Los Angeles Wrongful Death Lawyer

California Wrongful Death Law: What Families Need to Know

When a death is caused by someone else’s negligence or wrongful act, California law gives the surviving family two distinct claims. The rules on who may bring them, what they compensate, and how long you have are set by statute. This section explains those rules plainly, because families making decisions in the worst weeks of their lives deserve accurate information rather than sales language.

Who May Bring a Wrongful Death Claim

Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 controls standing. Under subdivision (a), the claim belongs to the decedent’s surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and the issue of any deceased children. If there are none of those, it passes to the persons who would take the decedent’s property by intestate succession, which usually means parents and then siblings. Subdivision (b) adds a putative spouse and that spouse’s children, stepchildren, parents, and a legal guardian of the decedent, but only if they were financially dependent on the decedent. Subdivision (c) adds a minor who lived in the decedent’s household for the previous 180 days and depended on the decedent for one half or more of their support.

California generally requires all of the eligible heirs to be joined in a single wrongful death action, so an early conversation about who the heirs are prevents a settlement from being undone later.

Two Claims: Wrongful Death and the Survival Action

The wrongful death claim compensates the heirs for their own losses. Section 377.61 allows damages that, under all the circumstances of the case, may be just. In practice that means the financial support the decedent would have contributed, the value of household services they provided, funeral and burial expenses, and the loss of the decedent’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support. Civil Code section 1431.2(b) confirms that burial costs are recoverable economic damages and that loss of society and companionship are recoverable non-economic damages.

The survival action under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.34 is different. It is the decedent’s own claim, which passes to the estate or successor in interest, and it recovers the losses the decedent sustained before death: medical expenses, lost earnings between injury and death, property damage, and, where the conduct qualifies, punitive damages. The Legislature temporarily allowed survival actions to recover the decedent’s own pain, suffering, and disfigurement for cases filed on or after January 1, 2022 and before January 1, 2026. That window has closed for new filings unless the Legislature extends it, and we will tell you the current status when we review your case.

Proving Fault

A wrongful death claim uses the same negligence rules as any injury case. Civil Code section 1714(a) holds everyone responsible for harm caused by their want of ordinary care, whether the death came from a car or truck collision, a fall, a dog attack, a dangerous property condition, or a defective product. If the decedent shared fault, the recovery is reduced by their percentage but not barred. Where more than one party is at fault, section 1431.2 limits each defendant’s share of non-economic damages to its own percentage, so identifying every responsible party matters more in these cases than in any other.

A pending criminal case does not decide the civil claim. The civil case has its own burden of proof, proceeds whether or not charges are filed, and can succeed even where a prosecution does not.

Deadlines

Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit based on negligence. If a public entity is responsible, such as a city vehicle, a county road, or a public transit operator, Government Code section 911.2 requires a written government claim within six months. Deaths involving medical care are governed by different and shorter rules. Because evidence such as camera footage and vehicle data disappears within weeks, the practical deadline is far shorter than the statute.

The Insurance Realities

The available recovery is often limited not by what the loss is worth but by what coverage exists. We locate every policy that applies: the at-fault party’s liability coverage, employer and commercial policies, umbrella policies, the decedent’s own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, and, in rideshare deaths, the Public Utilities Code section 5433 coverage tiers. Insurers approach grieving families early with quick settlements. Those offers are calculated on what the family knows at that moment, not on what the evidence will show.

How We Handle Wrongful Death Cases

We take over the communications with insurers and other parties immediately, send preservation demands, obtain the coroner, police, and medical records, and work at the family’s pace on everything else. The heirs are identified and joined correctly from the start. Economic losses are proven with employment records and, where needed, an economist. There are no attorney’s fees unless we win, and the consultation is free and private.

About this page: Prepared for Not My Fault Law Group, APC. Responsible attorney: Joshua B. Adelpour, Esq., California State Bar No. 318226. Last updated September 4, 2026. This page provides general information about California law and is not legal advice about your situation.