Truck Accident Laws in California (2026): Deadlines & Liability

A collision with a commercial truck is a different kind of case than a car wreck. The truck is governed by federal safety regulations, the company that runs the truck is almost always part of the lawsuit, and the insurance behind it is far larger than a normal car policy. This guide walks through the California rules that shape a truck-injury or wrongful-death claim, starting with the filing deadline and how fault is shared, then the uniform federal trucking rules that apply on every interstate route. It is general information, not legal advice.

This page is part of our Truck Accident Laws by State series. Deadlines are firm and every crash is different, so use the figures below as a starting point and confirm the current law before relying on it.

The California deadline to sue (statute of limitations)

The first thing to protect after a truck crash in California is the deadline. A personal-injury lawsuit must generally be filed within two years of the date of the collision under California Code of Civil Procedure 335.1, which sets a two-year limit for injury to or the death of a person caused by another's wrongful act or neglect. A wrongful-death action carries the same two-year period, measured from the date of death rather than the date of the crash, and the people who may bring it are defined in Code of Civil Procedure 377.60, generally the surviving spouse or domestic partner, children, and certain other dependents.

One exception is critical. If a government entity is a defendant, the California Government Claims Act requires you to present a written claim to that entity within six months, and only after it is denied can you sue. There are also tolling rules for injured minors and a discovery rule for injuries that could not reasonably have been known right away. Because these rules are unforgiving, the safe assumption is that a short clock is already running.

How California splits fault: pure comparative negligence

California follows pure comparative negligence, adopted by the California Supreme Court in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975). Under this rule, a jury assigns each party a percentage of fault, and an injured plaintiff's recovery is reduced by that plaintiff's own percentage, but is never cut off entirely. A plaintiff found 30% at fault recovers 70% of the damages; even a plaintiff found 80% at fault still recovers 20%. There is no 50% bar as in many other states.

This is generally favorable to injured people, but the defense in a truck case will still fight hard to push fault onto the injured driver because every percentage point reduces the award. Evidence that the truck driver or carrier violated a federal safety rule, covered below, is often what keeps the injured person's share low.

No-fault and insurance in California

California is not a no-fault state. It uses a traditional at-fault, or tort, system, so the driver who caused the crash, that driver's insurer, and the trucking company are responsible for the harm, and there is no no-fault threshold an injured person must clear before suing.

California's minimum auto-liability limits rose on January 1, 2025 to 30/60/15: $30,000 per person and $60,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $15,000 for property damage, up from the long-standing 15/30/5. Even so, those limits are small compared with the harm a fully loaded tractor-trailer can cause, which is why the federal trucking insurance minimum below matters so much.

Damage caps in California

California sets no general dollar cap on damages in a truck-injury or wrongful-death case. The Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) cap, codified at California Civil Code 3333.2, limits noneconomic damages only in medical-malpractice cases, not in vehicle-crash cases, and economic damages (medical bills, lost earnings) are not subject to a statutory ceiling in a truck case.

Two vehicle-specific rules can still cut a California recovery sharply, and both are easy to miss.

The first is California Civil Code 3333.4, added by Proposition 213 in 1996. In any action for damages arising out of the operation or use of a motor vehicle, it bars the injured person from recovering any noneconomic damages at all (pain, suffering, inconvenience, physical impairment, disfigurement, and other nonpecuniary damages) if that person owned a vehicle involved in the accident that was not insured as the financial responsibility laws require, was the operator of a vehicle in the accident and cannot establish that financial responsibility, or was convicted of driving under the influence under Vehicle Code 23152 or 23153 in connection with the crash. Economic damages survive; pain and suffering does not. The statute writes in one exception: an uninsured owner may still recover noneconomic damages if the driver who injured them was convicted of a DUI offense in the crash. For an uninsured California motorist hit by a truck, this is often the single biggest reason a recovery comes in far below what the injuries would otherwise support.

The second is California Vehicle Code 17151. Vehicle Code 17150 makes a vehicle owner responsible for injury or death caused by someone who drove the vehicle with the owner's permission, and 17151 limits the liability that chapter imposes to $15,000 for the death of or injury to one person in any one accident, $30,000 for more than one person, and $5,000 for property damage. That ceiling reaches only the liability an owner picks up for lending the vehicle. It does not limit what the driver personally owes, and it does not limit a motor carrier sued for its own negligence or for the on-the-job conduct of its employee driver, which is where the substantial coverage in a truck case sits.

Claims against public entities have their own rules.

Federal trucking rules: the FMCSA layer

Interstate commercial trucks are regulated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, and its rules in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations apply on every interstate route, California included. The rules that matter most after a crash are:

• Hours of service (49 CFR Part 395): a property-carrying driver may drive at most 11 hours after 10 consecutive hours off duty, may not drive beyond the 14th hour after coming on duty, must take a 30-minute break after 8 hours of driving, and is capped at 60 hours in 7 days or 70 hours in 8 days. Fatigue-rule violations are a leading cause of serious truck crashes.
• Electronic logging devices (ELDs): most drivers must record their duty status with an ELD, which makes the hours-of-service data far harder to falsify and a key piece of evidence.
• Driver qualification and CDL (49 CFR Part 391): the carrier must confirm the driver is qualified, medically fit, and properly licensed.
• Drug and alcohol testing (49 CFR Part 382): pre-employment, random, and post-accident testing is required.
• Inspection and maintenance (49 CFR Part 396): the carrier must systematically inspect, repair, and maintain its vehicles and keep records.

A documented violation of any of these rules can be strong evidence of negligence, which is why the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration regulations are central to a truck case.

Who can be held liable after a truck crash

A truck case usually has more than one defendant, and several are companies. Potential defendants include the driver; the motor carrier, which is generally responsible for its driver's on-the-job conduct and can also be sued directly for negligent hiring, training, supervision, or maintenance; a freight broker or shipper; the company that loaded or secured the cargo if a load shift caused the crash; and a manufacturer if a defective brake, tire, or other component failed. Identifying every responsible entity is one of the main reasons truck cases are more complex than car cases.

Federal minimum insurance: $750,000 and up

Federal law requires far more coverage from interstate trucking companies than states require from ordinary drivers. Under 49 CFR 387.9, a for-hire carrier of general freight in interstate commerce must maintain at least $750,000 in public-liability coverage, and carriers hauling hazardous materials must carry up to $5,000,000. That is the financial backdrop behind why truck-crash claims are valued and litigated so differently from the 30/60/15 minimum that applies to a typical California car.

Preserving the evidence before it disappears

Much of the strongest evidence in a truck case lives inside the truck and the carrier's files, and a lot of it can be overwritten or routinely discarded. ELD and logbook data, the engine control module (the truck's onboard "black box," which can record speed, braking, and throttle), dashcam footage, dispatch records, and maintenance files can all be lost within weeks. For that reason, a written preservation or spoliation letter sent to the carrier early, demanding that it keep this data, can make a real difference. The police crash report (in California, the CHP or local agency report), photographs, and your medical records should be preserved on your side as well.

How injury cases are typically handled

Most personal-injury and wrongful-death lawyers in California work on a contingency fee, meaning the fee is a percentage of any recovery and there is usually no upfront cost, and most offer a free initial consultation. No lawyer can promise a specific result or dollar amount, because the outcome depends on liability, the available insurance, the comparative-fault split, and the harm actually proven. The practical points are clear: a two-year clock (and a six-month one for government claims) may be running, the evidence inside the truck is perishable, and pinning down the facts early protects the case.