Long Beach Sidewalk Accident Lawyer
Sidewalk Accident Attorney Long Beach
You caught your foot on a lifted sidewalk slab, or a city truck or a Long Beach Transit bus hit you, and the injury is serious. You have probably heard that you have two years. Against a public agency, you have six months to take the first step, and that step is different for each agency in Long Beach.
As your Long Beach sidewalk accident lawyer, we start with two questions: which public entity is responsible, and what date is six months from your injury. These claims have strict rules and a six-month deadline, and we take them on.
We prepare and file Long Beach claims from our Los Angeles office on San Vicente Boulevard, and you can meet with us by phone or video. Call (424) 465-2500 for a free consultation. No fee unless we win.
Sidewalk Injury Lawyer Long Beach: Who Owns the Ground Where You Fell
Long Beach is its own city, separate from the City of Los Angeles, and several public entities control ground inside it:
- City sidewalks and streets. The Long Beach Public Works Department maintains the City’s sidewalks.
- Parks, beach facilities, the airport, and the Port. The City operates all of them. The Port of Long Beach is the City’s Harbor Department.
- Metro A Line stations and platforms (Wardlow, Willow Street, Pacific Coast Highway, Anaheim Street, 5th Street, 1st Street, Downtown Long Beach, and Pacific Avenue): LA Metro.
- Freeways and state highways (the I-710, I-405, SR-91, Pacific Coast Highway, and the Long Beach International Gateway bridge): the State of California through Caltrans.
- School campuses: Long Beach Unified School District.
Most people expect the adjacent property owner to be responsible. Usually it is not. Streets and Highways Code 5610 requires owners fronting a public street to maintain the sidewalk, but under Williams v. Foster (1989) that duty runs to the city, not to the pedestrian who falls. An owner is generally liable to you only if the owner created the defect, altered or used the sidewalk for its own benefit, or controlled it.
Proving a Dangerous Condition on a Long Beach Sidewalk
Under Government Code 835, the City is liable when its property was in a dangerous condition, the condition caused your injury and created a foreseeable risk of that kind of injury, and the City either created the condition or had notice of it in time to fix it or warn.
Notice is where these cases are decided. Long Beach gives residents specific ways to report sidewalk damage: the Public Works line at (562) 570-2700, option 2, the GO Long Beach app, and the Go Long Beach website. If a neighbor reported the same lifted panel months before you fell, that record is proof the City knew. If nobody reported it, Government Code 835.2 still allows constructive notice where the defect was obvious and had been there long enough.
The City will raise the trivial defect rule. Under Government Code 830.2, a condition is not dangerous if its risk is minor or insignificant, and courts have treated height differences of around three-quarters of an inch or less as trivial unless poor lighting, a jagged edge, or hidden debris made the spot hazardous (Fielder v. City of Glendale (1977); Stathoulis v. City of Montebello (2008)). Photograph the defect with something for scale before it is patched.
For more on ownership and notice, see our guide to city sidewalk injuries and who is liable. Falls inside private buildings are covered on our slip and fall page.
Where a Long Beach Government Claim Is Filed: Agency by Agency
Government Code 911.2 gives you six months to present a written claim to the entity that is actually responsible. A claim sent to the wrong one protects nothing.
| Who is responsible | Typical cases | Where the claim goes |
|---|---|---|
| City of Long Beach | Sidewalks, streets, parks, city vehicles, LBPD, the airport, the Port (Harbor Department) | City Clerk, 411 West Ocean Boulevard, Long Beach: online form, mail, or in person |
| Long Beach Transit | City bus crashes and passenger injuries | Long Beach Transit, a separately incorporated agency with administrative offices at 1963 East Anaheim Street |
| LA Metro | A Line trains, stations, and Metro buses | Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, One Gateway Plaza, Los Angeles |
| Los Angeles County | County vehicles and county buildings | Executive Officer, Board of Supervisors, Attention: Claims, 500 West Temple Street, Room 383, Los Angeles |
| Long Beach Unified School District | Campus injuries and school bus crashes | LBUSD Risk Management, 1515 Hughes Way, Long Beach, on the district’s Claims for Damages Form |
| State of California | Caltrans freeways, PCH, the Gateway bridge, state vehicles | Caltrans district claims office for claims of $12,500 or less; the Department of General Services Government Claims Program for claims over $12,500 |
The City of Long Beach. Once the City Clerk receives a claim, it is transferred to the Office of the City Attorney, and a liability claims adjuster is assigned to investigate. Reporting a hazard to Public Works is not the same as presenting a claim to the City Clerk.
