The legal clock
The California statute of limitations allows up to two years from the crash for most injury claims. Three big exceptions compress it: government claims (a city vehicle, a dangerous public road) require a formal claim within six months; minors' claims have their own tolling rules; and UM/hit-and-run claims carry policy deadlines that can be far shorter than the statute. If any of those might apply to you, the two-year comfort is an illusion.
The evidence clock (the one that actually matters)
Retail and intersection cameras on the Foothill, Haven, and Victoria Gardens corridors overwrite in days to weeks. Skid marks fade with the first street sweeping. Vehicles get repaired or scrapped — taking their crush evidence and event-data recorders with them. Witnesses' memories soften and their phone numbers change. None of this waits for you to feel ready.
What each period looks like
- Week 1: everything preservable is preserved — the best version of your case exists now.
- Month 1: still strong; footage may be gone, but reports, witnesses, and records hold.
- Months 2–12: workable — attorneys rebuild from records constantly — but rebuilt is never as good as preserved.
- Month 23: a scramble to file, with whatever survived.
Hypothetically: a driver T-boned near Victoria Gardens in September calls in October of the following year. The claim is alive — and the mall footage that showed the red-light run has been gone for eleven months.
The cost of waiting is not the fee
Waiting doesn't save money — the contingency fee is the same whether you call in week one or month twenty. What changes is what the fee buys: a preserved case versus a reconstructed one. Start with the first-24-hours checklist, then make the free call while the evidence still exists.
