Los Angeles Personal Injury Lawyer

PRACTICE AREAS

Preliminary LAPD figures put the number of people killed on City of Los Angeles streets in 2024 at 303. The toll was about 240 in 2015, the year the city launched Vision Zero with the goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025 (LAist). Crosstown, working from the same police data, reports that traffic deaths have outnumbered homicides in the city for three consecutive years (Crosstown).

In a city of 3,878,704 people (Census), the difficult part after a crash is often knowing which office holds which record, and it is usually the first question a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer answers for a new client. This page is organized as a directory: each table names an agency, hospital or courthouse and describes what it contributes to an injury claim.

Which agency investigates your crash

Every city street, from a Koreatown side street to a six-lane boulevard in the Valley, is within LAPD’s jurisdiction. A crash on a freeway, ramp or interchange is handled by the California Highway Patrol, which divides the city’s freeways among several area offices (CHP Central LA).

An adjuster’s first letter will ask for the report number. LAPD and the CHP process report requests separately, so confirm which agency wrote yours before you order a copy.

Trauma centers in and near the city

Paramedics responding to a serious crash in the city take patients to hospitals on the county’s designated trauma list (LA County EMS). Several are within the city limits or just beyond them.

Whichever hospital treated you, request three documents early: the ambulance run report, the emergency department record and the imaging reports. They establish when your injuries were documented, and that timing is the first thing an insurance adjuster questions when someone waited weeks to see a doctor.

Streets and intersections with the worst records

LADOT maps its worst corridors as a High Injury Network. The department says those streets make up about 6% of street miles yet produce nearly 70% of deaths and severe injuries to pedestrians (LADOT). The published HIN dataset, based on 2014–2016 collision data, assigns the most network mileage to five streets (LA GeoHub):

• Venice Boulevard
• Sherman Way
• Vermont Avenue
• Figueroa Street
• Western Avenue

Sepulveda, Ventura, Van Nuys, Pico, Crenshaw, Roscoe and Sunset boulevards are close behind. For individual intersections, Crosstown’s analysis of LAPD records from February 2021 through February 2025 ranked Figueroa Street and Slauson Avenue the worst in the city, with 66 serious collisions, 17 of them felony hit-and-runs, and seven pedestrians struck. Sepulveda and Roscoe in Panorama City was second with 65, including a fatal hit-and-run that killed a cyclist.

Watch out: Drivers fled the scene in 2,549 injury crashes citywide during 2023, according to state ranking data (OTS). With so many drivers leaving the scene, many Angelenos end up relying on the uninsured motorist (UM) coverage in their own auto policy. That coverage comes with notice conditions, so make the LAPD or CHP report quickly and send your carrier a written account.

How Los Angeles compares with other large cities

OTS compares Los Angeles with the other 14 largest cities in California. Adjusted for population, Los Angeles had the lowest rate in the group for total victims: 8,116 people killed or injured in 2023, ranked 15th of 15, where 1 is the worst. That is still more than 22 people injured every day. The city ranked 10th of 15 for hit-and-runs, 10th for pedestrians 65 and older (186 injured) and 14th for alcohol-involved victims (1,508). LAPD’s 3,515 DUI arrests ranked 5th in the group, which reflects enforcement more than danger.

Against other major U.S. cities, the picture is less favorable. The city-commissioned audit reported by LAist found that Los Angeles had more pedestrian and cyclist deaths than the other four most populous U.S. cities, and that roughly half of the 2018 Vision Zero action items remained unfinished at the end of 2023.

Courthouses by judicial district

An injury lawsuit in Los Angeles County is no longer filed downtown by default. Under General Order 2024-GEN-003-00, the location of the crash, not the residence of either party, generally determines the courthouse (LASC). Because the city spans several judicial districts, one client’s case may be filed in Van Nuys and another’s downtown.

Because district lines do not follow neighborhood names, we run the exact address through the court’s filing-location tool before preparing a complaint.

Buses, trains, the port and LAX

Public transit. LA Metro operates the county’s buses and rail lines (Metro), and the city’s LADOT Transit runs DASH and Commuter Express (LADOT Transit). Before a passenger hurt on a Metro bus or a DASH shuttle can sue, the agency must receive a written claim, generally no later than six months after the injury (Gov. Code §911.2). The same deadline applies if a city-owned signal, sidewalk or tree contributed to your injury. Riders hurt when a Metro bus braked hard or collided with another vehicle can read more on our bus accident page.

Port trucks. The CHP describes the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro and Wilmington as the busiest container port in the country, and it sends heavy truck traffic onto the 110 and the 710. A Los Angeles truck accident lawyer will examine the motor carrier, the broker and the chassis owner, because each may have separate insurance; see our truck accident page.

