There is no version of this page that is useful to you today if you lost somebody this week. What follows is here for when you want it, and the one thing worth knowing early is that the law treats a death as producing two claims rather than one, and families are usually told about only the first.
The wrongful death claim belongs to the family, for what your husband, wife, mother or child’s death has cost you. The survival claim belongs to the estate, for what they themselves lost between the injury and dying. Under Code of Civil Procedure 377.61, damages in the first “may not include damages recoverable under Section 377.34”, which is the second. They are brought together, valued separately, and a firm that only mentions one is describing half of what is available.
Culver Legal has recovered $200 Million and counting for injured people in California. Contingency, costs advanced, no fee unless we win. Call (310) 600-7881 at any hour, and if it is easier, we will come to you.
Who Is Allowed to Bring a Wrongful Death Claim
Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 answers this, and it is stricter and stranger than most people assume.
Without needing to prove anything more: the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and the issue of children who died before the decedent. If there is no surviving issue, then whoever would be entitled to the estate by intestate succession, which brings in parents and siblings in the order the succession rules set.
Only if they were financially dependent on the person who died: a putative spouse, the children of a putative spouse, stepchildren, parents, and the legal guardians of the decedent where the parents are already dead.
That dependency requirement is where these cases turn. Parents who lost an adult child are routinely told they simply have a claim, and whether they do can depend on whether they can show they relied on that child financially. It is a question worth asking early, because the evidence for it is ordinary life: bank transfers, a shared household, bills that were being paid.
The Two Claims, and What Each One Covers
The wrongful death claim, brought by the family. The value of what the family has lost: financial support the person would have provided, the household services they performed, and the loss of their love, companionship, comfort, care, society and moral support.
The survival claim, brought by the estate, under Code of Civil Procedure 377.34. This covers what the person themselves lost or incurred before death: medical bills from the injury, lost earnings between injury and death, and, depending on when the action is filed, damages for their pain and suffering. The scope of that last item has been set by statute with dates attached and has changed more than once in recent years, so when a case is filed can genuinely change what the estate recovers. That is not a reason to rush a grieving family. It is a reason to get advice before a deadline decides it for you.
Has anyone explained that there are two claims?
The family’s claim and the estate’s claim are separate actions with separate damages. We will walk you through both without any obligation.
The Deaths We See in Los Angeles
Traffic, which is most of them. A fatal car crash, a commercial truck collision, a pedestrian struck on an arterial road.
Work. Falls from height, crush injuries and electrocution on job sites, where the claim frequently runs against a company other than the employer and sits beside the compensation claim rather than inside it.
Head injuries that did not look fatal at first. A brain injury can take days to declare itself, and families are sometimes told the person is stable before they are not.
Unsafe property, including falls, fires and inadequate security, where the question is what the owner knew and when.
There is one more, and it carries the shortest deadline. A death involving a bus or a transit operator puts the family on a six-month clock rather than two years, and that is the single deadline on this page most likely to be missed while a family is grieving.
How Culver Legal Values a Los Angeles Wrongful Death Claim
- Financial support the person would have provided over their working life, and beyond it
- The value of household services they performed, which is real money and is routinely left out
- Loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, society and moral support
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Through the estate’s claim, medical costs from the injury and earnings lost before death
Nobody involved thinks these figures replace the person. They are what the law is able to do, and doing it properly is the difference between a family being looked after and not.
Which Court Will Hear My Los Angeles Case?
The court covering the place where the incident happened, not the one nearest the family.
Los Angeles County handles this differently from most of California, and it is set out in a standing order of the court. General Order 2024-GEN-003-00, filed 17 May 2024, records that since 10 October 2022 every newly filed personal injury case is filed in the judicial district where the incident arose.
The court is also retiring its Personal Injury Hub in favor of Independent Calendar courtrooms, where one judge manages the case throughout. Since 8 January 2024 personal injury cases in the Central District have been assigned to IC departments at the Stanley Mosk Courthouse, and hub departments have been closing into new IC courtrooms as that proceeds, Department 30 into Department T at the Alhambra Courthouse and Department 31 into Department B at the Van Nuys Courthouse.
That does not change whether you have a claim. It changes where it is filed and who manages it, and filing in the wrong district spends time a two-year deadline does not give back.
Where You Are Taken Matters, and in Los Angeles It Varies
Los Angeles County has fifteen designated trauma centers, and which one receives you depends on where the incident happened rather than on where you live.
Verified against the California EMS Authority’s designated and ACS-verified trauma center list, the Level I centers in and around the city are Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles General Medical Center, Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles for children. Level II centers including California Hospital Medical Center, Northridge, Providence Holy Cross, St. Francis and Huntington Memorial cover the rest of the county.
Why that belongs in a legal claim rather than a medical one. The records that prove the injury sit with whichever facility received you, and across a county this size that is frequently not the hospital nearest home. A serious injury also generates records at more than one facility as somebody is transferred, and gathering all of them rather than the first set to arrive is a large part of what an early demand gets wrong.
