Civil Litigation Time Limits
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This article will walk you through the different steps involved in different parts of civil litigation and any time limits you need to be aware of.
Serving Summons and Complaint
This is where you serve the defendant with notification of your legal action. The steps that need to happen during this process are:
- Serve the defendant with the complaint and summons. This needs to happen within 60 days of filing.
- Serve the defendant with an amended complaint. This needs to happen within 30 days of you adding to the complaint.
- Proof of complaint and summons service. Within 60 days of serving the Summons and Complaint to the defendant, the plaintiff must file the Proof of Service.
- Defendant’s answer or demurrer filing time limit. This needs to be filed within 30 days of the date the complaint was served.
Pretrial Discovery
This is where both parties and their attorneys will gather evidence and conduct investigations. The timeline for pretrial discovery are as follows:
- Plaintiff serves discovery. Earliest is 10 days after service of the complaint. CCP §2030.020.
- Defendant serves discovery. Anytime. CCP §2030.020.
- Plaintiff serves Notice of Deposition. Earliest is 20 days after service of complaint.
- Subpoena for personal records. Must be served at least 20 days before the date of production.
- Subpoena for employment records – Must be served 10 days before the date of production.
- Motion to quash subpoena duces tecum – must be served to the defense at least five days before production.
- Move to compel additional answers – 45 days
- Response to written discovery – 30 days + an additional 5 if questions were sent by mail
- Discovery closes before arbitration – 15 days before arbitration. Extending the discovery will not necessarily extend the arbitration cut off.
- Discovery closes before trial – 30 days before trial but 15 days before arbitration if arbitration happens before the trial.
- Last day to hear discovery motions – 15 days before the trial
- Practical last day to serve discovery – 90-100 days before trial
- Deposition notice – Plaintiff must wait until 30 days after they served the complaint and summons. The defendant can serve a deposition notice at any time.
- Depositions – Set at least 10 days in the future with an additional five days if the notice is sent by mail.
- Deposition objection – The objecting party has 3 calendar days before the date of deposition to object. They would get an additional five days if the deposition was sent by mail.
- Depositions with records requests – If the deposition is for the personal records of a consumer, then the procedure is different. If you are seeking records for a party of the lawsuit, the court can compel them to comply. They must send these within 10 days, but receive an additional 5 days if it has been sent by mail. If the witness is not a party to the lawsuit, then the subpoena must be issued at least 20 days before the deposition. You need to give an additional five days if the notice has been sent by mail.
- Depositions in unlawful detainer actions – Five days’ notice.
Expert Discovery
Expert discovery is the process of finding experts for your expert witness list. The steps that need to happen during this process are:
- Experts must be demanded – Within 10 days of setting the trial date or 70 days before trial, whichever of the two is closer to the trial date.
- Experts must be disclosed – 20 days after service of the demand or 50 days before trial, whichever is closer to the trial date.
- Supplemental expert disclosure must be disclosed – These witnesses will cover subjects covered by the opponents’ witnesses. They must be disclosed within 20 days of the exchange of expert witnesses.
- Expert depositions – Set when you receive the expert witness list from the other party.
- Expert discovery cut off – 15 days before the initial trial date.
- Last day for motions regarding experts – 10 days before the initial trial date.
- Experts must provide documents before the deposition – Experts must provide a copy of the documents they will provide 3 days before their deposition.
Arbitration
- Arbitrator must issue award – Within ten days of the conclusion of the arbitration.
- Reject arbitration award – This must be done within 60 days of the arbitration award being served.
- Discovery closes before arbitration – 15 days before arbitration.
Trial
- Discovery closes – After a non-binding arbitration or 30 days before trial, whichever is sooner. The exception is expert depositions and expert lists.
- Experts must be demanded – within 10 days of setting a trial date or 70 days before trial, whichever is closer to the trial date.
- Experts must be disclosed – 20 days after the service of demand or 50 days before the trial, whichever is closer to the trial date.
- 998 offers to compromise – The deadline to make these is 10 days prior to trial.
- Notice to appear at trial – This must be given at least ten days before the trial and provide the time and place of the trial.
- Notice to appear at trial – If the party needs to bring documentation to trial, this notice must be given 20 days before trial and provide the time and place of the trial.
- Objection to notice to appear at a trial – If they need to bring documents to trial, then they must object at least five days before the trial.
Motions
- Noticed motions – Must be both served and filed 16 court days before the hearing date. Also, add an extra five calendar dates if this has been served by mail.
- Opposition to noticed motion – Must be filed and served at least 9 court days before the hearing.
- Reply to noticed motion – Must be filed at least five court days before the hearing.
- Ex parte motion – Aside from exceptional circumstances, you must notify the opposing party by 10 am the day before the hearing.
- Tables of contents – These are required for motions that are over 10 pages.
- Manner of service – All papers that reply to or oppose a motion should be sent in written forms approved in Sections 1010, 1011, 1012, and 1013. This includes express mail, personal delivery, or fax. You must ensure that the other party receives the documents by close of the next business day after the papers are filed.
- CCP 1013 – This states that the date of service is considered as the date of when the document is deposited. However, if the motion is being sent via mail, then it allows extra time if the mailing address or place of mailing is:
- Within California – an extra five calendar days.
- Outside of California, but still in the US – an extra ten calendar days.
- Outside of the US – an extra twenty calendar days.
- Motions for summary judgement – Must be served and filed at least 75 days before a hearing; extra time is allowed if it is being sent via post. Also, the motion must be heard 30 days before the trial date. The court can modify this time limit for good cause.
Statutes of Limitations
Often a complaint has to be filed within a certain time period of the date the issue occurred. Here are the statutes of limitations for the following claims:
- Personal injury – 2 years.
- Medical malpractice – 3 years from the date of the injury or within a year of the plaintiff discovering the injury, whichever occurs first. You must also give the defendant a 90-day notice of intent to sue. The statute may be tolled if you can prove intentional concealment, fraud, or the presence of an unnecessary foreign body.
- Lawsuits against public entities – The claim must be filed within 6 months. Once you receive a rejection letter, you must file your lawsuit within 6 months of receiving the letter.
- Late claims against public entities – You can file a written application to present a late claim if you missed the 6-month deadline. This must be sent within a year of the date of the issue and give reasons for the delayed claim.
- If the public entity does not respond within 45 days – The claim is considered rejected, and on the 45th day, the time to file a lawsuit will start.
- Time limit to bring a case to trial – Five years from the filing date for the lawsuit.
- Uninsured motorist arbitration – Two years. This applies to minors too.
- Underinsured motorist – The statute of limitations does not start until the third party limits are exhausted.