Filing a Government Claim Against the City of Los Angeles: Step by Step

Key Takeaways

• The filing office is the City Clerk, not the City Attorney. All claims for money damages go to the Los Angeles City Clerk Claims Department at 200 North Spring Street, Room 395, City Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Submitting to the City Attorney or any other office does not count.
• The deadline is six months for personal injury or wrongful death claims under California Government Code §911.2, measured from the date of the incident. Property damage claims get one year.
• Three filing options: online at claims.lacity.org, in person at City Hall Room 395, or by mail to the same address. Faxed and emailed claims are not accepted.
• The City has 45 days to respond. If no action is taken within 45 days, the claim is deemed rejected by operation of law under Los Angeles Charter §350(b) and California Government Code §912.4.
• After rejection, a lawsuit must be filed within six months under Government Code §945.6. Miss that window and the case is generally barred, regardless of injury severity.

What Does Filing a Claim Against the City of Los Angeles Mean?

Filing a claim against the City of Los Angeles is not the same as filing a lawsuit. A government claim is a formal written notice presented to the City before a lawsuit can be filed. Under California Government Code §911.2, no one can sue the City of Los Angeles for money damages without first submitting a properly-filed claim to the City Clerk and receiving a rejection (or waiting for a deemed rejection after 45 days).

Filing a claim against the City of Los Angeles applies to any personal injury or property damage caused by the City or its employees acting within the scope of employment. Examples: a fall on a broken sidewalk maintained by the City, a crash caused by a malfunctioning traffic signal, a collision involving an LAPD vehicle, a slip in a public library. The claim requirement is a mandatory prerequisite. Skip it, and any later lawsuit is generally barred.

Where Do I File a Claim Against the City of Los Angeles? (Filing Location)

With the Los Angeles City Clerk Claims Department. Not the City Attorney. Not any other city, county, or federal office. The City Attorney’s Office cannot accept new claims and will not forward them.

The correct filing address:

Los Angeles City Clerk Claims Department 200 North Spring Street, Room 395, City Hall Los Angeles, CA 90012

Three filing methods are accepted:

• Online at https://claims.lacity.org/
• In person at the City Clerk’s office in Room 395 of City Hall
• By mail to the address above

Faxed and emailed claims will not be accepted. This is stated directly on the current City of Los Angeles Claim for Damages Form. Any claim delivered by fax or email is treated as unfiled.

Once the claim is filed, the City Clerk issues a claim number and transfers the file to the City Attorney’s Office for handling. A claims investigator or adjuster is assigned to review the case. There is no need to submit duplicate claims for the same incident.

What Is the Deadline to File a Claim Against the City of LA?

Six months from the date of the incident for personal injury and wrongful death claims, under California Government Code §911.2(a). One year for property damage claims. This is confirmed both by state law and by Los Angeles Charter §350(a).

The six-month clock is counted from the date the incident occurred, not from the date medical treatment ended, not from the date an attorney was retained, and not from the date the injury was fully diagnosed. Under §911.2, the deadline is calculated from “the accrual of the cause of action,” which for a physical injury generally means the date of the accident.

The two-year statute of limitations for ordinary personal injury under California Code of Civil Procedure §335.1 does not apply as the primary deadline when a government entity is involved. Filing within two years is not enough. The six-month claim deadline runs first, and missing it generally bars the case against the City permanently.

If the six-month deadline is missed, Government Code §911.4 allows a late-claim application within one year of the injury. The application must state the reason for delay and attach the proposed claim. Approval is discretionary under Government Code §911.6 and is generally limited to mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. Simply being unaware of the deadline is generally not enough.

What Does the Claim Form Actually Require?

The City of Los Angeles Claim for Damages form covers six substantive areas plus a signature block: claimant identity, factual allegations, witnesses and involved City parties, damages, insurance, and an accident diagram. Every field marked with an asterisk is mandatory under California Government Code §910. Under Government Code §910.8, a claim missing any mandatory element can be returned as insufficient, with the six-month deadline continuing to run against the claimant.

Reading the form makes it look like a fillable questionnaire. It is not. Each substantive section carries specific legal consequences if drafted poorly.

• The factual allegations section determines whether the City can even understand what happened at the scene. A vague description like “fell on a sidewalk” gives the City an easy path to claim it cannot investigate. The description has to identify the condition, the mechanism of injury, and the City conduct (or failure to act) that caused it. That is a legal characterization, not a narrative.
• The “why is the City of Los Angeles responsible” element is where most self-filed claims collapse. Answering with “because it happened on a City street” is legally insufficient. The claim must connect the incident to a specific City act, omission, dangerous condition of public property under Government Code §835, or breach of duty. Missing this framing is one of the most common reasons a claim is rejected on the merits at the 45-day mark.
• The damages field is a procedural trap. Under §910, damages under 10,000 dollars must be stated as a specific dollar amount. Damages over 10,000 dollars must NOT include a specific number. Instead, the claim must indicate whether the case would be limited civil (35,000 dollars or less, per California Code of Civil Procedure §85 as amended by SB 71 effective January 1, 2024) or unlimited civil. Getting this rule backward can invalidate the claim as a matter of procedure, regardless of the underlying merits.
• The witnesses and involved parties section determines what evidence the City investigates and what it does not. Failing to identify specific City employees, vehicles, departments, or bureaus (when knowable) narrows what the City is required to look at during its 45-day review. Anything omitted is generally considered outside the claim.
• The accident diagram is treated by the City as part of the factual allegations. An imprecise or incomplete diagram becomes a factual admission the City can use against the claimant later.
• The signature block on page 2 must be signed under penalty of perjury. Presenting a false or fraudulent claim is a criminal offense under California Penal Code §72.