Who Can Sue for Wrongful Death in California?
Two tiers, and the difference decides a great many cases before anything else is discussed.
The first tier does not have to prove anything about the relationship: the surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and the issue of any deceased child. If none exist, those who would inherit by intestate succession.
The second tier must prove financial dependency on the person who died: a putative spouse, that spouse’s children, stepchildren, parents, and legal guardians where the parents have died.
Parents of an adult child are the ones this catches. Where the adult child was supporting them that is provable and the claim proceeds. Where the relationship was close but the parents were financially independent, standing is a real obstacle. It is a question worth answering in the first week, and the full analysis is in who California allows to bring a wrongful death claim.
Who pays? Almost always an insurer rather than the individual: the at-fault driver’s policy, an employer’s commercial policy, a property owner’s liability cover, or a public entity. Finding every layer is most of the work, because a single policy rarely covers a death.
Deadlines to File a Los Angeles Wrongful Death Claim
Two years from the date of death, under Code of Civil Procedure 335.1. Note that it runs from the death rather than from the injury, which matters where somebody survived for a period first.
Six months where a public entity is involved, under Government Code 911.2. A city vehicle, a public bus, a road defect, a public hospital.
Up to a year by application if that was missed, under Government Code 911.4 and Government Code 911.6, which the entity shall grant on grounds including that the claimant was physically or mentally incapacitated. Whether bereavement meets that test is a question worth putting to somebody rather than answering for yourself.
Two further grounds matter here and are easy to miss, because they are the ones most people actually fall under. Government Code 911.6(b) also requires the application to be granted where the injured person was a minor for any part of the six months, or was physically or mentally incapacitated for any part of it, provided the application is made within six months of them turning eighteen or of the incapacity ending, or a year after the claim accrued, whichever comes first.
Children who lost a parent. Code of Civil Procedure 352 pauses the ordinary period while a claimant is under 18.
Was a bus, a city vehicle or a public road involved?
That puts the family on a six-month clock rather than two years. It is the one thing worth checking right away.
What Actually Needs Doing Now
Not much, and not by you.
Do not agree to a recorded statement, and do not sign anything an insurer sends, including anything described as a formality.
Keep the paperwork that arrives, unopened if that is easier. Hospital bills, the death certificate, anything from an employer or an insurer.
Do not let anyone tell you a claim has to be brought by one particular person before you have checked who is entitled under 377.60. Getting the claimant wrong causes real problems later.
If a public entity might be involved, say so on the first call. That single fact changes the timetable more than anything else.
What does it cost, and what comes out of a settlement? Nothing up front. The fee is a percentage of the recovery under a written fee agreement, and there is no fee if there is no recovery. Out of a settlement come the fee, the case costs advanced, and any medical liens, which is why the headline figure and the amount received are different numbers. The full breakdown is in how a California wrongful death claim works.
Why Los Angeles Families Choose Culver Legal
We come to you. At home, at hospital, or wherever is easiest. Nobody should be crossing this city for a meeting in the first weeks.
Our team speaks Spanish, Farsi, Filipino, Hindi, Mandarin and Korean.
Nothing up front. Contingency, costs advanced by the firm, no fee unless we win. Culver Legal was founded in 2020, has recovered $200 Million and counting, and answers the phone 24 hours a day.
Los Angeles Wrongful Death FAQs
I am undocumented. Can I still bring a claim without putting myself at risk?
Yes, and the protection is stronger than most people expect. Under Evidence Code 351.2, added by AB 2159, evidence of a person’s immigration status is not admissible in a civil action for personal injury or wrongful death, and discovery into it is not permitted either. So it cannot be raised at trial and it cannot be asked about beforehand. It is not a question we ask you, and it is not a question the other side gets to ask.
My son was an adult and lived on his own. Can I bring a claim as his parent?
It depends on dependency, and it is worth checking properly rather than accepting a quick answer. Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 puts parents in the tier that may claim “if they were dependent on the decedent”, unless they would inherit by intestate succession because there is no surviving spouse, domestic partner or issue. Both routes are real. Which one applies to you turns on his family situation and on what he was contributing.
Several of us want to bring a claim. Do we each file separately?
No, and this catches families out. California treats wrongful death as a single action, and the court determines the respective rights of the people entitled to it. Everyone with standing should be brought into one case rather than filing against each other, which is another reason to sort out early who is entitled under 377.60.
He survived for three weeks before he died. Does that change anything?
It changes what can be recovered and it changes the clock. The estate’s survival claim covers what he lost in those three weeks, including the medical costs and the earnings, separately from the family’s claim. And the two-year deadline for the wrongful death claim runs from the death rather than from the day he was injured.
Contact a Culver Legal Los Angeles Wrongful Death Lawyer
If your family has lost somebody in Los Angeles, call (310) 600-7881 when you are ready. There is no charge for the conversation and no obligation at the end of it, and if a public entity was involved it is worth making sooner rather than later.
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Culver Legal, LLP is a California law firm. The information on this page is for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.
