
• If you are past six months but inside one year, act immediately on a late claim application.