Personal Injury Lawyer Santa Monica

Personal Injury Attorney Santa Monica

You came to Santa Monica for work, for the beach, or because you live here. Then a driver ran a light on Lincoln, a bus pulled away too soon, or a scooter went down on broken pavement, and now there are hospital bills and an adjuster on the phone. If you need a personal injury lawyer in Santa Monica, Ravan Law represents people seriously hurt on this city’s streets, buses, sidewalks, and beachfront.

Santa Monica is its own city, with its own police department, bus system, and claim process, all separate from the City of Los Angeles. A claim sent to the wrong city does not stop the clock.

We represent clients in Santa Monica from our office on San Vicente Boulevard in Los Angeles, and consultations are available by phone or video. Call (424) 465-2500 for a free consultation. No fee unless we win. Information is available in Spanish.

Why Santa Monica Injury Cases Matter to Our Firm

Claims against public agencies are personal to our firm. Ted H. Ravan first became involved with personal injury law when his grandfather was in a near-fatal incident involving a city-operated bus.

That is why our firm takes on claims against cities, transit agencies, and the State, and why the six-month government deadline is the first thing we ask about when you call. These claims have strict rules and a six-month deadline, and we take them on. You work with us directly, and we keep you updated at every stage.

Where Serious Crashes Happen: What a Santa Monica Accident Lawyer Looks At First

Commuters, tourists, buses, light rail, cyclists, and scooters share a small street grid here. The same corridors come up again and again:

Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1). Beach parking lots open directly onto the highway, and people cross on foot to reach the sand. PCH is a state highway, so a road-design or maintenance claim there runs against the State, not the City.
The I-10. Ramps at Lincoln Boulevard and Cloverfield Boulevard feed freeway traffic onto city streets. The freeway and its ramps belong to the State.
Lincoln Boulevard. A heavy commuter corridor with a weekday peak-hour bus lane between the I-10 and the southern city limit at Ozone Avenue. The City named Ocean Park Boulevard and Lincoln Boulevard a Vision Zero priority intersection.
Wilshire Boulevard. The City’s Wilshire Safety Study found that 60 percent of fatal and severe injury crashes on Wilshire involved pedestrians.
Santa Monica and Olympic Boulevards. Santa Monica Boulevard is a Metro bus corridor, and the City named Olympic Boulevard and 14th Street a Vision Zero priority intersection.
Colorado Avenue and the Metro E Line. Trains on the E Line, which runs between East Los Angeles and Santa Monica, cross Lincoln Boulevard at street level at Colorado Avenue.
Ocean Avenue, the Pier, and the Third Street Promenade. The Pier sits at Ocean and Colorado, and the Promenade is a pedestrian street in the middle of downtown. Both draw crowds on foot.

Where you were hurt decides who is responsible: the Santa Monica Police Department takes the report on city streets, the California Highway Patrol handles the freeway, and the road itself may belong to the City or to the State.

Santa Monica Personal Injury Cases We Handle

Each case type below has its own rules and sometimes its own deadline. As your Santa Monica personal injury lawyer, we sort your claim into the right track on day one. See every claim type the firm handles.

Car Accidents: What a Santa Monica Car Accident Lawyer Secures First

Left-turn collisions on Lincoln and Wilshire, rear-end crashes near the I-10 ramps, and collisions with drivers pulling out of beach lots on PCH are typical. We start with the evidence that disappears: business and traffic camera video, witness names, and the collision report. Copies of Santa Monica police reports come from the department’s Records Unit at the Public Safety Facility, 333 Olympic Drive.

California’s pure comparative fault rule lets you recover even if you were partly at fault, reduced by your share. SB 1107 raised the minimum liability limits to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident, effective January 1, 2025. That is still thin after a serious injury, so we check your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage too.

Big Blue Bus and Metro Accidents

Big Blue Bus is not a private company. It is a City of Santa Monica department, governed by the City Council, and the City’s own claim form has a section reserved for Big Blue Bus claims that asks for the bus number, the line number, and the operator’s badge number.

