When must suit follow California government claim rejection?

Personal delivery or proper mail deposit of the qualified section 913 rejection notice

Retain the actual notice, its required warning, the recipient address and delivery or mailing proof. Later receipt of a mailed notice is not the stated starting event.

Responsible actor. The claimant commencing the covered suit against the public entity. Use a claim required under the Government Claims Act, properly presented and rejected, with a section 913 notice actually qualifying under section 915.4 and personally delivered or deposited in proper US mail. Exclude electronic-notice interpretation, sections 946.4 and 946.6 relief, section 945.6(b) prison-restoration facts and other tolling or special statutory branches.

1. Personal delivery or proper mail deposit of the qualified section 913 rejection notice
2. Retain the actual notice, its required warning, the recipient address and delivery or mailing proof. Later receipt of a mailed notice is not the stated starting event.
3. Count 6 calendar months forward from the legally established event. Government Code 6804 defines calendar months; section 6803 defines years and leap-day treatment. Intermediate closed days remain in the period. CCP 12a and 135 govern the final judicial-holiday adjustment, with actual whole-day closures reviewed under CCP 12b.
4. Commence the covered suit in the proper court within the applicable period. Preserve the accepted complaint filing, fees or waiver and required service evidence.

These court-filing components use calendar months or years, not a substitution of 180 days for six months. Government Code 6804 defines calendar months; section 6803 addresses years and leap days. CCP 12a includes Saturdays, CCP 135 judicial holidays and qualifying CCP 12b closures in its final-day adjustment. Intermediate closed days do not disappear from a month or year period. Rule 1.11 supplies the ordinary Friday or Monday observance of a weekend judicial holiday. The retained 2026 and 2027 calendar includes Lincoln Day, March 31, Juneteenth, Native American Day and Thanksgiving Friday, and December 31, 2027 observance of New Year. CCP 135 excludes Admission Day, Columbus Day, Lunar New Year, Diwali and Genocide Remembrance Day from ordinary judicial holidays. Additional actual closures require separate evidence.

Claim presentation, ordinary claim rejection and late-application denial are different events. Section 915.2(a) deems proper mail presented and received at deposit. Its subsection (b) provides specified mail-response additions but excludes the section 945.6 notice and post-denial complaint filing. Section 915.4 separately permits identified electronic notice. The six-month notice preset accepts only the qualified personal-delivery or mail-deposit branch; it does not resolve electronic notice. The petition preset accepts the independently established actual or deemed application-denial date, not a later notice-receipt date.

Official sections were reviewed. The three court-filing presets require triggers on or after January 1, 2024 and final dates within the retained 2026 or 2027 judicial calendar. The unchanged section 945.6 text and the current section 946.6 edition are retained. Every other referenced requirement must still apply to the actual facts. Earlier editions, later amendments, emergency orders, additional closures, disputed accrual, excluded intervals and relief branches require separate review. These software coverage limits do not establish that an actual filing is late.

Fictitious example

Use a claim required under the Government Claims Act, properly presented and rejected, with a section 913 notice actually qualifying under section 915.4 and personally delivered or deposited in proper US mail. Exclude electronic-notice interpretation, sections 946.4 and 946.6 relief, section 945.6(b) prison-restoration facts and other tolling or special statutory branches. Qualified notice is personally delivered on this date.

Fictitious facts within the stated coverage. No excluded interval, different notice branch, relief order, emergency or additional closure is assumed. The calculation does not establish accrual, adequate claim presentation, valid notice or entitlement to relief.

Qualified notice

Section 913 requires the stated notice and the six-month warning in substantially the specified form. A board decision, late-claim denial or defective letter is not automatically this trigger.

No mail addition to this suit clock

Section 915.2(b) expressly excludes the section 945.6 written notice and complaint filing after claim denial from its identified mail addition. Do not add five, ten or twenty days.

Electronic notice requires separate review

Section 915.4(a)(3) permits electronic notice for an electronically submitted claim or application. This preset confines the six-month trigger to the personal-delivery or mail-deposit wording of section 945.6(a)(1).

Statutory exceptions

Section 945.6 is subject to its prison-restoration subdivision and sections 946.4 and 946.6. The latter supplies a thirty-day suit period after relief is granted. These are not automatic extensions of this preset.

Presentation and notice methods

Claim presentation, ordinary claim rejection and late-application denial are different events. Section 915.2(a) deems proper mail presented and received at deposit. Its subsection (b) provides specified mail-response additions but excludes the section 945.6 notice and post-denial complaint filing. Section 915.4 separately permits identified electronic notice. The six-month notice preset accepts only the qualified personal-delivery or mail-deposit branch; it does not resolve electronic notice. The petition preset accepts the independently established actual or deemed application-denial date, not a later notice-receipt date.

Edition and judicial-calendar coverage

Official sections were reviewed. The three court-filing presets require triggers on or after January 1, 2024 and final dates within the retained 2026 or 2027 judicial calendar. The unchanged section 945.6 text and the current section 946.6 edition are retained. Every other referenced requirement must still apply to the actual facts. Earlier editions, later amendments, emergency orders, additional closures, disputed accrual, excluded intervals and relief branches require separate review. These software coverage limits do not establish that an actual filing is late.

• Use a claim required under the Government Claims Act, properly presented and rejected, with a section 913 notice actually qualifying under section 915.4 and personally delivered or deposited in proper US mail. Exclude electronic-notice interpretation, sections 946.4 and 946.6 relief, section 945.6(b) prison-restoration facts and other tolling or special statutory branches.
• The component does not determine the excluded branches or prove completion of the required statutory acts.

• Personal delivery or proper mail deposit of the qualified section 913 rejection notice
• Retain the actual notice, its required warning, the recipient address and delivery or mailing proof. Later receipt of a mailed notice is not the stated starting event.
• Section 913 requires the stated notice and the six-month warning in substantially the specified form. A board decision, late-claim denial or defective letter is not automatically this trigger.
• Section 915.2(b) expressly excludes the section 945.6 written notice and complaint filing after claim denial from its identified mail addition. Do not add five, ten or twenty days.
• Section 915.4(a)(3) permits electronic notice for an electronically submitted claim or application. This preset confines the six-month trigger to the personal-delivery or mail-deposit wording of section 945.6(a)(1).
• Section 945.6 is subject to its prison-restoration subdivision and sections 946.4 and 946.6. The latter supplies a thirty-day suit period after relief is granted. These are not automatic extensions of this preset.
• Commence the covered suit in the proper court within the applicable period. Preserve the accepted complaint filing, fees or waiver and required service evidence.
• Court electronic filing follows CCP 1010.6 and rules 2.253 and 2.259. Preserve the receipt and accepted filing confirmations, required fees or waiver and actual court requirements. Rule 2.259(c) addresses proved court-system failure and excludes complaints and other initial pleadings from that provision. A prepared complaint, rejected upload or agency claim delivery does not establish accepted court filing. Paper filing requires the actual court’s receipt and office procedure.