(a) When payment or delivery of money or other property has been made to any claimant under the provisions of this chapter, no suit shall thereafter be maintained by any other claimant against the state or any officer or employee thereof for or on account of such property.
§ 1566.Immunity Upon Payment of Delivery to Claimant; Transactions Entered Into By Controller
Title 10. Unclaimed Property · Chapter 7. Unclaimed Property Law · Article 5. Administration of Unclaimed Property · Enacted 1968 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 29, 2026
In one sentenceSection 1566 bars any lawsuit by a competing claimant once the Controller has paid an authorized claimant under this chapter, and separately bars any suit against the state or its officers over a Controller transaction except through the judicial review Section 1541 provides.
Full Text of § 1566
Plain-English Summary
Once the Controller has paid or delivered property to a claimant who followed the proper process, that payment needs to be final, and Section 1566 makes it so. When payment or delivery has been made to any claimant under this chapter, no other claimant can later sue the state or any of its officers or employees over that same property, closing the door on a second person showing up afterward to relitigate who was entitled to it.
The section then extends a related but broader protection to the Controller's transactions generally. Except as Section 1541 allows, no suit can be maintained by anyone against the state or its officers or employees over any transaction the Controller entered into under this chapter. Section 1541's judicial-review process, for a claimant aggrieved by a decision or left waiting past 180 days, remains the one avenue into court that this broader immunity doesn't foreclose.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a second claimant sue after the Controller has already paid the property to someone else?
No. Section 1566 bars any suit by another claimant once payment or delivery has been made to a claimant under this chapter.
Does this section protect the Controller from every lawsuit over how a transaction was handled?
Largely yes; no suit may be maintained against the state or its officers over a transaction entered into under this chapter, except through the judicial review Section 1541 provides.
What's the one way around this immunity?
The judicial review process in Section 1541, available to a claimant aggrieved by the Controller's decision or left without one after 180 days.
Does this bar apply to individual officers as well as the state itself?
Yes. The section bars suits against the state or any officer or employee of the state, not just against the state as an institution.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1968, Ch. 356.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 29, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: immunity from suit unclaimed property claimsno suit against controller after payment