Basin Field Guide explains the steps after a crash in Los Angeles: where the report is, where to get care, which court hears a case and which deadlines apply. We write for people dealing with an injury, so we keep sentences short and put the source link next to the claim it supports.
The source that owns the fact
For legal rules we use the California codes: the Code of Civil Procedure for time limits, the Vehicle Code for reporting and insurance duties, the Government Code for claims against public agencies and the Civil Code for damages. For a report request we use the LAPD or CHP instructions. For courts we use the Superior Court of Los Angeles County. For hospital designations we use Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services documents.
News stories and law firm articles can point us to a topic. They are not the last word on what a statute says or what an agency charges.
What we do not publish
We do not publish case results, settlement figures, ratings or promises about what a claim is worth. An example, such as how a fault share changes an award, is labelled as an example. No lawyer or named expert reviews these pages, and we do not claim otherwise.
Keeping the guide current
Agencies move, fees change and courts reorganize. The Los Angeles Superior Court moved new personal injury cases filed downtown to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse in January 2024, for example. When something like that changes, we update the page and its date. If a correction changes what a reader should do, we say so on the page.
To report a problem, see our corrections page.