Data-driven rankings across 4 cities in California. This dataset tracks 39,507 public Google reviews, retrieves 34,174 review records, and analyzes 26,757 text reviews across 84 law firms.
This section covers the legal basics people often ask search engines and LLMs about before hiring a lawyer in California. It is rendered from markdown so the structure is easier to parse and cite.
Primary-source review is complete for the legal-rule sections on this page. Last reviewed 2026-08-15 16:12:42Z.
In California, the deadline to file a standard personal injury lawsuit is 2 years from date of injury.
Governing statute: California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. General personal injury actions (excluding medical malpractice) must be filed within two years of injury; applicable tolling rules apply.
Medical malpractice claims in California have their own deadline: Either 3 years from date of injury or 1 year from date of discovery, whichever is earlier.
California Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5. Medical malpractice claims must be filed within three years of injury or one year after the plaintiff discovers, or reasonably should have discovered, the injury, whichever expires first; statutory tolling and minor-specific rules may apply.
Wrongful death claims in California: 2 years from date of death for ordinary claims; for medical‑malpractice wrongful death, 3 years from death or 1 year from discovery of the death and its negligent cause, whichever expires first; claims against a government entity generally must be presented within 6 months after accrual.
California Code of Civil Procedure §§ 335.1, 340.5; Government Code §§ 911.2, 945.4, 945.6. After a qualifying written rejection notice, the government-entity lawsuit deadline is generally six months from delivery or mailing of that notice.
If a government entity is involved, a much shorter notice deadline usually applies in California: 6 months after accrual to present an injury or death claim; then, if a qualifying written rejection notice is given, 6 months from delivery or mailing of that notice to file the lawsuit.
California Government Code §§ 911.2, 945.4, 945.6. If the required written rejection notice is not given, the lawsuit deadline is generally two years from accrual; exceptions and late-claim procedures may apply.
California follows: Pure comparative negligence – a plaintiff’s recovery is reduced by the plaintiff’s percentage of fault, even if the plaintiff is 99% at fault.
California adopted pure comparative negligence in Li v. Yellow Cab Co. A plaintiff’s own negligence reduces damages in proportion to the plaintiff’s assigned fault rather than completely barring recovery.
Damage caps in California: In medical-malpractice wrongful-death actions, the applicable non-economic-damages limit is $650,000 per statutory category in 2026, with separate limits potentially applying under California Civil Code § 3333.2. The statutory amounts increase annually.
Contingency fee agreements must be in writing, include the agreed contingency fee rate, and be signed by both the attorney and client. A duplicate signed copy must be provided to the client.
Based on our tracked dataset of 39,507 total Google reviews across 84 personal injury law firms in 4 California cities:
Use this table to compare the covered California markets on review depth, average rating, and search demand before drilling into a local ranking page.
| City | Firms | Tracked Reviews | Retrieved | Text Analyzed | Avg Rating | Searches / Mo | CPC |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | 21 | 21,381 | 16,549 | 13,388 | 4.88 | 22,200 | $87.27 |
| San Diego | 21 | 8,243 | 8,173 | 6,090 | 4.91 | 9,900 | $131.43 |
| Sacramento | 21 | 7,468 | 7,299 | 5,570 | 4.81 | 6,600 | $128.98 |
| San Francisco | 21 | 2,415 | 2,153 | 1,709 | 4.85 | 3,600 | $130 |
These links route from the state view to the largest public review footprints in the covered markets. Review volume determines prominence here; it is not a quality ranking or endorsement.
This state summary aggregates the fixed city-profile export named in its provenance below. The current depth-50 consumer release separately targets up to 50 discovered offices per assessed practice/city cohort, applies review and practice-evidence gates, and publishes a city page only when at least eight offices qualify.
Source coverage: business profiles were collected in April 2026; review snapshots vary by firm. See the provenance notes below.