Long Beach Transit. The bus system is not a city department, so we do not assume a City claim covers it. We confirm where the claim must be presented. As a common carrier, a bus operator owes its passengers the utmost care and diligence under Civil Code 2100. The claim should give the route, direction, stop, and time so the bus video can be found.
LA Metro and the State. Each has its own process. See our guides to filing a claim against LA Metro and claims against Caltrans and the State after a highway crash.
Public vehicles. Under Vehicle Code 17001, a public entity is liable for an employee’s negligent driving on the job, whether the vehicle is a city truck, a Port vehicle, or a county car. A private contractor driving for an agency is not a public entity, and the two-year deadline applies to that company.
What the Claim Has to Say
Government Code 910 requires your name and address, the date, place, and circumstances of the incident, a description of the injury, and the amount. A claim for more than $10,000 must not state a dollar figure, only whether the case would be a limited or unlimited civil case. If a claim is deficient, the entity can send a notice of insufficiency under Government Code 910.8, and the six months keep running while it is corrected.
What a Claim Against a Long Beach Public Agency Can Recover
Compensation from a public entity covers economic losses (medical care, future care, lost wages, lost earning capacity) and non-economic losses (pain, emotional distress, loss of independence). Punitive damages are not available under Government Code 818. If the City argues you should have seen the defect, pure comparative fault reduces the recovery by your share and does not end the claim.
Deadlines for a Long Beach Government Claim
| Step | Deadline | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Present the written claim | 6 months from the injury | Government Code 911.2 |
| Agency acts on the claim | 45 days; silence is treated as a rejection | Government Code 912.4 |
| File suit after a written rejection | 6 months from the notice | Government Code 945.6 |
| Apply to present a late claim | Within a reasonable time, no later than 1 year from the injury | Government Code 911.4 |
| Injured child | The 6-month claim is not paused by age. Late-claim relief may be available | Government Code 911.4, 911.6 |
Our main government claims page explains each step in depth. Information is also available in Spanish: plazos para reclamos contra entidades públicas en California.
How We Handle a Government Claim for Clients in Long Beach
- Identify every entity. One incident can involve the City, a transit agency, and a private contractor together.
- Fix the date. We calendar six months from the injury on the first call.
- Secure the notice evidence: service request records, repair history, bus video, and witnesses.
- Present the claim to the correct office, with the content Government Code 910 requires.
- File suit where needed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The court’s Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse at 275 Magnolia Avenue in Long Beach hears civil cases, and the court assigns each personal injury case to a courthouse.
Our results against public entities and transit operators include:
| Recovery | Case type |
|---|---|
| $3,500,000 | Motor vehicle accident with a county vehicle |
| $275,000 | Bus accident |
They come from across our practice, not from Long Beach cases.
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.
For other injury claims, see our Long Beach personal injury page.
Talk to a Long Beach Sidewalk Accident Lawyer Before Six Months Pass
If you were seriously hurt on a Long Beach sidewalk, by a city or Port vehicle, on a Long Beach Transit or Metro bus, at an A Line station, or on a state highway, the six-month period under Government Code 911.2 began on the day of the injury. As your Long Beach sidewalk accident lawyer, we can tell you which agency is responsible and the date your claim is due.
Call Ravan Law at (424) 465-2500 for a free consultation. We will identify every public entity involved and prepare the claim with you. No fee unless we win. For other injuries, see our Long Beach pages on car accidents, truck accidents, Uber and Lyft accidents, slip and falls, and dog bites. You can also see all of our locations.
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.
