California Wrongful Death Laws: A Guide for Grieving Families

Losing a family member because of someone else’s carelessness or misconduct is one of the hardest things a person can go through. Alongside the grief, families are often left with unanswered questions: Who is legally allowed to bring a claim? What compensation may be available? And how much time do we have to take legal action? You do not have to face these challenges alone. Our experienced California wrongful death attorneys are here to help. Please contact us today for a FREE consultation and case evaluation.

For more than 50 years, we have represented families in wrongful death cases throughout California, helping them pursue the compensation they may be entitled to. Our experienced California wrongful death Lawyers are here to explain your legal options and help you pursue the compensation available to your family. Contact us for your free case evaluation or you may also call us at 818-222-3400 (again, after hours, please dial “1”).

What Is a Wrongful Death Claim Under California Law?

A wrongful death claim is a civil lawsuit brought by the surviving family members of someone who died because of another person’s or company’s negligence, recklessness or intentional wrongdoing. It is separate from any criminal case that may also result from the same incident. Common examples our firm sees across Los Angeles County and Ventura County include fatal car and motorcycle collisions on freeways like the 101, 405 and 134; pedestrian deaths on busy arterial roads in the San Fernando Valley; fatal truck crashes, construction and workplace fatalities, defective products and deaths caused by medical negligence at a hospital or surgical center.

To succeed, the surviving family generally must prove four things: (1) the at-fault party owed a duty of care to the person who died; (2) that duty was breached through negligence or a wrongful act; (3) the breach was a substantial factor in causing the death; and (4) the surviving family members suffered actual, measurable harm as a result.

Who May Bring a Wrongful Death Claim in California?

California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60identifies exactly who has legal standing to file a wrongful death action. It does not simply allow anyone who loved the decedent to sue — the statute establishes a specific hierarchy:

• The decedent’s surviving spouse or registered domestic partner.
• The decedent’s children, and if a child has already died, that child’s own children (the decedent’s grandchildren) may step into their place.
• If there is no surviving spouse, domestic partner or children, the persons who would inherit the decedent’s property under California’s intestate succession laws — typically parents or siblings.
• Certain financial dependents of the decedent, including a putative spouse, stepchildren or other minor children who lived in the decedent’s household and were at least 50% financially dependent on the decedent.

These rules are nuanced and disputes sometimes arise over who qualifies — for example, blended families, domestic partners or dependent stepchildren. If you believe you may have a right to bring a claim, please contact us now for your free consultation so we can evaluate your specific family situation.

The “One Action Rule”: Why All Heirs Must Join One Lawsuit

California follows what is often called the “one action rule.” Only one wrongful death lawsuit may be brought against a given defendant for a single death, so all known heirs generally must be joined as parties in that single action. This protects the defendant from facing multiple lawsuits over the same death and helps avoid inconsistent verdicts.

Therefore, the heirs who file suit have a duty under California law to identify and include all known qualifying heirs. So what happens when an heir does not want to participate?  What happens if this heir does not want to be included as a plaintiff in the lawsuit?  California has a procedure to cover this.  Any heir who does not wish to participate should be named as a “nominal defendant” rather than a plaintiff.  If a qualifying heir is left out — especially if the omission looks intentional — that heir may later have a claim against the family members who excluded them. Because of this, it is critical to tell your attorney about every possible heir, including estranged or out-of-state family members, at the very start of the case.  As an alternative, if an heir does not wish to participate and be named in the lawsuit, that heir could sign a release confirming their decision not to participate; then there should be no reason to include that nominal heir.

What Must Be Shown: Causation and Special Situations

The family must show that the wrongful act or negligence was a substantial factor in causing the death. This issue comes up frequently in medical malpractice cases: if the decedent’s chance of survival was already 50% or less before the alleged negligence, it can be mathematically difficult to prove the health care provider’s conduct — rather than the underlying illness or injury — caused the death. These cases require careful review of the medical record and almost always, expert testimony.

