When someone else’s wrongful conduct causes your loved one’s death, the loss can change nearly every part of your family’s life. Along with grieving, you may suddenly have to pay funeral expenses, replace lost income, care for children differently, or take over responsibilities your loved one handled every day.
California’s wrongful death law gives certain surviving family members a way to hold the responsible party financially accountable—however, the law limits who can bring the claim and which losses survivors can seek to recover.
Understanding those rules can help you protect your family’s rights and make informed decisions about what to do next.
What Is a Wrongful Death Claim in California?
A wrongful death claim is a civil action that allows eligible survivors to seek damages when legally wrongful conduct causes a person’s death.
California Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 authorizes an action when the “wrongful act or neglect of another” causes the death.
That language covers more than accidents. A wrongful death claim can arise after a fatal car or truck accident, an unsafe property condition, a defective product, an intentional act, or another incident for which California law holds a person or business responsible.
A civil wrongful death case also operates separately from a criminal prosecution. Your family does not need to wait for prosecutors to file criminal charges before pursuing a civil claim.
California also distinguishes wrongful death claims from survival actions. A wrongful death claim seeks compensation for losses eligible survivors experience because their loved one died. A survival action generally preserves claims the deceased person could have pursued had they survived. Depending on what happened, the same death may give rise to both types of claims.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in California?
California does not give everyone who loved or depended on the deceased the legal right to sue.
Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 also identifies who may bring a wrongful death action. The statute expressly includes the deceased person’s “surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children.”
If the deceased leaves no surviving descendants, people who would inherit under California’s intestate succession laws may qualify. Which relatives fall into that category depends on the deceased person’s family structure.
California also extends eligibility to certain people who depended financially on the deceased. Depending on the circumstances, this can include a putative spouse, a putative spouse’s children, stepchildren, and parents.
A qualifying minor may also have the right to participate if the child lived in the deceased person’s household for the 180 days immediately before the death and depended on the deceased for one-half or more of the child’s support.
These rules can become especially important in blended families or when several relatives survive the person who died. Before filing, we can examine your family relationships and identify who California law allows to pursue the claim.
What Compensation May a California Wrongful Death Claim Cover?
Wrongful death compensation addresses losses that eligible survivors suffer because their family member is no longer there to provide financial support, services, companionship, care, and guidance.
California’s Judicial Council Civil Jury Instruction No. 3921 divides these losses into
- Economic; and
- Noneconomic damages.
Economic damages may include the financial support the deceased would reasonably have contributed, gifts or benefits survivors could have expected, funeral and burial expenses, and the reasonable value of household services the deceased would have provided.
Household services deserve particular attention because income alone does not show everything a person contributed.
For example, a parent may have cared for the children, cooked meals, maintained the home, handled transportation, or performed other daily work for the family. Replacing those services can create a real financial cost even if the parent did not earn wages for providing them.
Can You Recover Compensation for Losing Companionship?
Yes. California recognizes that losing a family member involves more than losing income.
Eligible survivors may seek noneconomic damages for losing the deceased person’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support. Depending on the relationship, compensation may also account for the loss of marital intimacy or a parent’s guidance and training.
California draws a specific legal line, however. Wrongful death damages do not compensate survivors for grief, sorrow, or mental and emotional distress themselves.
That distinction can sound unusual when grief may be one of the most painful consequences of the death. In a wrongful death case, the law instead asks the jury to consider the value of the relationship and the benefits survivors have lost.
How Much Compensation Can Your Family Recover?
California does not assign a standard value to a person’s life, and no reliable “average wrongful death settlement” can tell you what your family’s case may be worth.
The evidence drives the value of an individual wrongful death claim.
Your loved one’s expected financial contributions may matter. So can the value of the services they provided, the nature of their relationships with eligible survivors, and how long survivors reasonably could have expected to receive those benefits.
Consider two families who each lose a parent in similar accidents. One parent may have young children who depended on years of financial support, daily care, and parental guidance. The other person’s family circumstances may differ considerably. Applying an average figure to both claims would ignore the losses California law actually asks a jury to evaluate.
We therefore examine what your loved one contributed and what your family lost rather than relying on a generic settlement figure.
How Long Do You Have to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
In many California wrongful death cases, eligible survivors have two years from the date of death to file a lawsuit.
California Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 establishes a two-year statute of limitations for an action involving the death of an individual caused by another person’s wrongful act or neglect.
You should not assume that you always have two full years. Different rules and shorter deadlines can apply in certain circumstances, including claims involving government entities.
Time can also affect the strength of the evidence. Records may become unavailable, physical evidence can change, and witnesses may remember fewer details months after the incident. Starting an investigation early gives your attorney more time to establish what happened and identify the people or businesses that may share responsibility.
Speak With a Wrongful Death Attorney in San Diego
When another party causes your loved one’s death, pursuing compensation can require much more than proving that the death occurred. You may need the help of an experienced wrongful death attorney in San Diego to establish who caused it, gather evidence of fault, identify available insurance or other sources of recovery, document financial losses, and show what your family has lost because your loved one is no longer there.
At Angelo Reyes Attorney at Law, we personally handle our clients’ cases and prepare them for litigation. Attorney Angelo Reyes works directly with clients rather than passing responsibility for their cases to a case manager or intake staff.
If you believe another person or business caused your loved one’s death, speak with us today. We can review what happened, identify who California law allows to file, explain which damages may apply, and discuss the legal options available to your family.
Contact Angelo Reyes, Attorney at Law, at (858) 255-1803 for a free consultation.