California Truck Accident Deadlines: Lawsuits, Claims, and Carrier Records

Find your situation below. Each line gives the deadline and the law that sets it. When more than one applies, the shortest one decides what has to happen first.

Lawsuits and claims

• Hurt by a privately owned truck: two years from the crash to sue the driver, the carrier, or any other company at fault (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1).
• Vehicle or property damage: three years (Code Civ. Proc. § 338(c)(1)).
• A family member was killed: two years for a wrongful death lawsuit, generally from the date of death (§ 335.1; Norgart v. Upjohn Co. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 383, 404).
• A city, county, transit, or state vehicle or road was involved: a written claim to the agency within six months of the crash (Gov. Code § 911.2).
• The agency rejected the claim in writing: a lawsuit within six months of the date the notice was mailed or personally delivered (Gov. Code § 945.6(a)(1)).
• The six-month claim deadline passed: an application to present a late claim, made within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the crash (Gov. Code § 911.4).
• A federal vehicle, such as a U.S. Postal Service truck, was involved: a written claim to the federal agency within two years, then a lawsuit within six months after the agency mails a final denial (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b); 39 U.S.C. § 409(c)).
• The injured person is under 18: the two-year lawsuit clock generally does not start until the 18th birthday, but the six-month government claim deadline still applies (Code Civ. Proc. § 352).

Reports due right after the crash

• Within 24 hours: if anyone was hurt or killed, each driver must make, or have someone make, a written report to the CHP or the city police. Drivers of common carrier vehicles report to the CHP by the 10th of the following month instead (Veh. Code § 20008).
• Within 10 days: a report to the DMV (form SR-1) if anyone was hurt or killed, or if any one person's property damage was over $1,000. A driver can file it personally or through an insurance agent, broker, or legal representative (Veh. Code § 16000(a)).

Truck records with their own clocks

• Driver duty-status records, including electronic logging device data: kept for at least six months (49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1)).
• Driver vehicle inspection reports: three months (49 CFR § 396.11(a)(4)).
• Maintenance and repair records: one year, and six months after the truck leaves the carrier's control (49 CFR § 396.3(c)).
• Black box (engine control module) data: no federal retention period, which is why a preservation letter matters.

When a public agency's truck or bus hit you, or the condition of a public road played a part, you cannot sue the agency until a written claim has been presented and the agency has acted on it or is treated as having rejected it (Gov. Code § 945.4). For injury, death, and vehicle damage, the claim is due within six months of the crash (§ 911.2(a)).

• Where it goes: a claim against a city, county, or district is delivered or mailed to its clerk, secretary, or auditor, or submitted electronically where the agency has authorized it (§ 915(a)). A claim against the State goes to the Department of General Services (§ 915(b)) and counts as presented on the date it is submitted with the $25 filing fee or a fee waiver request (§ 911.2(b)).
• The agency's answer: the board has 45 days to act. If it doesn't, the claim is treated as rejected on the last day of that period, which the claimant and the board can extend by written agreement (§ 912.4).
• After a written rejection: the lawsuit is due within six months of the date the notice is personally delivered or mailed (§ 945.6(a)(1)).
• If no written notice is given: the lawsuit is due within two years of the date the claim arose (§ 945.6(a)(2)).
• A missed six-month deadline: an application to present a late claim must state the reason for the delay, attach the proposed claim, and be made within a reasonable time, no later than one year after the crash (§ 911.4). The agency has 45 days to grant or deny it (§ 911.6). After a denial, a petition asking the superior court for relief is due within six months (§ 946.6(b)).

Which agency answers for a road isn't always obvious, since a freeway ramp, a county road, and a city street can meet at one interchange. Our Irvine and San Diego truck pages list the local claim offices.

Federal vehicles. When a federal employee driving for the government caused the crash, the claim goes in writing to the federal agency within two years (28 U.S.C. § 2401(b)). A lawsuit can't be filed until the agency denies the claim in writing, or six months pass without a final decision (28 U.S.C. § 2675(a)). After a denial sent by certified or registered mail, the lawsuit is due within six months (§ 2401(b)). The same rules cover claims arising from Postal Service activities (39 U.S.C. § 409(c)).

A wrongful death lawsuit has the same two-year limit as an injury case (Code Civ. Proc. § 335.1). The California Supreme Court has said that, as a usual matter, the period starts on the date of death (Norgart v. Upjohn Co. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 383, 404), which can be later than the crash. When a public agency may share responsibility, the six-month claim period runs from that same date (Gov. Code § 901, § 911.2).