Situations California Law Treats Differently

• Loss of an unborn child. California does not recognize a wrongful death claim for a stillborn fetus. The California Supreme Court held that “a fetus is not a ‘person’ within the meaning of the wrongful death statute” absent a live birth. (Justus v. Atchison (1977) 19 Cal.3d 564, 578.) Families in this situation may still have other legal options, such as a medical malpractice claim brought by the mother and should speak with an attorney about what may be available.
• Justifiable homicide. If a death is legally determined to be a justifiable homicide — for example, certain deaths that occur while the decedent was committing specific violent felonies — California law generally bars the family from bringing a wrongful death action. (Pen. Code § 197.)
• Suicide. A wrongful death claim based on a suicide is difficult but not automatically barred. California courts have allowed such claims where the defendant owed a duty of care to the decedent and the defendant’s act or omission was a substantial factor in bringing about the suicide — for example, in some institutional or custodial-care settings.

What Compensation Can a Family Recover?

Damages in a California wrongful death case are governed by CCP § 377.61, which allows the court to award damages that are “just under all the circumstances of the case.” In practice, that generally includes:

• Loss of the financial support and income the decedent would have provided, calculated using the decedent’s earning capacity and life expectancy.
• Loss of household services, benefits and financial contributions the decedent provided to the family.
• Reasonable funeral and burial expenses.
• Loss of the decedent’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society and — for a surviving spouse or partner — sexual relations.
• For children, the loss of a parent’s guidance, training and nurturing during their remaining minority.

Punitive damages are generally not available in a standard wrongful death action, because CCP § 377.61 excludes damages recoverable under the survival-action statute (CCP § 377.34). A separate survival action, brought on behalf of the decedent’s estate, may allow additional recovery in some circumstances and a narrow statutory exception can permit punitive damages where the death resulted from certain felony conduct with a criminal conviction. Because this area of law changes and depends heavily on the specific facts, it should always be confirmed with your attorney before a claim is valued or filed.

Statute of Limitations: How Much Time Do You Have?

California wrongful death claims are subject to strict filing deadlines and missing one can permanently bar the family’s right to recover. There are at least three different deadlines to be aware of, depending on the type of claim:

Because government claim deadlines are so short, it is especially important to act quickly if the at-fault party may be a public entity — for example, a crash involving a Los Angeles Metro bus, a city vehicle, a Caltrans-maintained freeway defect or medical negligence at a county facility such as LAC+USC Medical Center or Harbor-UCLA Medical Center.

Don’t wait until it’s too late — please contact us now for your FREE consultation and case evaluation.

Common Mistakes Families Make After a Fatal Accident

• Giving a recorded statement to the at-fault party’s insurance adjuster before speaking with an attorney.
• Accepting a fast early settlement offer before the full extent of financial losses is known.
• Failing to preserve evidence — such as photographs, 911 recordings, surveillance video, vehicle data and witness contact information — before it is lost or destroyed.
• Not identifying every possible heir before filing suit, which can jeopardize the whole case under the one-action rule.
• Missing a government claim deadline because it wasn’t clear a public entity was involved.

Insurance companies investigating a fatal accident often move quickly to gather statements and evidence favorable to their position, sometimes before a grieving family has even had time to process what happened. An experienced wrongful death attorney can step in immediately to preserve evidence, communicate with insurers on the family’s behalf and make sure no deadline is missed.

Why Hire an Experienced California Wrongful Death Attorney

Wrongful death cases are among the most legally and emotionally complex claims in personal injury law. They often involve multiple heirs with competing interests, disputes over comparative fault, complicated causation questions (especially in medical malpractice cases) and — when a government entity is involved — short, unforgiving claim deadlines.

Gary K. Walch, A Law Corporation has served injured accident victims and grieving families throughout Los Angeles County and Ventura County for more than 50 years. Our firm has handled thousands of personal injury and wrongful death cases and has recovered millions of dollars for our clients. We treat every client like family — not a case number — and we invest the time to understand what your family has lost and what it will take to move forward. While no outcome can ever be guaranteed, our approach is to prepare every case as though it will go to trial, which puts our clients in the strongest possible position to negotiate a fair result.

Contact us now for your FREE consultation. Our phones are answered day and night, and there is never a fee unless we win your case.