The government does not pay because it is sorry. It pays when a jury makes it, or when it believes one will. The Vertanous Firm tried a dangerous condition of public property case against the City of Los Angeles for fourteen days and won a $22.6 Million jury verdict for a pedestrian struck on the head by a falling light-pole cap. More than $60 Million recovered. And in these cases, the clock is six months, not two years.
The Statute
You cannot sue a California city, county, or state agency the way you sue a careless driver. Public entities are liable only where a statute says so, and for unsafe public property the statute is Government Code section 835. Every case we file is built element by element:
The entity will contest all four. That is not a reason to walk away. It is a reason to hire a firm that has won this exact fight, in front of a jury, against a major city.
Notice
Most section 835 cases rise or fall on notice, and Government Code section 835.2 defines the two ways to prove it. Actual notice means the entity knew: someone reported the pothole, an employee logged the dead streetlight, a prior claim described the same defect. Constructive notice means the entity should have known: the condition was obvious enough, and existed long enough, that a reasonably adequate inspection system would have discovered it.
Public entities generate paper, and the paper is where these cases are won: complaint and service-request records, maintenance and inspection logs, work orders, prior claims and lawsuits about the same location, and photographs of the condition over time. An inspection program that exists in a binder but not on the street is not a defense. It is our best exhibit. Constructive notice is where these cases are usually won, because entities rarely admit they knew, and street-imagery archives can show exactly how long a defect sat there.
The Deadline
Here is the trap that kills more public property cases than any defense lawyer: the deadline. Most California injury claims carry a two-year statute of limitations under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. Claims against public entities do not work that way. The sequence is unforgiving:
City, county, state, school district, transit agency, or special district. Ownership and control are not always obvious; a sidewalk, a median, and the road beside them can belong to different entities, and each one must be pursued separately.
Government Code section 911.2 requires a claim, with specific contents, presented to the right entity within six months of the injury. This is not a lawsuit. It comes first, and missing it can end the case before it starts.
They almost always do. Rejection is not defeat. It is the starting gun for the lawsuit.
After a written rejection, Government Code section 945.6 generally allows six months to file suit. Another short clock, and another place cases quietly die.
Hurt on public property? Your deadline is measured in months.
Free Case ReviewDesign Immunity
Public entities have a defense private owners do not: design immunity under Government Code section 830.6. In general terms, an entity may be immune where the injury was caused by a plan or design approved in advance by an authorized body, with substantial evidence supporting the reasonableness of the approval. Entities plead it in nearly every roadway and intersection case, and some firms decline these cases because of it.
We treat it as a defense to be dismantled, not a verdict. The entity carries the burden of establishing the immunity. The approval must actually cover the feature that caused the injury, not a general plan that never considered it. The immunity protects a design decision; it does not excuse a failure to maintain what was built. And an approved design does not stay immune forever: conditions change, and a design that has turned dangerous in practice is a very different thing from the drawing a board approved decades ago. Where design immunity is asserted, discovery into what was actually approved, by whom, and on what evidence is where the defense starts to come apart.
The Conditions
Section 835 reaches every kind of public property. The conditions we see most:
If the dangerous property was private, the case is premises liability, and we handle that too. Part of the value of one firm is that we do not guess about which body of law governs. We find out, fast, because the deadlines depend on it.
Why It Takes a Trial Firm
Public entities defend differently. There is no adjuster under pressure to close files. There are government lawyers, immunity motions, and a budget that can outlast almost any plaintiff. A city pays serious money for one reason: it believes a jury will make it pay more.
That belief cannot be manufactured with letterhead. In our signature case, a pedestrian was struck on the head by a falling municipal light-pole cap. We tried the case against the City of Los Angeles for fourteen days, and the jury returned a $22.6 Million verdict. TopVerdict.com ranked it the No. 1 verdict in California for 2023 in its category, Falling Object and Public Premises Liability. Read how that case was built. When we present a claim, the entity on the other side knows the trial is not a bluff. That knowledge changes every number that follows. Cities keep track of which firms try cases. So do their lawyers.
For Referring Counsel
If you are holding a Government Code section 835 matter, you already know the problem: a six-month claim clock, notice fights, design immunity, an opponent with no economic pressure to settle, and a case that will probably need to be tried. We co-counsel and accept referrals on dangerous condition matters throughout California. Our results include the $22.6 Million verdict against the City of Los Angeles and a $2.75 Million recovery in a catastrophic-injury matter referred by outside counsel. Start at our referral page, or call (626) 888-2223 and talk to Tom directly.
If we don't win, you don't pay.
The consultation is free. The representation is on contingency. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
Questions We Hear Every Week
A condition of government-owned or government-controlled property that creates a substantial risk of injury when the property is used with due care in a reasonably foreseeable way. Broken sidewalks, missing streetlights, dangerous intersections, falling limbs and fixtures, and hazardous parks can all qualify. The claim is created by Government Code section 835, and it has its own elements and its own deadlines.
You must present a written government claim within six months of the injury under Government Code section 911.2, long before any lawsuit. If the entity rejects the claim in writing, you generally have six months from the rejection to file suit under Government Code section 945.6. These deadlines are shorter and stricter than the two-year statute most people know. Move immediately.
Not necessarily, but the road gets narrow fast. California law allows an application to present a late claim in limited circumstances, and it must be made promptly. Whether relief is available depends on the reason for the delay and how quickly you act. Call the same day you read this.
Yes, unless its own employee created it. Government Code section 835.2 recognizes two kinds of notice: actual notice, meaning the entity knew, and constructive notice, meaning the condition was obvious enough and existed long enough that a reasonable inspection system would have found it. Complaint records, service requests, inspection logs, and prior claims are how we prove it.
A defense under Government Code section 830.6 that can protect a public entity when the injury was caused by a plan or design approved in advance by an authorized body, supported by substantial evidence of reasonableness. It is real, and it is not absolute: the entity must prove its elements, it does not excuse a failure to maintain, and it can be lost when changed conditions make an approved design dangerous. We evaluate it before we file, not after.
Often, yes. Sidewalk cases turn on who owned or controlled the walkway, how bad the defect was, how long it existed, and whether the entity had notice. Expect the government to argue the defect was trivial; height, lighting, shadows, and foot traffic answer that argument. Photographs taken early, with measurements, are worth more than any brief.
Yes. Government claims cases carry short deadlines, immunity defenses, and real trial risk, and we welcome referrals and co-counsel arrangements from firms that would rather not hold that risk alone. Our results include a $2.75 Million recovery in a catastrophic-injury matter referred by outside counsel. Visit our referral page or call Tom directly.
Client Reviews
Ani A., Glendalevia Yelp"The guy who hit me had a low max coverage. I don't know what magic Vertanous Firm worked, but I got paid for my damages less than a year out from my accident, and was paid three times more than the policy limit."
Tony K., Burbankvia Yelp"Tom is the absolute best. He knows the law and he also knows medicine. One meeting with Tom and he was able to understand the medicine behind my condition and find the appropriate doctors."
Bobby S., Los Angelesvia Yelp"Tom is a straight shooter and he's whip-smart. He treated my case as though it were his own. He has a gift for compassion that sets him apart from other legal professionals."
Where We Work
From our office in Pasadena, we handle dangerous condition of public property cases throughout California, and we represent injured people across the San Gabriel Valley and all of Los Angeles County, in English, Armenian, and Farsi.
Contact
Call, text, email, or send a brief message. We respond the same day. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.
