Los Angeles Wrongful Death Law Firm

Los Angeles Wrongful Death Law Firm

Losing someone because of another person’s negligence is one of the worst things a family can go through. A Los Angeles wrongful death law firm can help you understand what happened, who is legally responsible, and what your family may be entitled to recover. These cases are complicated, the defendants are often well-insured and well-represented, and the legal deadlines are strict. But families in LA County do pursue these claims successfully, and they do recover real compensation.

Most wrongful death claims in California must be filed within two years of the date of death. That clock starts the day your loved one died, not the day of the accident or incident that caused it. If a government entity is involved, including LAPD, Caltrans, the City of Los Angeles, or an LA Metro vehicle, that window drops to six months to file an administrative claim before you can sue. Six months is not much time when you are still in the middle of grief, planning services, and trying to hold your family together.

You don’t need to have all the answers before you call. Most people who contact our wrongful death attorneys in Los Angeles don’t know whether they have a case yet. That’s what the first conversation is for.

Can I Sue If My Family Member Was Killed by Someone Else’s Negligence in Los Angeles?

Yes. California law gives surviving family members the right to file a civil lawsuit when a loved one dies because of someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or intentional conduct. A criminal conviction is not required. In fact, the civil and criminal processes are separate entirely. O.J. Simpson was acquitted criminally and still lost a wrongful death civil case brought by the Goldman family. The standards are different, and the burden of proof in civil court is lower.

To succeed in a wrongful death claim in California, the family must show that the defendant owed a duty of care to the person who died, that they breached it, and that the breach caused the death. That’s the framework, but the facts are what matter. A drunk driver who ran a red light on Sepulveda Boulevard. A property manager in Encino who ignored a broken gate for months before a tenant was assaulted. A hospital that missed a diagnosable condition. A trucking company that kept a driver on the road past legal hours. All of these can support a wrongful death claim when the evidence is there.

California also allows a related type of claim called a survival action. This is brought on behalf of the deceased person’s estate and covers losses the victim personally suffered before dying, including pain, medical costs incurred before death, and lost earnings. It runs alongside the wrongful death claim and can significantly increase the total recovery for the family. Punitive damages, which are not available in a wrongful death claim, are available in a survival action when the defendant’s conduct was especially egregious.

Who Is Eligible to File a Wrongful Death Claim in California?

Not everyone who loved the person who died has the legal right to file. California law sets a specific order of priority.

The deceased’s spouse or registered domestic partner has the first right to file. Surviving children are next. If the person had no surviving spouse or children, the right passes to anyone who would inherit under California’s intestate succession laws, which can include parents, siblings, or other close relatives. Stepchildren and financial dependents may also qualify in certain circumstances, depending on the nature of the relationship and level of financial dependence.

One important rule: California requires all eligible heirs to join a single wrongful death lawsuit. You cannot have multiple family members filing separate claims for the same death. If you are eligible to file and someone else in the family has already started a case, you may need to be added as a plaintiff. Our Los Angeles wrongful death attorneys sort out the standing question at the start of every case, before anything else moves forward.

What Are the Most Common Causes of Wrongful Death Claims in Los Angeles?

LA County generates wrongful death claims across a wide range of circumstances. Geography and density play a role. The 405, the 101, the 10, Mulholland Drive, and surface streets like Ventura Boulevard and La Cienega see serious and fatal collisions regularly. Medical facilities across the Valley and throughout the city handle high patient volumes. Construction is constant. The list of contexts where negligent conduct can cause a death is long.

• Car and truck accidents: Fatal collisions involving negligent drivers, commercial carriers with safety violations, or vehicles with defective parts are among the most common wrongful death cases our Los Angeles personal injury lawyers handle.
• Medical malpractice: Missed diagnoses, surgical errors, medication mistakes, and failures in postoperative care at hospitals and clinics throughout LA County can give rise to wrongful death and survival claims.
• Premises liability: Property owners who fail to maintain safe conditions, provide adequate security, or address known hazards can be held responsible when someone dies on their property.
• Construction accidents: Fatal falls, struck-by incidents, and electrocutions on job sites in LA County can support wrongful death claims against general contractors, subcontractors, property owners, and equipment manufacturers.
• Product liability: Defective vehicles, medical devices, consumer products, and industrial equipment that cause fatal injuries can support claims against manufacturers and distributors regardless of negligence.
• Violent crime on negligently secured property: When a property owner knew about criminal activity on or near their premises and failed to act, and someone dies as a result, that can form the basis of a wrongful death claim independent of any criminal prosecution.
• Government negligence: Dangerous road conditions, failures in public transportation, or misconduct by a public employee can support wrongful death claims, subject to the six-month administrative deadline under the California Tort Claims Act.

