Personal Injury Lawyer Long Beach

Long Beach Personal Injury Attorney

A serious injury changes everything in a moment. The bills start, the work stops, and an insurance company is already looking for reasons to pay you less. If you need a Long Beach personal injury lawyer, Ravan Law represents people seriously hurt on Long Beach freeways, port roads, city streets, and public property. This page covers the roads where serious crashes happen, the agencies your claim may go to, the deadlines, and how compensation is valued.

We represent clients in Long Beach from our Los Angeles office, and consultations are available by phone or video. If you are looking for a personal injury lawyer in Long Beach, call (424) 465-2500 for a free consultation. You work with us directly, and we answer your questions at every stage. Information is available in Spanish.

Why a Long Beach Personal Injury Lawyer Starts With the Deadline

Many Long Beach injuries involve a public entity. A Long Beach Transit bus, a Port of Long Beach vehicle, a broken city sidewalk, a Caltrans freeway: each one puts a six-month government claim deadline on your case before any lawsuit can be filed. As your Long Beach personal injury lawyer, we ask about that deadline in our first conversation with you, because it is the one most often missed.

These cases are personal to us. Ted H. Ravan went into injury law after his grandfather was in a near-fatal incident involving a city-operated bus. That is why our firm takes on public-agency claims, and why they have been central to our work ever since.

Contingency fee. No fee unless we win, and the free consultation costs you nothing.
Direct contact. You work with us directly, and we keep you updated from the first call to the final result.
First-year record. In his first year of practice, attorney Ted H. Ravan obtained more than $1 million for his clients. Read more about attorney Ted H. Ravan.

Where Serious Crashes Happen: What a Long Beach Accident Attorney Should Know

Serious crashes in Long Beach cluster on a few roads:

I-710 (the Long Beach Freeway), the main truck route north out of the port.
I-405 (the San Diego Freeway) across the city, mixing commuters and freight.
SR-91 (the Artesia Freeway) through north Long Beach.
SR-1, Pacific Coast Highway, a state highway through the middle of the city with heavy pedestrian and cyclist traffic.
Ocean Boulevard, the downtown and waterfront arterial that connects to the Long Beach International Gateway bridge, which opened in October 2020 and links Terminal Island to downtown.
The Metro A Line, running between Long Beach and Pomona, with a downtown Long Beach loop.

The freeways, the bridge approach, and PCH are state highways under Caltrans District 7, which covers Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Local streets belong to the City of Long Beach. Where you were hurt decides who we hold responsible.

The City of Long Beach’s Safe Streets Long Beach data for 2013 to 2017 found that pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists were involved in 14 percent of collisions but made up 65 percent of people killed or seriously injured.

Long Beach Personal Injury Cases We Handle

Each case type below has its own rules. As your Long Beach personal injury lawyer, we sort your case into the right track first, so nothing is filed late or with the wrong party. See every claim type the firm handles.

Truck Accidents: Why a Long Beach Truck Accident Lawyer Starts at the Port

The Port of Long Beach is one of the nation’s busiest container ports, and the trucks that serve it share the I-710, Ocean Boulevard, and the city’s truck routes with ordinary traffic. When we act as your Long Beach commercial truck accident lawyer after a big-rig crash, we are dealing with a different kind of case than a car collision.

More than one company may be liable. Port trucking is drayage: short-haul moves of containers between terminals, rail yards, and warehouses. The driver may work for a small motor carrier, haul a container booked through a broker, and pull a chassis supplied by an intermodal equipment provider. Each may carry its own insurance and its own share of fault, so one settlement can involve several insurers. Under Proposition 51 (Civil Code 1431.2), each defendant pays non-economic damages only in proportion to its own fault, so we go after every responsible company.

The federal rules create evidence. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations govern hours of service, electronic logging device (ELD) data, driver qualification files, drug and alcohol testing, and inspection and maintenance records. As your Long Beach truck accident lawyer, we send preservation letters in the first days, because ELD and onboard data can be overwritten.

The insurance is larger. For-hire interstate carriers hauling general freight must carry at least $750,000 in liability coverage under federal rules. That matters when your injury is catastrophic and the compensation has to cover a lifetime of care.

Some port crashes are government claims. The Port of Long Beach is the City of Long Beach’s Harbor Department, managed under the Board of Harbor Commissioners. A crash with a Port-owned vehicle, or an injury caused by a dangerous condition on Port property, is a claim against the City of Long Beach, and the six-month deadline applies. A truck crash caused by a defect on the I-710 or the bridge points to the State of California, whose highways Caltrans maintains.

