California Personal Injury Case Value Calculator
California is a pure comparative negligence state, so partial fault reduces a claim but never eliminates it. You have 2 years to file most injury claims, and far less against a government agency.
Estimate your California case
California is already selected, so the fault rule, no-fault status, and any applicable caps are applied to your answers.
How California evaluates a claim
Fault and insurance
- Comparative fault
- Pure comparative — never barred
- Insurance system
- At-fault
- Minimum bodily injury liability
- $30,000 / $60,000
- Minimum property damage
- $15,000
Not required and not part of a standard California policy. Medical payments coverage is available as an optional add-on. Your own health insurance is usually the first payer for treatment while a liability claim is pending.
Filing deadlines
- Personal injury
- 2 years
- Wrongful death
- 2 years
- Government claim
- 6 months
Missing a deadline generally ends a claim regardless of merit. The government claim deadline is the one most often missed, because it is measured in months or days rather than years.
Medical malpractice non-economic damages, cases not involving death (2026 amount)
$470,000
AB 35 replaced the flat $250,000 MICRA cap that had stood since 1975. The limit began at $350,000 on 1 Jan 2023 and rises $40,000 each year through 2033, reaching $750,000. AB 35 also created three separate defendant categories — providers, institutions, and unaffiliated providers or institutions — each with its own cap, so a case involving all three can reach three times the figure. The cap that applies is the one in effect when the case resolves.
Medical malpractice non-economic damages, wrongful death (2026 amount)
$650,000
Began at $500,000 on 1 Jan 2023 and rises $50,000 each year through 2033, reaching $1,000,000, then adjusts 2% annually. Economic damages are never capped.
Non-economic damages for uninsured drivers
No fixed cap
Proposition 213 bars an uninsured driver from recovering non-economic damages — pain and suffering — even when another driver was entirely at fault. Economic damages remain recoverable. Cal. Civ. Code § 3333.4.
Reviewed 2026-07-29. Not yet reviewed by a licensed attorney. General information, not legal advice.
Major California cities
California counties
Most local crash data is published by county rather than by city, so county is how a city page is matched to its crash figures.
Claims we evaluate in California
Sources and review dates
- Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 335.1 — Two-year limitations period for injury or death · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Cal. Civ. Code § 1431.2 — Several liability for non-economic damages (Proposition 51) · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Cal. Gov. Code § 911.2 — Six-month claim presentation deadline · reviewed 2026-07-29
- Cal. Veh. Code § 16056 — Financial responsibility minimums (30/60/15 from 1 Jan 2025) · reviewed 2026-07-29
- California DMV — Insurance requirements · reviewed 2026-07-29
Any estimate produced by the calculator on this page is illustrative and is not a prediction or a guarantee. We publish no attorney profiles or rankings, and nothing here recommends or endorses any attorney. See our methodology for how the calculation works and what it cannot account for.
Common California questions
See what your California claim could be worth.
Your answers, your documented losses, and California's own rules. Free, and you can get the estimate without agreeing to be contacted.