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Filing a Lawsuit

• What is the deadline for filing a complaint?
• If I have been injured in a county jail, should I file my complaint in state or federal court?
• How do I locate an attorney?

If you filed your claim on time and it was rejected by the public entity or if the court grants your Petition for Relief, your next step is to file a lawsuit in court.

The legal document you submit to the court to begin the lawsuit is called a complaint. Check your law library for books that have standard “form complaints” for filing California tort law actions based on personal injury. If your injury was caused by that public entity or individual’s failure to be careful in performing his or her job, your complaint should be specific in explaining what legal obligation or duty was owed to you by that employee. Explain what happened if your injury was intentionally caused by that public entity or individual’s actions. Be sure that the facts you spell out in your complaint closely follow what you described in your earlier claim. Include the date when you presented your claim and the date your claim was rejected. If you didn’t file your claim on time, explain in detail why you missed the deadline.

What is the deadline for filing a complaint?

The deadline for filing a complaint depends on how your claim was rejected by the local governing board. If the local governing board sends a notice that your timely claim has been denied, you must file a complaint within six months of the date of the Board’s written rejection of your claim. If there was no written notice of rejection, you have two years from the date the injury occurred. If the court granted your Petition for Relief from the claims procedure for filing a late claim, you must file the complaint within 30 days of either the date the order granting the petition is filed, or if a local rule requires a formal order, the date the formal order is signed and filed.

A prisoner should file a complaint for a state tort action within the applicable six-month or two-year period, even if he or she is still incarcerated.

If I have been injured in a county jail, should I file my complaint in state or federal court?

You must file in state court if you are raising only issues that are based solely on state statutory law. For example, if your claim is based on simple negligence, you would file in state court. You can file a complaint in federal court only if you raise claims that arise under the federal civil rights law, 42 U.S.C. §1983. A simple negligence claim does not constitute a federal civil rights violation. For more information on filing a federal and state law claim, please read the Prison Law Office memo that was mentioned earlier in this booklet.

How do I locate an attorney?

It is difficult to find an attorney who will represent prisoners for no charge in individual personal injury lawsuits. Our office, like many other legal service offices, does not provide individual representation in personal injury or tort claim cases. Some local bar associations have a list of private attorneys who have agreed to assist poor people for little or no fee. Check with the bar association in your county to see if they have a pro bono panel of personal injury lawyers. In some cases, personal injury attorneys might take a case on a contingency fee, where you would not be required to pay the attorney up front. The attorney would take his or her fee out of the judgment that results from the resolution of a personal injury case.