Car Accidents: What a Long Beach Accident Lawyer Looks For

Rear-end crashes on the I-405 and T-bone and left-turn collisions on PCH and Long Beach Boulevard are common. California’s pure comparative fault rule lets you recover even when you were partly at fault, reduced by that share: 20 percent at fault on a $200,000 claim recovers $160,000. As your Long Beach car accident attorney, we secure the collision report and video before the insurer makes a settlement offer. LBPD investigates crashes on city streets; the California Highway Patrol (CHP) handles the freeways.

SB 1107 raised California’s minimum liability limits to $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident, effective January 1, 2025. Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage often fills the gap in compensation, and we check every policy that may apply.

Long Beach car accident lawyer: read more about car accident claims, our main Los Angeles car accident page, and who is at fault in a car accident.

Uber and Lyft Accidents

Long Beach Airport and the downtown hotels generate steady rideshare traffic. In a rideshare case, we first identify which coverage phase applied. 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

That UM/UIM figure applies from the moment a passenger enters the vehicle until they exit, and it can cap the compensation available when an uninsured driver hits the rideshare car. Read more about Uber and Lyft claims. See our Long Beach Uber accident attorney page.

Dog Bites

Civil Code 3342 makes an owner strictly liable for a bite in a public place or while the victim is lawfully on private property. The rule has limits: it does not cover trespassers, Civil Code 3342(b) and (c) exempt police and military dogs in defined situations, and courts generally treat veterinary professionals as having assumed the risk. A bite by a police K-9 outside that exemption can be a claim against the public entity, with a six-month deadline. Otherwise, the settlement is usually paid by the owner’s homeowners or renters insurance. When we value a bite claim, we include the scar treatment a child may need years later. Read more about dog bite claims. See our Long Beach dog bite attorney page.

Slip and Fall and Premises Liability

Premises cases turn on notice, and it is the first thing we set out to prove: whether the owner knew of the hazard or would have found it through reasonable inspection. Store, hotel, and apartment video is often overwritten within days, which weakens any settlement demand, so we move to preserve it quickly. A fall on a broken public sidewalk, in a city park, or on another city property falls under Government Code 835, and responsibility for a sidewalk can rest with the City, the adjacent owner, or both. Read more about slip and fall claims. See our Long Beach slip and fall lawyer page and our Long Beach sidewalk accident lawyer page.

Claims Against the City of Long Beach, Long Beach Transit, and Other Agencies: The Six-Month Rule

The City of Long Beach is its own public entity, with its own claim process, separate from the City of Los Angeles. A claim filed with the wrong city does not stop the clock. These claims have strict rules and a six-month deadline, and we take them on.

The six-month claim. Before suing a public entity, a written claim must be presented to that entity within six months of the injury, under Government Code 911.2. This is separate from the two-year statute of limitations (Code of Civil Procedure 335.1), and the two-year deadline does not extend it. Missing it can permanently bar compensation from that agency.

What happens next. The agency generally has 45 days to act (Government Code 912.4). If it sends a written rejection, the lawsuit generally must be filed within six months of that notice (Government Code 945.6). If no written notice is sent, the deadline is generally two years from the injury. If the six months has already passed, Government Code 911.4 allows an application to present a late claim within a reasonable time, not to exceed one year from the injury; relief is not automatic.

Which agency. As your Long Beach injury attorney for these claims, we identify the right entity and the form it requires:

City of Long Beach: city vehicles, LBPD, city streets, sidewalks, and parks, and the Port of Long Beach (the City’s Harbor Department).
Long Beach Transit: the city’s bus system, a separately incorporated agency. Confirm the claim recipient early and treat the six-month deadline as running.
LA Metro: the A Line and Metro buses.
Los Angeles County: county vehicles and county property.
Long Beach Unified School District: school buses and campuses.
State of California (Caltrans): the I-710, I-405, SR-91, PCH, and the Gateway bridge.

Punitive damages are not available against a public entity (Government Code 818). A minor’s statute of limitations is generally tolled until age 18 under Code of Civil Procedure 352, but that tolling does not pause the six-month claim. A child hurt by a school bus still needs a claim within six months. A late-claim application may be available for a child under Government Code 911.4 and 911.6, but it has its own one-year limit.

Long Beach Personal Injury Attorney for Catastrophic Injury Cases

A loaded truck on the I-710 or a car striking a pedestrian on PCH often causes injuries that last a lifetime: traumatic brain injury (TBI), spinal cord injury with paralysis, multiple fractures, amputation, or internal organ damage. A concussion is a mild TBI, and its effects can appear days after a normal first scan.