If you were a passenger, the law is on your side: Civil Code 2100 holds a carrier of passengers to the utmost care and diligence. Passenger, driver, cyclist, or pedestrian, your Big Blue Bus claim goes to the City of Santa Monica within six months, even when the bus was outside the city limits at the time. Metro buses that enter the city and E Line trains are different: those claims go to LA Metro. Read more about claims against LA Metro.

Uber and Lyft Accidents Near the Pier and Downtown

Pickups and drop-offs cluster around the Pier, the Promenade, and the downtown hotels. In a rideshare case the first question is what the driver’s app was doing. Under Public Utilities Code 5433, coverage depends on the driver’s app status. SB 371, effective January 1, 2026, cut passenger UM/UIM coverage to $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident:

Driver status	Coverage
App off	The driver’s personal auto insurance only
App on, no ride accepted	$50,000 per person and $100,000 per incident for bodily injury, $30,000 property damage, plus a $200,000 excess policy
Ride accepted	$1,000,000 third-party liability when the rideshare driver is at fault
Passenger in the vehicle	Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage of $60,000 per person and $300,000 per incident

Pedestrian, Bicycle, and E-Scooter Injuries

Vehicle Code 21950 requires drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. Vehicle Code 21760 requires a driver passing a bicycle to leave at least three feet of clearance. Shared scooters and e-bikes operate here under a City program, and City rules prohibit riding them on sidewalks, the Third Street Promenade, the Pier Bridge, and Ocean Front Walk.

A scooter case starts with one question: what caused the fall? A driver, a defect in the device, or the street surface. If a pothole or broken pavement on a city street did it, the claim is against the City and the six-month deadline applies. Read more about e-scooter and micromobility accidents in Santa Monica and Los Angeles.

Slip and Fall and Premises Liability

Falls at hotels, restaurants, and stores turn on notice: whether the owner knew of the hazard or would have found it with reasonable inspection. Video is often overwritten within days, so we move fast to preserve it.

Ownership decides the rest. Santa Monica Place, at the base of the Promenade, is a privately owned mall. The Pier Bridge, built in 1939, is a City structure that the City is now replacing, and a contractor that controls the work zone may also be a defendant. A fall caused by a dangerous condition of public property falls under Government Code 835, and the claim goes to the public entity that owns or controls it. Read more about slip and fall claims and what a premises liability case involves.

Dog Bites

Civil Code 3342 makes a dog owner strictly liable for a bite in a public place or while you are lawfully on private property, even if the dog never bit anyone before. Compensation usually comes from the owner’s homeowners or renters insurance, and we include future scar treatment when we value the claim. Read more about dog bite claims.

Claims Against the City of Santa Monica, Big Blue Bus, and Other Agencies: The Six-Month Rule

The six-month claim. Under Government Code 911.2, a written claim for injury must be presented to the public entity within six months of the incident. The City of Santa Monica prints that deadline at the top of its own form, along with a warning to be sure the claim is against Santa Monica and not another public or private entity.

Where a Santa Monica claim goes. The City’s form, titled “Claim Against the City of Santa Monica,” states that completed claims must be mailed or delivered to the City Clerk, City of Santa Monica, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401, and that faxed claims are not accepted. The City’s Risk Management division adjusts liability claims filed against the City. We prepare and present the claim for you.

What happens next. The agency generally has 45 days to act (Government Code 912.4). If it rejects the claim in writing, a lawsuit generally must be filed within six months of that notice (Government Code 945.6). If the first six months has already passed, Government Code 911.4 allows an application to present a late claim within one year of the injury. Relief is not automatic.

