Personal injury law covers any claim where one party’s conduct causes bodily harm, emotional harm, or death to another, and the injured person seeks money rather than criminal punishment. That definition is broad on purpose. A Long Beach personal injury attorney handles a crash on Pacific Coast Highway and a defective space heater under the same body of law, since both turn on whether someone failed a duty they owed and whether that failure caused measurable harm.
Which cases fall under personal injury law?
The category covers motor vehicle collisions, pedestrian and bicycle injuries, premises liability, dog bites, defective products, medical negligence, and wrongful death. Injuries caused by assault or other intentional conduct also qualify, even when the same act is being prosecuted criminally.
Vehicle collisions make up the bulk of the caseload in Los Angeles County, and two reporting rules apply right after one. Vehicle Code section 20008 requires a written report to police or the CHP within 24 hours when a collision causes injury or death. Vehicle Code section 16000 requires the driver to file an SR-1 with the DMV within 10 days if anyone was hurt or property damage exceeds $1,000. Missing the SR-1 deadline can trigger license suspension regardless of fault.
Premises liability claims arise when unsafe property injures a visitor. California abandoned the old visitor-status categories in Rowland v. Christian (1968) and now applies a general duty of ordinary care. The plaintiff still has to show the owner knew or should have known about the hazard, which is why a grocery store case often turns on sweep logs and how many minutes a spill sat there before someone fell.
Which categories carry their own special rules?
Several claims come with statutory requirements that override the general negligence framework, and missing them can end an otherwise strong case.
Dog bites are strict liability in California. Civil Code section 3342 makes the owner responsible for a bite in a public place or when the victim is lawfully on private property, whether or not the dog ever bit anyone before. There is no “one free bite” rule here.
Product liability follows a similar path. Since Greenman v. Yuba Power Products (1963), a manufacturer can be strictly liable for a defective product without proof of carelessness. Defects fall into manufacturing flaws, design flaws, and failures to warn, and the theory chosen shapes which experts the case needs.
Medical negligence is the most heavily regulated category. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 364, a patient must give the provider 90 days’ written notice before filing suit. Assembly Bill 35, in effect since January 2023, replaced the decades-old $250,000 cap on non-economic damages with a figure that rises each January 1. For claims not involving death, the cap sits at $470,000 in 2026 and continues climbing toward $750,000. Wrongful death cases have a separate schedule, at $650,000 in 2026 and rising toward $1 million.
Claims against a public entity, including a city, transit agency, or public school district, require a written administrative claim within six months under Government Code section 911.2 before any lawsuit can be filed.
What about wrongful death?
Wrongful death is a personal injury claim brought by surviving family members rather than the injured person, and it exists by statute rather than common law.
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 limits who can bring the claim, starting with the surviving spouse, domestic partner, and children, then reaching those who would inherit by intestate succession if none exist. Recoverable losses under section 377.61 include funeral expenses, the support the decedent would have provided, and the loss of that person’s love, companionship, and guidance. Survivors’ grief is not itself compensable, a distinction that surprises most families.
What does not fall under personal injury law?
Several situations that feel like personal injury are handled somewhere else entirely, usually with different deadlines and different decision makers.
- On-the-job injuries are generally routed through workers’ compensation, an administrative no-fault system, and Labor Code section 3602 makes it the exclusive remedy against the employer in most cases.
- Damage to a car with no bodily injury is a property claim, and California gives three years to file it rather than two.
- Breach of a contract, even one that cost you money, is contract law and not a tort.
- Restitution ordered in a criminal case is separate from any civil claim and rarely covers the full loss.
How do you know if you have a Long Beach personal injury claim?
Four things need to line up: someone owed you a duty of care, they fell short of it, that failure caused your injury, and you have losses that can be documented in dollars.
The fourth element decides more cases than people expect. Without medical records or wage documentation, even clear negligence produces a small recovery. Two checks follow. Confirm the deadline, since most California personal injury claims must be filed within two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 and public entity claims within six months. Then identify a source of payment, because a valid claim against an uninsured defendant with no assets is often worth less than an uninsured motorist claim on your own policy.
The scope of personal injury law is wider than most people assume and narrower in spots they do not expect, particularly around workplace injuries and property-only losses. If you are unsure where your situation falls, a Long Beach Personal Injury Attorney can tell you in one conversation whether you have a claim, which statute governs it, and what deadline is already running. Get that answer while the records and witnesses are still available.