Sources
California rules come from the Code of Civil Procedure, the Government Code, the Vehicle Code and the Civil Code. Local steps come from the San Jose Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and the Santa Clara County Superior Court. Injury timing follows the CDC, Mayo Clinic and MedlinePlus.
Style
Plain words, short steps, and a clear line between what the law requires and what is good practice. Worked numbers are labelled as examples. We do not publish verdicts, settlement amounts or ratings, and we never estimate a claim’s value. The pages are not reviewed by a doctor, lawyer or named expert.
Updates
Fees and processes change every year; San Jose Police set report fees in an annual schedule, for example. When something changes we update the page and its date, and a correction that changes what you should do gets a note. Use our corrections page to report a problem.