The lesson is not that the form is complicated. The lesson is that every substantive answer is a legal characterization the City will use to define, narrow, or defeat the claim. The claim-drafting stage is where cases are most often lost, not the eventual lawsuit.

What Happens After the Claim Is Filed?

Once the City Clerk receives the claim, three things happen in sequence.

Within days: the City Clerk assigns a claim number and transfers the file to the City Attorney’s Office. A claims investigator or adjuster is assigned.

Within 45 days: the City must approve or reject the claim in writing under Government Code §912.4 and Los Angeles Charter §350(b). If the City takes no action within 45 days, the claim is deemed rejected by operation of law. No formal rejection letter is required. The 45-day period can be extended by written agreement between the claimant and the City.

After rejection (formal or deemed): the claimant has six months to file a lawsuit under Government Code §945.6(a)(1). The six-month clock starts on the date the rejection notice is personally delivered or deposited in the mail. If the City fails to send a proper written rejection notice, the lawsuit deadline extends to two years from the date of injury under §945.6(a)(2), but relying on this longer window is risky because proving that the City never sent notice can become a factual dispute.

The vast majority of government tort claims are rejected. Rejection is procedural, not a judgment on the merits. It is the step that opens the door to filing suit in California Superior Court.

What Are the Common Errors That Void a Claim?

The claim requirement is unforgiving. Errors that seem small can end the case entirely. The most common failure points:

• Filing with the wrong office. Sending the claim to the City Attorney, LAPD, a Council member, or any other City office does not count. The claim must go to the City Clerk. The wrong office has no obligation to forward it, and the six-month clock keeps running.
• Filing by fax or email. The form states clearly that faxed and emailed claims will not be accepted. A claim sent by fax or email is treated as unfiled.
• Missing the six-month deadline. Even by one day. Late-claim relief under §911.4 is discretionary and generally limited to specific grounds. Unawareness of the deadline is not one of them.
• Filing against the wrong entity. The City of Los Angeles is not the same as the County of Los Angeles, LA Metro (LACMTA), LAUSD, or Caltrans. Each is a separate public entity with its own claim procedure. Filing against the wrong one does not stop the clock against the correct one.
• Insufficient factual detail. A general description of what happened is not enough. The claim must identify the specific dangerous condition or City conduct that caused the injury. Vague claims are returned as insufficient under §910.8.
• Failure to allege City responsibility. The claim must state the specific act, omission, or dangerous condition attributable to the City. Filing a claim that only describes the injury, without connecting it to a specific City breach, gives the City a straightforward path to rejection.
• The damages format trap. Under §910, damages under 10,000 dollars require a specific number; damages over 10,000 dollars require a limited/unlimited civil designation instead. Reversing the two is a procedural defect.
• Failing to sign. The signature block is on page 2 of the form under penalty of perjury. An unsigned claim is not a claim.
• Missing the lawsuit deadline after rejection. Six months after rejection under §945.6(a)(1) is a hard deadline. It runs regardless of ongoing medical treatment or settlement discussions.

Any one of these is enough to defeat the claim. The claim-filing stage is where most cases against the City of Los Angeles are actually lost, not at trial.

What If a Public Entity Other Than the City Is Also Involved?

Many claims involve more than one public entity. A crash on a street where both the City and Caltrans share maintenance responsibility. An incident at a public school where LAUSD, the City, and the County may all bear some responsibility. A collision involving a public bus and a City-owned vehicle.

Each public entity is a separate defendant with its own claim procedure. The six-month deadline runs simultaneously against each of them. Filing with the City of Los Angeles does not preserve a claim against the County, LA Metro (LACMTA), LAUSD, Caltrans, or any other public entity. A separate claim is required for each.

Identifying every potentially responsible entity early is critical. For more on how the Government Claims Act works across California, see Ravan Law’s guide on what to do if you have been injured due to a government entity. For the deadlines that apply to ordinary personal injury claims where no public entity is involved, see the California Personal Injury Time Limits resource page.

Talk to a Los Angeles Injury Attorney Before Your Deadline Passes

The six-month deadline under California Government Code §911.2 is the single most important date in any claim against the City of Los Angeles. Once it passes, no severity of injury, no clarity of fault, and no amount of documentation can revive the case.

When it comes to filing a claim against the City of Los Angeles correctly and on time, the details matter. At Ravan Law, government tort claims are a core part of the practice, not an occasional matter. Attorney Ted Ravan handles every case personally, because the six-month deadline under §911.2 and the drafting standards under §910 are exactly what other firms miss and clients pay for. If the case involves a City of Los Angeles vehicle, employee, sidewalk, roadway, or property, call Ravan Law today at (424) 465-2500 or book a free consultation. The sooner the claim is filed, the sooner the City is required to respond.