An action brought pursuant to the Long-Term Care, Health, Safety, and Security Act of 1973 (Chapter 2.4 (commencing with Section 1417) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code) is a limited civil case if civil penalties are not sought or amount to thirty-five thousand dollars ($35,000) or less.
§ 86.1.Action under Long-Term Care, Health, Safety and Security Act as limited civil case
Title 1. Organization and Jurisdiction · Chapter 5.1. Limited Civil Cases · Article 1. Jurisdiction in Limited Civil Cases · Last amended 2024 · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 86.1 classifies a lawsuit brought under the Long-Term Care, Health, Safety and Security Act of 1973 — a state law protecting residents of long-term health care facilities — as a limited civil case, subject to the same amount-in-controversy ceiling that governs other limited civil cases.
Full Text of § 86.1
Plain-English Summary
The Long-Term Care, Health, Safety and Security Act of 1973 lets a resident of a nursing home or other long-term health care facility sue over specified violations of the facility’s duties toward its patients. Section 86.1 tells the court where that lawsuit belongs procedurally: on the limited civil case track, alongside the other case types § 86 lists.
Placing these claims among the limited civil cases matters because it ties them to the streamlined pleading, discovery, and trial rules the rest of this chapter sets out — the same rules that apply to any other limited civil case once the amount in controversy fits within the statutory ceiling.
Section 86.1 has been amended twice to track broader changes to the California court system — first when the Legislature let counties unify their municipal and superior courts, and again when that unification became statewide and the old municipal and justice courts disappeared. Neither amendment changed which claims the section covers; both updated the section to refer to the superior court once the courts it originally described no longer existed.
Official Comment
The following official comments are published by the California Law Revision Commission (and, for a few older sections, its predecessor Code Commissioners) alongside the statute itself — not commentary from this site.
1998 Law Revision Commission Comment. Section 86.1 is amended to accommodate unification of the municipal and superior courts in a county. Cal Const Art IV § 5(e). It is also amended to reflect elimination of the justice court. Cal Const Art IV §§ 1, 5(b). An action pursuant to the Long–Term Care, Health, Safety, and Security Act of 1973 is not a limited civil case if the amount in controversy exceeds $25,000. See Section 85 (limited civil cases). Formerly, each county had one or more municipal courts and a superior court, and an action pursuant to the Long–Term Care, Health, Safety, and Security Act of 1973 was within the original jurisdiction of the municipal court, unless the amount in controversy exceeded $25,000. A limited civil case is equivalent to a matter within the original jurisdiction of the municipal court under former law, so Section 86.1 as amended continues the effect of former law. See Section 85 & Comment.
2002 Law Revision Commission Comment. Section 86.1 is amended to reflect unification of the municipal and superior courts pursuant to Article VI, Section 5(e), of the California Constitution. See Section 1048 (consolidation of actions in superior court).
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a nursing home resident bring a Long-Term Care Act claim as a limited civil case?
Yes. Section 86.1 classifies an action under the Long-Term Care, Health, Safety and Security Act of 1973 as a limited civil case, subject to the same amount-in-controversy limit that applies to other limited civil cases.
Does § 86.1 create a new cause of action?
No. It doesn’t create a claim — it tells the court to treat a claim already available under the Long-Term Care, Health, Safety and Security Act as a limited civil case for procedural purposes.
Why was § 86.1 amended after the municipal courts were eliminated?
Earlier versions of § 86.1 referred to the municipal and justice courts. Once California unified those courts with the superior courts statewide, the Legislature updated the section to refer to the superior court instead, without changing which claims it covers.
Amendment History
Added Stats 1985 ch 11 § 1, effective March 6, 1985. Amended Stats 1990 ch 1133 § 1 (AB 3536), ch 1134 § 1 (SB 1967); Stats 1998 ch 931 § 30 (SB 2139), effective September 28, 1998; Stats 2002 ch 784 § 29 (SB 1316); Stats 2023 ch 861 § 4 (SB 71), effective January 1, 2024.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: long-term care health safety and security act limited civil casenursing home lawsuit limited civil case california