Code Civ. Proc. § 377.60 sets who can bring the claim. It starts with the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, the children, and the descendants of a child who has died. If there are no surviving descendants, the people who would inherit under intestate succession can bring it. Dependent stepchildren, parents, and putative spouses can also qualify, as can a minor who lived in the home for the 180 days before the death and depended on the person who died for half or more of their support.

Our wrongful death lawyers represent families after fatal truck crashes, and the government claim and federal claim rules above apply to death claims too.

For anyone under 18, the time before their 18th birthday is not counted toward the two-year lawsuit deadline (Code Civ. Proc. § 352(a); Fam. Code § 6500). A child's own injury lawsuit against a private trucking company can generally be filed until two years after they turn 18.

That pause does not apply to claims against a public entity (§ 352(b)), so a child's claim against a city, county, or the State is still due in six months. If that deadline is missed, the agency must grant a late-claim application when the child was a minor for the whole six-month period (Gov. Code § 911.6(b)(2)), but the application still has to be made within a year of the crash (§ 911.4(b)).

When a parent settles a child's disputed claim, the settlement is valid only after the superior court approves it (Prob. Code § 3500). Our guide to a minor's compromise in California explains how that approval works.

Interstate trucking companies hold the records that show how a truck was driven, inspected, and maintained, and federal rules set how long they must keep them. Several of these periods end well before the two-year lawsuit deadline:

• Records of duty status and supporting documents, including electronic logging device (ELD) records: at least six months from the date of receipt (49 CFR § 395.8(k)(1)). A carrier using ELDs must also keep a backup copy for six months on a separate device (§ 395.22(i)(1)).
• Driver vehicle inspection reports and the certification of repairs: three months from the date the report was prepared (49 CFR § 396.11(a)(4)).
• Inspection, repair, and maintenance records: one year where the truck is housed or maintained, and six months after it leaves the carrier's control (49 CFR § 396.3(c)).
• Annual inspection report: 14 months from the date of the report (49 CFR § 396.21(b)(1)).
• Driver qualification file: for as long as the driver works for the carrier and three years after. Some items, such as the annual driving-record review and the medical examiner's certificate, can be removed three years after they were made (49 CFR § 391.51(c)-(d)).
• Accident register: three years after each crash, with copies of the accident reports that government agencies or insurers required (49 CFR § 390.15(b)).
• Post-crash alcohol and drug tests: required after a crash that kills someone, or one in which the truck driver is cited for a moving violation and someone is treated away from the scene or a vehicle is disabled and towed. An alcohol test not given within two hours needs a written reason, and attempts stop at eight hours; drug testing attempts stop at 32 hours (49 CFR § 382.303). Negative results are kept for one year, while alcohol results of 0.02 or higher and verified positive drug results are kept for five (§ 382.401(b)).

A truck's engine control module, often called its black box, may hold data from the moments before a crash. No federal trucking rule sets how long a carrier has to keep that data, and the federal event data recorder rule covers only vehicles rated at 8,500 pounds gross vehicle weight or less, not a semi (49 CFR § 563.3). The truck belongs to the carrier or another owner, who can repair it, put it back to work, or sell it.

A preservation letter is a written demand that the carrier keep specific evidence: the module data, the ELD and duty-status records, inspection and maintenance files, dispatch and GPS records, any camera footage, and the truck itself. It puts the carrier on notice that the evidence matters to a claim before the federal retention periods run out. If evidence goes missing after that, the letter shows the carrier knew it mattered, and California law lets a jury consider a party's willful suppression of evidence when deciding what to infer (Evid. Code § 413).

Soon after we take a truck case, we may send the carrier a preservation letter and ask that the module be downloaded before the truck is repaired or sold.

For trucks operating only within California, the CHP's motor carrier rules in Title 13 of the California Code of Regulations set record clocks similar to the federal ones:

• Electronic logging: since January 1, 2024, carriers have had to install ELDs and require drivers to use them. Limited exceptions cover a driver who needs a duty-status record on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period, driveaway-towaway trips, and trucks built before model year 2000 (13 CCR § 1213(a)).
• Duty-status records and supporting documents: six months (13 CCR § 1234(a)).
• Daily vehicle inspection reports: at least three months (13 CCR § 1234(e)).
• Inspection, maintenance, lubrication, and repair records: one year (13 CCR § 1234(f)).