Internal prototype — noindexed, not linked from public navigation yet.

Cal. PEN § 646.5

This is the official text of Cal. PEN § 646.5, part of California’s Penal Code — defines crimes and sets criminal procedure in California.

Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.

Official statutory text

No person shall knowingly and directly solicit employment from any injured person or from any other person to obtain authorization on behalf of the injured person, as an investigator to investigate the accident or act which resulted in injury or death to such person or damage to the property of such person. Nothing in this section shall prohibit the soliciting of employment as an investigator from such injured person’s attorney.

Any person violating any provision of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor.

This section shall not apply to any business agent or attorney employed by a labor organization.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.