Before a San Diego Injury Lawsuit, a Six-Month Claim and the Right Courthouse
Before an injury case against a San Diego public agency can be filed, a written claim has to reach the right office within six months.
The City of San Diego, the County, MTS, the school districts, and Caltrans each take claims at a different address, and some no longer accept email.
Against a private person or company, the lawsuit can be filed directly, within two years in most cases.
Either way, larger civil cases in the county are heard in only two places, the Hall of Justice downtown and the North County Regional Center in Vista.
Federal defendants, including the Navy and the Marine Corps, take a separate two-year administrative claim.
The offices, addresses, and filing rules below were checked against each agency's own published procedure in October 2026.
San Diego County Claims at a Glance
- City of San Diego: the Public Liability portal or form RM-9, with no emailed claims since December 11, 2023
- County of San Diego: County Counsel, 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 335, by mail or in person
- MTS buses and trolleys: the MTS Claims Administrator, under MTS Board Policy No. 51
- Six months for an injury or death claim against any California public entity
- Unlimited civil cases: the Hall of Justice or Vista only, since January 1, 2026
Civil Cases Go to the Hall of Justice or Vista Under Rule 1.2.2
San Diego Superior Court's 2026 local rules divide limited and unlimited civil cases between two divisions, Central and North County, and state that the East and South County divisions "are included in the Central Division for purposes of these cases."[1]
| Courthouse | Address | Civil cases |
|---|---|---|
| Hall of Justice (Central) | 330 West Broadway, Room 225, San Diego | Unlimited and limited civil, including cases from East and South County |
| North County Regional Center | 325 South Melrose Drive, Vista | Unlimited and limited civil |
| East County (El Cajon) | 250 East Main Street, El Cajon | Civil restraining orders only |
| South County (Chula Vista) | 500 Third Avenue, Chula Vista | Civil restraining orders only |
Each case is assigned at filing "either to the master calendar or to a judge for all purposes," under Local Rule 2.1.3. A case assigned to one judge can still be sent to the master calendar at trial call if that judge cannot try it.[2]
A case from Chula Vista or El Cajon is filed and heard downtown, which affects where the hearings, the trial, and the jury pool will be.
How Many Injury Lawsuits San Diego's Court Saw in 2024-25
The Judicial Council's 2026 Court Statistics Report counts 2,755 motor vehicle injury, property damage, and wrongful death cases filed as unlimited civil cases in San Diego Superior Court in the 2024-25 fiscal year, against 49,326 statewide.[3]
The report's figure for San Diego's other injury cases is not reliable this year. It jumped from 2,196 to 12,523 while the "other civil" count fell by about half, and the report notes that the court submitted "no disposition data" for the year while it changes case management systems. No San Diego count of injury jury trials exists for the year, so any claim about how often San Diego juries hear these cases has no current official basis.
Where to File a Claim Against the City and Other San Diego Agencies
Government Code § 911.2 gives six months from the injury to present a written claim to a California public entity, and each San Diego agency names its own receiving office.
| Agency | Where the claim goes | How it can be filed |
|---|---|---|
| City of San Diego | Risk Management Department, 1200 Third Avenue, Suite 1000, San Diego 92101 | The online Public Liability portal, or form RM-9 printed, signed, and mailed or delivered; no email since December 11, 2023[4] |
| County of San Diego | Office of County Counsel, Claims and Investigation Division, 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 335, San Diego 92101 | By U.S. mail or in person, on form CD-1 or another written claim; no fax[5] |
| MTS, including San Diego Transit and the San Diego Trolley | The MTS Claims Administrator; MTS headquarters is at 1255 Imperial Avenue, Suite 1000 | On the form provided by MTS's Office of General Counsel, within six months for an injury and one year for other claims[6] |
| San Diego Unified School District | Risk Management, Revere Center, Room 7, 6735 Gifford Way, San Diego 92111 | With an original signature, mailed or hand-delivered[7] |
| Caltrans (San Diego and Imperial counties) | District 11 Claim Office, 4050 Taylor Street, MS 130, San Diego 92110 | Form DOTLD-0274 for claims of $12,500 or less; larger claims go to the state's Government Claims Program[8] |
The City's own claim form warns that bus and trolley incidents belong to MTS, not the City. A fall at a trolley platform and a defect in the street beside it can belong to two different public owners, and the claim follows whoever owns the thing that caused the injury.
Three other public entities take claims of their own: North County Transit District, which runs the COASTER, SPRINTER, and BREEZE from Oceanside; the Port of San Diego, a special district at 3165 Pacific Highway; and the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, whose claims are governed by the Government Claims Act under Public Utilities Code § 170032.[9] None of the three publishes a claims page, so the receiving office should be confirmed directly well before the six-month mark.
How the six-month rule works across California, including late claims and the rules for children, is covered on our page about California's six-month government claim deadline.
What the Claim Must Say Under § 910 and the Deadlines That Follow
A claim does not need to be on the agency's form, but it has to contain what Government Code § 910 requires.[10]
What the Claim Has to Include
Your name and address, and the address where notices should be sent.
The date, place, and circumstances of the incident.
A general description of the injury and the losses known so far.
The name of any public employee involved, if you know it.
The amount claimed if it is under $10,000. Above that, no dollar figure is stated; the claim says whether the case would be a limited civil case.
Your signature, or the signature of someone acting for you.
The agency then has 45 days to act. If it does nothing, the claim is treated as rejected. After a written rejection, a lawsuit must be filed within six months of the date the notice was mailed or personally delivered; if no written notice was given, the deadline is two years from the incident.
A missed six-month deadline is not always the end. An application for leave to present a late claim can be made within one year under Government Code § 911.4, and the agency must grant it in the situations § 911.6 lists, including a claimant who was a minor for the whole six months.
Claims Against the Navy or Marine Corps Use a Federal Form Instead
California's six-month claim does not apply to the federal government. A crash with an on-duty service member or federal employee, or harm in a Navy hospital, is a claim against the United States under the Federal Tort Claims Act, presented in writing to the right federal agency within two years, usually on Standard Form 95 with a specific dollar amount.
Navy and Marine Corps claims go to the Navy's Tort Claims Unit in Norfolk, Virginia, or to the commanding officer of the activity involved, who forwards them. The rules for an off-duty service member, for uninsured motorist coverage, and for injured service members themselves are on our page about military and federal vehicle injury claims in San Diego.
Public Hospitals That Need a Six-Month Claim Before a Malpractice Case
Most hospitals in the county are private, but several are not, and the difference decides whether a six-month claim comes first.
- UC San Diego Health (Hillcrest, Jacobs Medical Center, and East Campus, the former Alvarado Hospital, since December 11, 2023) is part of the UC Regents, which Government Code § 905.6 exempts from the claim requirement
- Palomar Medical Center Escondido and Poway are run since July 1, 2026 through a joint authority of the Palomar Health district and UC San Diego Health, a public entity, so the six-month claim is treated as required
- Sharp Tri-City and Sharp Grossmont are owned by healthcare districts and run by Sharp; no claim is needed against Sharp, and care at Tri-City before July 1, 2026 was the district's own
- Naval Medical Center San Diego answers under the Federal Tort Claims Act
The malpractice deadlines, the 90-day notice, and MICRA's 2026 limits that apply to all of them are on our page about San Diego medical malpractice claims.