Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

This is a civil matter and would not be handled by a public defender who is appointed by the court for criminal matters. Your friend must either answer the complaint or he will have a default judgment taken against him. If punitive damages are awarded, he may not be able to discharge them in bankruptcy. If he is at fault for the incident, he should try and settle for a reasonable amount and work out a payment schedule.

The response given is not intended to create, nor does it create an ongoing duty to respond to questions. The response does not form an attorney-client relationship, nor is it intended to be anything other than the educated opinion of the author. It should not be relied upon as legal advice. The response given is based upon the limited facts provided by the person asking the question. To the extent additional or different facts exist, the response might possibly change

The public defender only handles criminal actions for people without sufficient funs to afford a lawyer. While our Chief Justice of our Supreme court has advocated for help akin to the public defender for civil actions nothing has happened yet.

However in a lot of counties the local bar associations usually have or know of a legal aid program that helps people in situations like your friend. I would call your local county bar association immediately to see if they have any groups/programs that could help him.

By the way if he got a notice of default he may already have a judgment against him. He will have to make a motion with the court to get it set aside and the main grounds would be a defective or improper service of the complaint. He generally has 6 months to make that motion from the entry of the default but there are a lot of variables so he needs to seek help immediately or it will be too late.

Good luck and hope that helps.