Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer | Abdi & Associates Inc.

Get a Free Consultation

Short answer: if you were injured in Los Angeles or anywhere in California because someone else was careless, you can recover your medical bills, lost income, property damage and pain and suffering from the responsible party, usually through their insurance. California lets you recover even if you were partly at fault. The lawsuit deadline is generally two years, but only six months if a city, county, transit agency or other public entity is responsible. Abdi & Associates, Inc. helps individuals with injury claims throughout California, handles the workers’ compensation side in-house when the injury happened on the job, and can pursue Social Security Disability if the injury keeps you from working. The consultation is free and there is no attorney fee unless you recover.

Personal injury cases we help with

Car accidents, the most common injury claim in Los Angeles, including uninsured and underinsured motorist claims and rideshare crashes;
commercial truck accidents, where federal trucking rules, the motor carrier and its insurer are all in play;
motorcycle accidents, where lane splitting, helmet use and rider bias shape the claim;
pedestrian and bicycle collisions;
bus and common carrier accidents, including Metro and school buses, with their six-month government claim deadline;
slip and fall and premises liability injuries at stores, restaurants, apartment buildings and public property;
dog bites, where the owner is strictly liable under Civil Code section 3342 regardless of the dog’s history, and the claim is usually paid by homeowners or renters insurance;
injuries caused by a third party at work, such as a driver, a property owner or a contractor, which run alongside workers’ compensation, including construction site accidents;
catastrophic injuries, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and amputation;
wrongful death claims brought by the family after a fatal accident.

If your situation is not on this list, contact us anyway. Many injury cases involve more than one kind of claim, and the first job is to identify all of them.

What you have to prove

Most injury claims are negligence claims. You must show that the other party owed you a duty of care, breached it, and caused your injury and your losses. A driver breaches the duty by speeding, texting or running a light; a store breaches it by leaving a spill on the floor long enough that a reasonable inspection would have found it; a property owner breaches it by ignoring a broken stair. Some claims do not require proof of negligence at all: dog bites, defective products and certain violations of safety statutes carry strict or presumed liability.

Comparative fault: being partly to blame does not end the case

California follows pure comparative negligence. If you were partly responsible, your recovery is reduced by your percentage of fault but not eliminated. A person with $1,000,000 in damages who is found 30 percent at fault recovers $700,000. Insurers use comparative fault aggressively, which is why the facts of how the injury happened need to be locked down early with photographs, video, witness statements and, in vehicle cases, the police report and event data recorder.

What compensation can include

Economic damages are the losses with a dollar figure: emergency and follow-up medical care, surgery, therapy, medication, future medical needs, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and property damage. Non-economic damages compensate physical pain, emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life, disfigurement and, for a spouse or registered domestic partner, loss of consortium. Non-economic damages are not capped in ordinary California injury cases. Punitive damages are available only for malice, oppression or fraud, most commonly a drunk driver. There is no formula; the value of a claim depends on the severity and permanence of the injury, the medical evidence, the strength of the liability case, any comparative fault, and the insurance available. See our guide to how injury settlements are valued in California.

Deadlines

Two years from the injury to file a lawsuit (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1).
Six months to present a written claim to a public entity before suing it (Government Code section 911.2), then six months from the notice of rejection to file suit (section 945.6). This applies to crashes with city and county vehicles and buses, dangerous public roads and sidewalks, and injuries at public schools and facilities.
Three years for property damage alone (Code of Civil Procedure section 338).
Two years to make an uninsured or underinsured motorist claim under your own auto policy (Insurance Code section 11580.2), with shorter police and insurer reporting deadlines for hit-and-run crashes.
Thirty days to report a workplace injury to your employer and one year to file the workers’ compensation claim (Labor Code sections 5400 and 5405).
The two-year period is paused while the injured person is a minor or lacks legal capacity (Code of Civil Procedure section 352).

Insurance policies also require prompt notice of a claim. There is no fixed number of days, but late notice is used to delay or deny claims, so report promptly and keep the report factual.

What to do after an injury in Los Angeles

Get medical care right away and tell the provider exactly how the injury happened. Delayed treatment is the first thing an adjuster points to.
Report the incident: to the police for a crash, to the manager or property owner for a fall, and to your employer for a work injury.
Photograph the scene, the cause, your injuries and any property damage, and get witness names and phone numbers.
Do not give a recorded statement to the other side’s insurer and do not sign releases or medical authorizations without advice.
Stay off social media until the claim is resolved.
Keep every bill, receipt, pay stub and medical record, and follow the treatment plan.
Talk to a lawyer before accepting any offer. See our guide on what to do after a car accident in California.

Will the case go to trial?

Most injury claims settle with the insurer, either before a lawsuit is filed or during the litigation process. A lawsuit becomes necessary when the insurer denies the claim, disputes fault or offers less than the case is worth, or when the deadline is approaching. Filing suit starts discovery, depositions and, in many cases, mediation; only a small fraction of cases reach a jury.

How Abdi & Associates works on injury cases

Abdi & Associates, Inc. helps individuals with personal injury claims throughout California. We evaluate the claim, identify every responsible party and insurance policy, explain the deadlines, and handle the insurers so you can focus on treatment. Where a case calls for it, we work with experienced personal injury trial counsel we trust and stay involved in your case. When the injury happened at work, we handle the workers’ compensation claim in-house and coordinate it with the injury claim, and when the injury keeps you from working for a year or more, we can pursue Social Security Disability alongside it. We work remotely, so consultations, signatures and updates are handled by phone, video and secure electronic signature from anywhere in California, including from a hospital bed or your home. Consultations are free and confidential, and there is no attorney fee unless there is a recovery.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a personal injury lawyer cost?

Injury cases are handled on a contingency fee, which is a percentage of the recovery. There is no fee if there is no recovery. Costs advanced during the case are addressed in the written fee agreement.

How long do I have to file a personal injury claim in California?

Generally two years from the injury, but only six months to present a claim against a public entity. Insurance claims should be reported promptly.

What if the person who hurt me has no insurance?

In a vehicle case, your own uninsured motorist coverage may pay. In other cases, the responsible party’s employer, a property owner, a product manufacturer or another party may share liability.

Can I still recover if I was partly at fault?

Yes. California reduces the recovery by your percentage of fault but does not bar the claim.

Do you take cases outside Los Angeles?

Yes. We help injured people throughout California, including Riverside and the Inland Empire and Orange County, and in Spanish: abogados de accidentes.

Personal Injury Cases We Handle

Riverside and Orange County

Hurt in the Inland Empire or Orange County? Our Riverside personal injury and Orange County personal injury pages cover the local courts, public-entity claim procedures, deadlines, and crash data for those areas.

Sources: Cal. Code Civ. Proc. §§ 335.1, 338, 352; Cal. Gov. Code §§ 911.2, 945.6; Cal. Civ. Code §§ 3294, 3342; Cal. Ins. Code § 11580.2; Cal. Lab. Code §§ 3852, 5400, 5405; Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804.

Reviewed by Shawn Abdi, Esq., Abdi & Associates, Inc. Last reviewed: September 4, 2026. Attorney advertising. This page is general information, not legal advice about your specific situation. Legal deadlines have exceptions; confirm the deadlines that apply to your case with a lawyer.