Which agency. As your Santa Monica injury attorney in a public-entity case, we identify the right entity before anything is filed:

City of Santa Monica: Big Blue Bus, city vehicles, the Santa Monica Police Department, city streets, sidewalks, parks, the Pier Bridge, and other city property.
LA Metro: the E Line, its stations, and Metro buses.
State of California: PCH, the I-10, and their ramps. Caltrans takes claims of $12,500 or less at its district claims office. Claims over $12,500 go to the state’s Government Claims Program at the Department of General Services.
Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District: school campuses and school transportation.
City of Los Angeles: the streets just past the city limit. One block can change which city you claim against.

Punitive damages are not available against a public entity (Government Code 818). For an injured child, the two-year deadline is generally tolled until age 18 under Code of Civil Procedure 352, but the six-month claim is not paused. Late-claim relief may be available for a minor under Government Code 911.4 and 911.6, but do not rely on it.

Santa Monica Personal Injury Attorney for Catastrophic Injury Cases

A pedestrian struck on Wilshire or a cyclist hit on PCH has no protection. The injuries are often permanent: traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, multiple fractures, amputation, internal injuries. A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury, and “mild” describes the first scan, not what the months after it can look like.

We value these cases on what the injury will cost over a lifetime. That means a life-care plan for future surgery, therapy, equipment, and help at home, a lost earning capacity analysis that measures a career, and treating specialists who can explain the prognosis. An early offer made before your long-term outlook is known rarely accounts for those costs.

Santa Monica Personal Injury Attorney: What Your Claim Can Recover

California law divides compensation into two kinds of compensatory damages:

Economic damages: medical bills past and future, rehabilitation, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and property damage.
Non-economic damages: physical pain, emotional distress, scarring and disfigurement, and the loss of the activities that made up your life before the injury.

Punitive damages are separate. Civil Code 3294 requires clear and convincing evidence of malice, oppression, or fraud, and they cannot be recovered from a public entity. Value depends on the severity and permanence of the injury, future care, earning capacity, fault, and the insurance available. We will not quote you a number on the first call. Read more about economic and non-economic damages.

California Deadlines for a Santa Monica Injury Claim

Claim	Deadline	Authority
Personal injury lawsuit	Generally 2 years from the injury	Code of Civil Procedure 335.1
Claim against the City of Santa Monica, Big Blue Bus, LA Metro, a school district, or the State	6 months from the injury	Government Code 911.2
Lawsuit after a written claim rejection	6 months from the notice	Government Code 945.6
Application to present a late claim	Within 1 year of the injury	Government Code 911.4
Injured minor	2-year deadline generally tolled until 18; the 6-month claim is not paused	Code of Civil Procedure 352

See the full guide to California personal injury time limits.

The Court That Hears Santa Monica Injury Cases

Lawsuits over injuries in Santa Monica are filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The court’s West District sits at the Santa Monica Courthouse, 1725 Main Street, a few doors from the City Clerk’s office, along with the Beverly Hills and Airport courthouses. Under the court’s Local Rule 2.3, one of the factors that decides where a case is filed is the district where the injury occurred. The court states that since October 10, 2022, newly filed unlimited civil personal injury cases are assigned within their own districts rather than to the former personal injury hub courtrooms. We confirm the filing courthouse with the court’s Filing Court Locator and handle that step for you.

Firm Results

A Santa Monica personal injury lawyer should be able to show real outcomes. These are settlements and verdicts obtained for Ravan Law clients. They are firm results from across the practice, not from this city.

Recovery	Case type
$6,000,000	Premises liability
$3,500,000	Motor vehicle accident with a county vehicle
$1,700,000	Premises liability
$500,000	Motor vehicle accident
$275,000	Bus accident

Every result depended on the facts of that case, and results will differ based on different facts. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the outcome of your matter.

Talk to a Personal Injury Lawyer in Santa Monica Today

If you were seriously hurt in Santa Monica and a Big Blue Bus, a city vehicle, a broken sidewalk, the E Line, or a state highway is involved, the six-month claim under Government Code 911.2 is already running.

