Written and reviewed by Josh Kohanim, Esq., California Bar No. 328609 · Reviewed
What is different in Glendale
We represent people hurt in a vehicle crash in Glendale, and the relative handling the claim while someone treats. People hit while walking should start at our Glendale pedestrian accident lawyer page, and the broader local questions are on our Glendale personal injury lawyer page.
Where Glendale crashes happen
| Location | Route | Vehicles a day |
|---|---|---|
| At Concord Street and San Fernando Road | 134 | 217,000 to 221,000 |
| At Pacific Avenue | 134 | 219,000 to 221,000 |
| At Brand Boulevard | 134 | 218,000 to 219,000 |
| At Glendale Avenue | 134 | 213,000 to 218,000 |
| At the junction with Route 2 | 134 | 174,000 to 186,000 |
| At Mountain Street | 2 | 99,000 to 104,000 |
Those are Caltrans annual average daily traffic counts, published without a count year. The geography they describe is unusual. SR 134, SR 2 and I-5 meet in or beside a compact downtown, and the Brand Boulevard and Glendale Avenue off ramps deliver more than 200,000 vehicles a day into a retail district built around the Galleria and the Americana. North of the 134 the streets change character completely: Kenneth Road, Glenoaks Boulevard and the canyon streets climb into the Verdugo Mountains on narrow curves.
What Glendale crashes usually look like
| Category | Killed and injured | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Total fatal and injury | 593 | 53 of 62 |
| Alcohol involved | 28 | 62 of 62 |
| Had been drinking, driver 21 to 34 | 7 | 62 of 62 |
| Motorcycles | 27 | 50 of 62 |
| Pedestrians 65 and older | 22 | 2 of 62 |
Rank 1 is the worst rate in the group and rank 62 is the lowest. Adjusted for 191,706 residents and 1,550,420 daily vehicle miles, Glendale is a low rate city for nearly everything, and the lowest rate in its group on two alcohol measures. That matters to your case, because it tells you what these files are usually about: ordinary inattention in heavy retail traffic rather than a drunk driver. The exception is people over 65 on foot, at rank 2 of 62, which is covered on the pedestrian page.
The Office of Traffic Safety adds one caveat: "if a crash report is taken by the CHP on a road with shared jurisdiction, it does not count against the city." With three freeways at the edge of a small city, that exclusion removes a lot of Glendale collisions from the 593.
How fault is proved in Glendale
The statutes are countywide, and our Los Angeles car accident lawyer page works through them: Civil Code 1714(a), the following distance rule in Vehicle Code 21703, the basic speed law in Vehicle Code 22350, and the presumption jurors receive as CACI 418. Glendale supplies two settings where those sections do most of the work.
The first is the off ramp queue. Traffic leaving the 134 for Brand or Glendale Avenue stops without warning, and stop and go congestion is where Vehicle Code 21703 applies. Our guide on who is at fault in a rear-end accident covers the four defenses an insurer raises and how each one is answered. The second is the hillside. On Kenneth Road and the canyon streets the posted limit is a ceiling rather than a safe harbor: section 22350 forbids any speed greater than is reasonable for the road, the weather and the sight distance, and a curve with no view around it is the fact that proves it.
Why your records come from two hospitals
Glendale has three general acute care hospitals and no designated trauma center: Adventist Health Glendale, 1509 Wilson Terrace, 415 licensed beds; Glendale Memorial, 1420 S Central Avenue, 255 beds; and USC Verdugo Hills, 1812 Verdugo Boulevard, 110 beds. The California EMS Authority list updated October 22, 2025 has no Glendale hospital on it. The nearest designated centers are Huntington Hospital in Pasadena, Level II, Los Angeles General Medical Center, Level I adult, and Cedars-Sinai, Level I adult and pediatric.
A seriously hurt driver therefore generates two hospital charts, two billing departments and two sets of liens, the rights to be repaid out of a settlement. Civil Code 3040 caps a health plan's lien at one third of what is due to you when a lawyer represents you. The practical consequence is arithmetic: two facilities exhaust a minimum policy faster than one.
Which policy pays
Policy limits are the most a policy pays whatever a jury says, and they usually set the ceiling on a Glendale case. Since January 1, 2025, Vehicle Code 16056 puts the state minimum at $30,000 for one person and $60,000 for a crash. An ambulance, an emergency department, a transfer and one surgery pass that number before anyone discusses pain and suffering.
Your own coverage is what closes the gap. Insurance Code 11580.2 requires uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage at your liability limits unless you waived it in writing, and gives two years to sue, settle in writing or demand arbitration against your own insurer. If the car that hit you was borrowed, Vehicle Code 17151 caps the owner's liability for merely lending it at $15,000 for one person, unless the owner handed the keys to someone he knew should not have them.
Your courthouse and your deadlines
Glendale is in the North Central District. The Los Angeles Superior Court filing locator returns four possible courthouses for an unlimited civil case from a Glendale address: Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena or Alhambra. The district's own courthouses are the Glendale Courthouse, 600 East Broadway, and the Burbank Courthouse, 300 East Olive Avenue. A limited civil case, $35,000 or less, goes to the Stanley Mosk Courthouse downtown. Under Local Rule 2.3, the district follows the crash rather than your address.
Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 gives two years to sue for an injury or a death. Government Code 911.2 gives six months to present a written claim against a public entity, and section 912.4 gives the agency 45 days to act before the claim is deemed rejected. The full set is in our table of California injury deadlines.
Situations that change your Glendale claim
- The crash was on the 134, the 2 or the 5. That is a California Highway Patrol report, not a Glendale Police report. The CHP Southern Division headquarters at 411 N Central Avenue in Glendale is an administrative office that is not open to the public, and report requests go to an Area office instead. We identify the correct Area rather than guessing at one.
- A public agency is in the case. Six months to present a written claim, not two years, and the clock runs while you are still treating.
- You owned an uninsured car. Civil Code 3333.4, passed as Proposition 213, removes pain and suffering from an uninsured owner or operator. The bills and lost earnings survive.
- Someone over 65 was hit on foot. Glendale ranks 2 of 62 for that, and the case runs on the right of way statutes: see our Glendale pedestrian accident lawyer page. A crash over the line in the next city belongs on our Pasadena car accident lawyer page.
- Insurer’s first offer
$31,500What we recovered$1,250,00040× the first offerRear-end crash, herniated disc
Hit at a stoplight by a texting driver on the job. Back surgery, then a real settlement.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Every case depends on its own facts, injuries, and insurance coverage. Amounts shown are gross recoveries before attorney's fees, costs, and medical liens.
All case resultsWhat to do after a Glendale crash
You have two years, or six months if a public agency is involved. Your case will be heard in the North Central District, which in practice means Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena or Alhambra. Your medical file probably starts at a Glendale hospital and continues somewhere else, and assembling both halves is the first real work in the claim. The number at the end will be set by the coverage behind the other driver, and that can be established in the first weeks.
Our headquarters are in Tarzana, and you do not have to make the drive. Send us the report number, the hospital names and your own declarations page.
Tell us where it happened and which agency responded. We handle the adjuster, the recorded statement and the deadline.