Where Your Case Is Heard

Venue is assigned by ZIP code — generally where you live or where the injury occurred. The DWC maintains a ZIP code locator, and the Information Services Center is 1-800-736-7401. Venue can be changed only by petition for good cause.

These pages exist because the practical questions have real answers and nobody publishes them.

Van Nuys: the street meters are 2-hour maximum and a settlement conference is usually longer. Park on Calvert. Santa Ana: up to $18 a day, the most expensive in the state, and the nearest Metrolink is four miles away and not walkable. Riverside: if the building is at capacity you may be held in the ground-floor food court. Bakersfield: an unrepresented worker cannot get past the lobby without an escort. Call ahead.

The thirteen offices

The complete guide to all thirteen →

Orange County: Santa Ana · Anaheim — free parking, Metrolink behind the building

Inland Empire: San Bernardino — cheapest parking in the system · Riverside

Coastal and south: Oxnard · Goleta — moved from Santa Barbara January 22, 2026 · San Diego

Central Valley: Bakersfield

By county

By city

What actually happens where

Remote by video: status conferences, mandatory settlement conferences, priority conferences, rating MSCs, and lien conferences.

In person: trials, lien trials, expedited hearings, and walk-throughs.

And the most consequential proceeding is not the trial. Under § 5502(d)(3), discovery closes at the mandatory settlement conference — evidence not disclosed there is generally inadmissible. Why.

Interpreters are free at hearings, depositions, medical-legal examinations, and treatment appointments — under § 5811(b)(2), § 5710(b)(5), § 4600(f) and § 4600(g) respectively. Your interpreter rights.

Office addresses, parking rates, security procedures, and local calendaring practices change. Verify against the DWC directory before traveling.