How Long Do I Have to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Los Angeles?

Two years from the date of death in most cases. The clock starts on the day your loved one died. Not the date of the accident. Not the date you hired a wrongful death lawyer. The date of death.

There are exceptions. If a government entity is involved, you have six months to file an administrative claim with that agency. Miss it and you lose the right to sue entirely. If the death was caused by medical malpractice, the deadline is either one year from the date you discovered or should have discovered the negligence, or three years from the date of the incident, whichever comes first. If the only eligible heir is a minor child, the clock may be paused until they turn 18.

The discovery rule is another exception worth knowing. When the connection between negligence and death isn’t immediately obvious, the two-year period may not begin until the family discovers or reasonably should have discovered the cause. Toxic exposure cases sometimes fall here. So do deaths where a medical error wasn’t apparent until later review. These are fact-specific determinations, and they’re not something to guess at on your own.

Two years sounds like time. It isn’t, not in a case that requires medical records, accident reconstruction, expert witnesses, and investigation into a defendant who started building their defense the day the incident happened.

What Compensation Can My Family Recover from a Wrongful Death Claim in Los Angeles?

California wrongful death law allows surviving family members to recover for the losses they personally suffered because of the death. The estate can pursue additional damages through a survival action. Together, these two claims cover a broad range of economic and non-economic harm.

Economic damages in a wrongful death claim include the financial support the deceased would have provided over their expected lifetime. Lost income, lost benefits, and lost contributions to household expenses all factor in. For a working parent in their 30s or 40s, that number can be substantial. Funeral and burial costs are also recoverable. So are the reasonable costs of any medical treatment the deceased received between the injury and the time of death.

Non-economic damages cover what can’t be put on a spreadsheet. Loss of companionship. Loss of comfort and care. Loss of moral guidance for surviving children. The emotional pain of losing a spouse, a parent, or a child. California does not cap these damages in wrongful death cases the way some states do. They are real, they are recoverable, and they can be significant.

The survival action, filed on behalf of the estate, covers what the deceased personally experienced before dying: pain and suffering, medical bills, and lost earnings from the time of injury to the time of death. This is where punitive damages become available when the defendant’s conduct was malicious, fraudulent, or oppressive. A trucking company that falsified maintenance records. A property owner who knowingly covered up a known danger. A manufacturer that suppressed safety data. Punitive damages in California can go well beyond compensatory amounts when the facts support them, and our Los Angeles wrongful death attorneys evaluate that exposure in every case we take.

What Happens If My Loved One Was Partly at Fault for Their Own Death?

Your family can still recover. California’s pure comparative fault rules apply to wrongful death cases the same way they apply to personal injury cases. If a jury finds the deceased was 30 percent at fault for what happened, the family’s recovery is reduced by 30 percent. It isn’t eliminated.

Defense attorneys and insurance adjusters will argue hard to inflate the deceased’s share of responsibility. This is a standard tactic, and it works when families are unrepresented or don’t fully understand how comparative fault operates in practice. Our wrongful death attorneys in Los Angeles deal with these arguments directly, building the evidentiary record that accurately captures what happened and who bears the greater share of responsibility.

How Our Los Angeles Wrongful Death Attorneys Can Make a Difference in Your Case

The party you’re up against isn’t grieving. They’re working.

The at-fault driver’s insurer opened a file the day of the accident. If a commercial trucking company is involved, a defense team may have been at the scene before your family even got the call. Medical facilities have in-house risk management departments whose entire job is to limit exposure when a patient dies. Property managers have adjusters. Manufacturers have product defense teams. All of them do this every day.

Most families have never dealt with anything like this before. That gap in knowledge and resources is what defendants count on. It shapes how quickly they move, what they preserve, what they offer early, and how long they stall.

Our wrongful death law firm in Los Angeles closes that gap. We move immediately on evidence. Accident reconstruction data, vehicle event records, surveillance footage, maintenance logs, medical records, and witness statements all degrade or disappear if no one acts to preserve them. We retain the medical and economic experts needed to put real numbers behind every category of loss, including future earnings, lifetime companionship, and survival damages that run parallel to the wrongful death claim.

Every communication with the defendant and their insurer goes through us. Nothing your family says to an adjuster is off the record. We handle it.

We take wrongful death cases on contingency. No upfront fees. No hourly billing. We only get paid if we recover compensation for your family, which means our interests and yours are identical from the first call to the resolution of the case.

Call Big Joe Law After Losing Someone in Los Angeles

Your family is already dealing with enough.

Contact Big Joe Law today for a free consultation with a Los Angeles wrongful death attorney. We’ll tell you exactly what you have and what it’s worth, and we won’t charge anything unless we win.