Law Firms in San Diego, CA

Hiring a lawyer in San Diego: what is different

The limitation period for a personal injury is two years, under section 335.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The rule that ends more California claims than any argument about fault is the other one: a claim against a public entity has to be presented in writing within six months under section 911.2 of the Government Code, and once it is rejected there are six months to sue rather than the remaining year.

California is also unusual in this directory for how it treats fault. Most states here bar recovery once a claimant is more than half to blame. California does not: under pure comparative fault a claimant ninety per cent responsible still recovers the other ten. That changes what a contested case is worth and it changes which cases a firm will take.

San Diego hears civil matters in its Superior Court, with the Hall of Justice downtown and branches in Vista, El Cajon and Chula Vista, and federal cases go to the Southern District of California.

Two things shape this market that shape no other we publish. The Navy and Marine Corps presence means a real share of claims involve federal defendants and run under the Federal Tort Claims Act rather than California law. And the border means collisions, insurance and medical treatment that cross it, which raises questions of which law applies that simply do not arise elsewhere.

What we can and cannot verify about a California firm

Less than the state’s size would suggest. The Secretary of State’s business search sits behind bot protection, so entity registration is recorded as a check without a source rather than as a finding.

Discipline is the same, for a different reason. California runs attorney discipline through the State Bar Court, whose decisions are published on the State Bar’s own site rather than as Supreme Court opinions, so the opinion index that carries Pennsylvania and Nevada holds almost none of California’s.

The State Bar of California does publish a public attorney search of its own, with status and public discipline, and checking a name there takes a minute. It is worth doing, and it is the check we cannot do for you.

Deadlines that catch Californians out

• Personal injury: two years, under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1.
• A claim against the City, the County, a transit district or a school district: a written claim within six months under Government Code § 911.2, then six months to sue once it is rejected.
• Medical malpractice: one year from discovery with a three-year outer limit, and ninety days’ notice before suit.
• Wrongful death: two years from the death.