LAX. The airport handled 76.6 million passengers in 2024 and 73.7 million in 2025 (Wikipedia). That volume keeps a steady flow of rideshare, rental and shuttle vehicles on the streets around the terminals. If the driver who hit you was working for Uber or Lyft, obtain the trip log first, because it determines which layer of company insurance applies (rideshare accident page).

Deadlines to put on your calendar

• Six months: a government claim if LA Metro, LADOT Transit, the city or another public agency is involved
• Two years: the last day, in most cases, to sue the motorist who hurt you (CCP §335.1)
• Three years: the limit when the only loss is to your car or other property
• Ten days: each driver’s SR-1 filing with the DMV after anyone is hurt (DMV)

A child hurt in a crash has more time, under rules of its own. California follows pure comparative fault, so a pedestrian found 25% at fault for crossing mid-block on Western Avenue still recovers 75% of the damages (CACI 405).

Questions about hit-and-runs, freeways and venue

I was hit crossing Figueroa near Slauson and the driver fled. What should I do?

Report the crash to LAPD right away. LAPD treats a hit-and-run with injuries as a felony, and your UM carrier will want to see that the report was made. Then look for video: bus-stop, business and doorbell cameras are the usual sources in South LA hit-and-run cases.

My crash was on the 101 in Hollywood, but LAPD responded. Who wrote the report?

Check the exchange slip you received. Freeway crashes are normally the CHP’s responsibility, and a report may exist with one agency or both. When it is unclear, we request copies from both LAPD and the CHP and compare them.

Does it matter that I was treated at LA General instead of a private hospital?

It does not affect your right to recover. It can affect billing: county hospitals and health plans both assert liens, and those liens are negotiated from the settlement.

I live in Van Nuys, but the crash was downtown. Where would my case be heard?

Generally where the crash happened, which in your case means Stanley Mosk. Your home address does not determine the district.

Should I hire a lawyer for a whiplash claim?

Not always. If you recovered quickly and the insurer paid your bills, a lawyer may add little. Lingering pain, missed work or a dispute over fault changes that calculation.

Sources

1. Audit finds Vision Zero goals missed as deaths climb to 303 — LAist
2. Most dangerous intersections, 2021–2025 LAPD data — Crosstown
3. Vintage 2024 subcounty totals (sub-est2024_6) — US Census Bureau
4. Central LA office page: 52 freeway miles — CHP
5. South LA office page: port trucks on the 110 and 710 — CHP
6. Trauma receiving hospital list, September 2023 map — LA County EMS
7. Hospital profile: Boyle Heights county trauma center — Wikipedia
8. Hospital profile: UCLA’s Westwood trauma center — Wikipedia
9. Why the injury network was redrawn — LADOT Livable Streets
10. HIN street segments dataset — City of Los Angeles GeoHub
11. Los Angeles results among the 15 biggest cities — California Office of Traffic Safety
12. Order sending each injury case to its incident district — LASC
13. Downtown civil courthouse with 100 courtrooms — Wikipedia
14. Metro bus and rail — LA Metro
15. DASH and Commuter Express — LADOT Transit
16. When a claim to an agency is due — leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
17. Los Angeles International Airport traffic figures — Wikipedia
18. Injury lawsuit filing period — California Legislature
19. SR-1 report of traffic accident — California DMV
20. Comparative fault instruction for plaintiffs — Justia

Agencies, courthouses and deadlines are described here as general information. None of it is legal advice, and your own facts may call for a different answer.

Retaining a Los Angeles personal injury lawyer

The Law Offices of Jacob Emrani (Call Jacob) handles car, pedestrian, bus and truck claims throughout the city, from Eagle Rock to Venice, and many people first reach us while looking for a Los Angeles car accident lawyer. When you hire us, we request the LAPD or CHP report, collect hospital and ambulance records, send preservation letters for business and Metro camera footage, and take over all communication with the insurance adjuster, including any request for a recorded statement. We represent passengers injured on LA Metro buses and DASH routes, and in those cases we present the government claim to the correct agency first. For a crash on Figueroa or Sepulveda, we build the case around the LAPD report and any business or bus cameras that faced the scene. We identify insurance in order: the negligent driver’s liability limit, then any employer, fleet or rideshare policy, then your own UM/UIM coverage. Before you receive your share of a settlement, we negotiate hospital and health-plan liens down.

You pay nothing up front. Our fee comes from the recovery, and if there is no recovery, there is no fee. A client recovering in Boyle Heights or Northridge need not come to us; a representative can visit. Phone (888) 952-2952 to talk through a Los Angeles case, start with the free case evaluator, or read what past clients say on our reviews page. Información en español: calljacob.com/es.