Call Ravan Law at (424) 465-2500 for a free consultation. We will listen to what happened, tell you which agency and which deadline apply, and explain how we can help. No fee unless we win.

6310 San Vicente Blvd., Suite 401, Los Angeles, CA 90048

Attorney Advertising. Ted H. Ravan, Esq., Ravan Law, Los Angeles, CA. This content is general information, not legal advice. Every case depends on its specific facts.

Every result depended on the facts of that case, and results will differ based on different facts. Past results do not guarantee, warrant, or predict the outcome of your matter.

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What Our Clients Are Saying

    
 
 
         
   Terri Smith 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Great communication from start to finish. I’d recommend at least giving him a call, explaining your situation, and asking a few questions or setting up a consultation. Ted Ravan is a great attorney and has already helped me with two cases, both very successfully.
  
 
        
   Arianna Vincent 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Ted Ravan is a very knowledgeable and experienced attorney. I’m really glad I found him because I needed help obtaining compensation after being hit in a traffic accident, and the case was complicated due to certain issues. In the end, everything was resolved successfully.
  
 
        
   Dennis Langford 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. The best law firm. They helped me with a case that seemed very difficult to get any accident compensation from, but they managed to secure a very favorable outcome. Thank you!
  
 
        
   Florence Addis 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Ravan Law went above and beyond for me. They were always available, kept me updated, and handled everything with professionalism. The settlement outcome was fantastic. Highly recommend their services to anyone looking for strong legal representation.
  
 
        
   Ruth Gardiner 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I’m very impressed with the service I received from Ravan Law. They were professional, responsive, and achieved a great settlement for my case. I felt supported the entire time. I highly recommend them.
  
 
        
   Angelica Orozco 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. We had a great experience working with Raven Law. Their office helped settle our case for the maximum possible outcome, and we truly felt supported throughout the entire process. All of our questions were answered promptly and clearly, which made a stressful situation much easier to navigate. The team was professional, knowledgeable, and attentive to our needs from start to finish. We are very grateful for their hard work and would absolutely recommend this law office to family and friends.,
  
 
        
   suraj chachale 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. I had an ongoing medical emergency and was fortunate to have Attorney Cesar from Ravan Law by my side. He was extremely supportive, professional, and attentive throughout the entire process. His guidance and follow-up made a stressful situation much easier to handle. I highly recommend Cesar and Ravan Law for anyone seeking reliable and compassionate legal assistance.
  
 
        
   Diana Castaneda 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Ravan Law is the Best! If you are usually hesitant or nervous about lawyers, No Worries! Ted and his team have been nothing, but amazing! They removed liability from an accident that was not my fault, and closely assisted me through out the rest of the process! I highly recommend them! Thank you Ravan Law always appreciate all your hard work! <333
  
 
        
   Zack Nosrati 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Thank you so much to everyone for helping me with my case and my settlement! I could not have won my uber case without you!
  
 
        
   Franklin X 
 
 
 
 Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. Son muy dedicados te acompañan en todo el proseso y están pendiente de tu caso eso me gusta de una firma puedo decir que ellos tienen un nuevo cliente
  
 
  
 
  
 
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Frequently Asked Questions

Where do I file a claim against the City of Santa Monica?

The City's claim form directs completed claims to the City Clerk at 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401, by mail or delivery. The City does not accept faxed claims. A claim for personal injury must be presented within six months under Government Code 911.2.

I was hurt on a Big Blue Bus. Is that a claim against the City?

Yes. Big Blue Bus is a department of the City of Santa Monica, so the claim is presented to the City, and the form has a section for the bus number, line number, and operator badge number. The six-month deadline applies whether you were a passenger, a pedestrian, or in another vehicle.

My crash was on PCH. Is that the City or the State?

Pacific Coast Highway is State Route 1, a state highway. A claim based on the road's design or condition is against the State and must be presented within six months. Caltrans takes claims of $12,500 or less at its district claims office, and claims over $12,500 go to the Government Claims Program.