These cases are valued differently from a typical personal injury claim: on the full lifetime cost, not the bills already paid. As your Long Beach injury lawyer, we build them on:

A life-care plan projecting future surgery, therapy, equipment, and in-home help over the person’s life expectancy.
Lost earning capacity, measured over a working life rather than a few missed paychecks.
Treating specialists who can explain the prognosis to a jury.

A settlement offered before the long-term prognosis is known rarely accounts for any of this. Your compensation has to cover decades of care, not months, and that is the case we build.

Long Beach Personal Injury Attorney: Damages and What a Case Is Worth

Compensation in a California personal injury claim falls into two categories of compensatory damages:

Economic damages: past and future medical care, rehabilitation, in-home care, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and property damage.
Non-economic damages: pain, emotional distress, disfigurement, and the loss of the life you had before the injury.

Punitive damages are separate. They are not compensation for a loss. Under Civil Code 3294 they require clear and convincing evidence of malice, oppression, or fraud, and they are not available against a public entity.

As your Long Beach personal injury attorney, we value your case on the severity and permanence of the injury, future care, earning capacity, clarity of fault, and the insurance available. We will not quote you a settlement figure on the first call, and no honest lawyer would. Many cases resolve by settlement once the insurer has the records, wage loss, and future care projections; others go to mediation or trial.

Firm Results

These are settlements and verdicts obtained for Ravan Law clients. They are firm results, not results from Long Beach cases.

Recovery	Case type
$3,500,000	Motor vehicle accident with a county vehicle
$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.

California Deadlines for a Long Beach Injury Claim

Claim	Deadline	Authority
Personal injury lawsuit	Generally 2 years from the injury	Code of Civil Procedure 335.1
Claim against a public entity	6 months from the injury	Government Code 911.2
Lawsuit after written claim rejection	6 months from the notice	Government Code 945.6
Late-claim application	Within a reasonable time, not to exceed 1 year from the injury	Government Code 911.4
Injured minor	Tolled until 18; does not pause the 6-month claim	Code of Civil Procedure 352

If a lawsuit is needed, we file it in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The court’s Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse in downtown Long Beach serves its South District and hears civil cases, and the court assigns each personal injury case to a courthouse. If you hire a personal injury attorney in Long Beach or Los Angeles, ask how venue will be handled. See the full guide to California personal injury time limits.

Choosing a Long Beach Personal Injury Law Firm

Many people look first for a Long Beach personal injury law firm with a storefront nearby. The question that matters more is how your case will be handled. Ask any personal injury lawyer in Long Beach you are considering: who will keep me updated? What is my six-month deadline? How will you value future care? We answer all three in your first conversation with us, and we keep answering your questions until your case is resolved. Return to the Ravan Law homepage.

Talk to a Long Beach Personal Injury Lawyer Today

If you or someone in your family was seriously hurt in Long Beach, the clock is already running. If a city vehicle, a Long Beach Transit bus, a Port vehicle, or a state highway was involved, the six-month claim under Government Code 911.2 started on the day of the injury. Truck data and store video can be gone in days.

Call Ravan Law at (424) 465-2500 for a free consultation. We will listen, explain your deadlines, and tell you 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 
 
 
 
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   Florence Addis 
 
 
 
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 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.
  
 
        
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 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
  
 
        
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 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!
  
 
        
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Frequently Asked Questions

How long do I have to file a truck accident claim in California?

Generally two years from the injury to file a lawsuit, under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1. If a public entity is involved, such as a Port of Long Beach vehicle or a Caltrans road defect, a government claim must be presented within six months under Government Code 911.2.

Do I need a Long Beach truck accident lawyer, or will the trucking company's insurer treat me fairly?

The carrier's insurer represents the carrier, not you. As your Long Beach truck accident lawyer, we preserve ELD data and identify every company that may share fault, including brokers and equipment providers.

What does a personal injury attorney cost?

We work on contingency: no fee unless we win, and the free consultation costs you nothing. The fee is a percentage of the settlement or verdict, agreed in writing before work begins.

Do I have to report a Long Beach car accident?

Under Vehicle Code 20008, a crash causing injury or death must be reported to CHP or the local police within 24 hours. A separate SR-1 report must go to the DMV within 10 days if anyone was injured or killed or property damage exceeded $1,000.

Should I accept the insurer's first settlement offer?

Not before your long-term medical picture is known. Once you sign a release, the claim is over, and compensation for future care goes with it. We can tell you whether the offer reflects your full claim before you sign anything.

What if I was partly at fault?

California's pure comparative fault rule lets you recover, reduced by your share. As your Long Beach accident attorney, we build the fault evidence early.