Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Civil Lawsuit but need the police to do investigation

You have misunderstood the law. The Penal Code deals with criminal prosecutions, not with civil claims. (There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, but I don't see any reason to believe they apply to you.)

You don't need a police investigation to sue, and your limitations period for the theft begins when you discover -- or reasonably should have discovered -- the theft. The same is true of your battery claim, but there is usually no delay before someone discovers he's been battered.

Keep in mind that one of your claims could expire long before the other, depending upon the facts.

You can bring two different causes of action for the car. You can sue for conversion, which would enable you to recover money, and you can sue for replevin, which would get you the car back. You will eventually have to choose one or the other, but each has its advantages and you can start with both.

The advantage of a conversion claim is that you can recover damages equal to the value of the car before it was stolen; if you get it back under replevin it may be damaged or have depreciated for other reasons.

The advantage of replevin is that you can often get a writ of possession entitling you to have the property while the lawsuit is pending. Since cases can drag on for a long time, this can be a significant advantage.

Either way, the lack of a police report doesn't affect your rights at all. Assuming you know who took the car, the only impact of not having a report will be some added difficulty proving your case will be.