California time-limited demands: the CCP 999 requirements checklist

California's time-limited demand statute, Code of Civil Procedure sections 999 to 999.5, sets the form a pre-suit demand has to take if the claimant wants it to count later, in a lawsuit against the insurer for damages above the policy limits. It was added by Senate Bill 1155 and applies to demands transmitted on or after January 1, 2023 (CCP 999.5(c)).

This guide walks through what the statute covers, what a compliant demand contains, how to count and deliver it, and what happens when a demand falls short. This is general information, not legal advice: read the statute itself before you send a demand.

What CCP 999 covers

The chapter reaches a narrow set of demands:

• Pre-suit only. A time-limited demand is an offer made before a complaint is filed or a demand for arbitration is served (CCP 999(b)(2)).
• Within limits. The offer is to settle a claim for personal injury, property damage, bodily injury or wrongful death within the insurer's limits, and it must be accepted within a stated period (CCP 999(b)(2)).
• Certain policies. It applies only to claims covered by automobile, motor vehicle, homeowner or commercial premises liability policies (CCP 999.5(a)).
• Represented claimants. The consequence in section 999.4(a) does not apply to a claimant who is not represented by counsel (CCP 999.4(b)).

Everything else stays where it was. Section 999.5(b) says that, apart from what the chapter provides, it doesn't change existing law on claims, damages and defenses in a suit for extracontractual damages. A demand made after suit is filed, for example, is outside the chapter and governed by the case law that came before it.

The content requirements as a checklist

Section 999.1 says a time-limited demand must be in writing, must be labeled as a time-limited demand or refer to section 999.1, and must contain these material terms.

Two items cause most of the trouble.

The lien term. The statute asks for an offer that includes the satisfaction of all liens, so the demand should say how liens will be handled, and the firm should know who holds them before it sends. The lien reductions guide covers hospital, Medi-Cal, Medicare and health plan liens.

The proof. A demand that describes an injury the enclosed records don't support invites the argument that the proof wasn't sufficient to support the claim. Build the injury description from a medical chronology, and enclose what it cites.

Counting the response window

The window runs from the date of transmission, not the date the carrier receives the demand. Section 999.1(a) sets these minimums:

These are floors. A firm can give more time, and many do when the records are long or the carrier has asked for documents it hasn't had yet.

• State the expiration as a calendar date and time in the letter itself, along with the method of transmission.
• Keep proof of transmission: the sent email with its attachments, the fax confirmation, the certified mail receipt.
• Put the expiration date on the calendar the day the demand goes out, with a reminder a week before.
• If you send by more than one method, count from the method that gives the longer minimum.

Where to send it

Section 999.2(a) requires the demand to go to one of two places:

1. The email or physical address the liability insurer has designated for time-limited demands, if the insurer gave it to the California Department of Insurance and the Department made it public.
2. The insurance representative assigned to handle the claim, if known.

The Department posts the designated addresses on its website (CCP 999.2(b)). Check the current list before each demand rather than a copy saved months ago. When a claim has an assigned adjuster, many firms send to both the designated address and the adjuster, and record both in the file.

What the insurer may do, and must do

Section 999.3 sets the carrier's side of the exchange:

• Accept. The recipient may accept by written acceptance of the material terms in section 999.1, in their entirety (CCP 999.3(a)).
• Ask questions. A request for clarification or more information, or for an extension because more information or investigation is needed, made during the acceptance period, is not by itself a counteroffer or rejection (CCP 999.3(b)).
• Explain a refusal. If the insurer does not accept for any reason, it must tell the claimant in writing, before the demand expires (including any agreed extension), its decision and the basis for it (CCP 999.3(c)).

Answer requests for information quickly and in writing, and decide early whether you'll extend. Put any extension in writing with its new expiration date. A refusal letter is evidence in any later suit for extracontractual damages, so file it where the trial team will find it.

What happens if a demand doesn't comply

The consequence is in section 999.4(a). In a later suit against the tortfeasor's liability insurer for extracontractual damages, whether brought by the claimant directly, as the insured's assignee, or through the insured, a time-limited demand that does not substantially comply with the chapter is not considered a reasonable offer to settle within limits.

That is why the statute matters. Since Crisci v. Security Ins. Co. (1967) 66 Cal.2d 425, an insurer that unreasonably refuses an offer within limits can be liable for a judgment above them; the court measured the insurer's conduct by whether a prudent insurer without policy limits would have accepted. The statute doesn't replace that rule. It sets the form a pre-suit demand has to take for the rule to work in the claimant's favor.

Section 999.4(c) adds that if a court finds the chapter conflicts with the Civil Discovery Act, the Discovery Act prevails.

Mistakes that sink a demand

• Counting the window from the date on the letter when it was transmitted days later.
• Adding conditions beyond the statute's material terms. Each extra condition is something a carrier can point to in arguing the offer wasn't clear and unequivocal.
• A release limited to the named driver when the policy has other insureds.
• A lien term that is vague, or silent about a Medicare or Medi-Cal interest the firm knew about.
• Describing injuries with no records enclosed, or enclosing bills for care the demand never mentions.
• Sending to an old adjuster's email instead of the designated address on the Department's list.

The policy-limits demand letter guide covers building the letter itself.

Tracking time-limited demands in PlaintiffStack

On a personal injury case in PlaintiffStack, the demand and coverage page keeps the carrier, the confirmed limits, liability and the demand together. The demand letter tool drafts a policy-limits demand from the case's own documents, and every fact in the draft cites the page it came from, so the reviewer can check the injuries and proof against the records. Missing facts are marked as fields instead of guessed, and a person edits and sends the letter; nothing goes out on its own. See Draft.

Once the demand is out, a morning check flags offers and demands about to expire, so the deadline doesn't depend on anyone's memory.