Losing a family member to preventable accidents or negligence creates overwhelming emotional and financial challenges. While nothing replaces the person you’ve lost, California law provides pathways for families to hold responsible parties accountable and recover compensation that addresses funeral costs, lost income, and the profound impact on your family’s future.
A wrongful death attorney handles the legal process after fatal accidents, investigating liability, negotiating with insurance companies, and pursuing compensation while families focus on grieving and rebuilding their lives.
Best Law represents families throughout Los Angeles, San Bernardino County, and Riverside County after fatal car accidents, truck crashes, pedestrian incidents, and other tragic losses. We handle the legal complexities so you can focus on what matters most during this difficult time.
Key Takeaways: Legal Support After Fatal Accidents
- California wrongful death attorneys investigate fatal accidents, gather evidence, identify liable parties, and build strong cases while families process grief and make funeral arrangements
- Lawyers negotiate with insurance companies that contact families quickly after deaths, protecting you from statements that might reduce claim value or admissions that complicate litigation
- Attorneys calculate comprehensive damages beyond immediate funeral expenses, including lost lifetime income, loss of companionship, and household services the deceased would have provided for years
- California law sets a two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death lawsuits, though survival actions follow different rules, making prompt legal consultation essential for protecting family rights
What Wrongful Death Lawyers Do for Families
The days and weeks after losing a loved one feel chaotic. Insurance adjusters call. Bills arrive. Well-meaning friends offer conflicting advice. Legal representation creates structure during this chaos by handling tasks families shouldn’t face while grieving.
Investigating Fatal Accidents and Gathering Evidence
Our attorneys immediately begin investigating the circumstances surrounding deaths. This investigation includes:
- Obtaining police reports and accident reconstruction analyses
- Interviewing witnesses who saw what happened
- Securing surveillance footage before it’s deleted or recorded over
- Photographing accident scenes and vehicle damage
- Consulting medical experts about injuries and causes of death
- Requesting employment records, phone records, or maintenance logs depending on accident types
Evidence deteriorates quickly. Witnesses forget details. Companies may destroy documents according to retention policies. Prompt investigation preserves the facts needed to prove liability.
Identifying Liable Parties
Fatal accidents sometimes involve multiple responsible parties beyond obvious defendants:
- Drunk drivers who caused crashes and bars that overserved them under California’s dram shop laws
- Trucking companies responsible for driver negligence
- Property owners answering for dangerous conditions
- Product manufacturers when defective parts cause crashes
Los Angeles wrongful death attorneys identify who contributed to deaths, possibly expanding available insurance coverage and recovery options for families.
Handling Insurance Company Communications
Insurance adjusters reach out to families within days of fatal accidents. They express sympathy, ask questions about the deceased, and request recorded statements about what happened. These calls serve the insurer’s interests, not yours.
Adjusters look for statements that minimize liability or reduce claim values. They might ask whether your loved one had health problems, took medications, or contributed to accidents somehow. Your answers become recorded evidence used against you later.
Attorneys take over these communications immediately. Insurance companies speak with us, not grieving family members processing shock and loss. This protects families from inadvertent statements that complicate claims and allows us to control information flow strategically.
Filing Wrongful Death Lawsuits
California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60 permits certain family members to file wrongful death claims. Eligible plaintiffs include surviving spouses or domestic partners, children of the deceased, and, if there’s no surviving spouse or children, other dependents entitled to the decedent’s property by intestate succession laws.
Wrongful death lawsuits seek compensation for the losses families experience because of deaths. Our attorneys prepare complaints, file them in appropriate California courts, serve defendants properly, and manage litigation through discovery, motions, and trial if necessary.
Pursuing Survival Actions Alongside Wrongful Death Claims
California law distinguishes between wrongful death claims and survival actions. Wrongful death lawsuits compensate families for their losses. Survival actions compensate estates for what deceased individuals experienced before dying.
Survival actions can recover the decedent’s pre‑death economic losses, such as medical bills, lost earnings between injury and death, and certain other damages available to the estate under California law. Available categories depend on the circumstances. These damages belong to estates and are distributed to heirs according to wills or California intestacy laws.
Filing both claims together provides comprehensive recovery addressing all losses stemming from fatal accidents.
Calculating Total Damages
Insurance companies focus on immediate costs like funeral expenses and recent lost income. Our attorneys calculate long-term losses that reflect the full impact on families.
Economic damages include:
- Funeral and burial expenses
- Lost income the deceased would have earned throughout their remaining working years
- Lost household services like childcare, home maintenance, or financial management
- Medical bills incurred before death
In some cases, families may also claim loss of inheritance or financial contributions the decedent likely would have provided, depending on the evidence.
Non-economic damages address loss of companionship, love, and emotional support, loss of guidance and counsel for children, loss of consortium for surviving spouses, and the grief and mental anguish families endure.
Negotiating Settlements
Most wrongful death cases settle before trial. Negotiations involve presenting comprehensive demand packages that document liability and damages, responding to insurer offers with counterarguments and additional evidence, mediating disputes through neutral third parties when productive, and evaluating settlement offers against likely trial outcomes.
We never pressure families to accept settlements. You make final decisions about whether offers adequately address your losses and whether continuing to trial serves your family’s interests.
Taking Cases to Trial
Some cases require trial when insurance companies refuse to make reasonable settlement offers. Our attorneys in San Bernardino County prepare cases thoroughly, selecting juries, presenting evidence through witnesses and exhibits, cross-examining defense witnesses, arguing legal points, and advocating for verdicts that reflect the true value of your losses.
Trial preparation strengthens settlement negotiations because insurers recognize when attorneys are ready and willing to litigate aggressively.
How Do California Wrongful Death Claims Work?
California wrongful death law creates specific rules about who can file claims, what damages are recoverable, and how long families have to take legal action.
Who Can File Wrongful Death Lawsuits in California
Not everyone affected by deaths can file wrongful death claims. California restricts this right to immediate family members and certain dependents.
First-tier eligible plaintiffs include:
- Surviving spouses or domestic partners
- Children of the deceased
- Both spouses/partners and children together when both exist
If no first-tier plaintiffs exist, second-tier claimants may file if they would inherit property under California intestate succession laws and were financially dependent on the deceased. This might include parents, siblings, or other relatives who relied on the deceased for financial support.
Putative spouses who believed in good faith that they were married to the deceased may also file wrongful death claims even if marriages weren’t legally valid.
Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Death Cases
California provides two years from the date of death to file wrongful death lawsuits. This differs from personal injury cases that begin when accidents occur.
Missing the two-year deadline typically bars recovery permanently regardless of liability clarity or loss severity. Courts rarely grant extensions except in extraordinary circumstances like fraudulent concealment of wrongful conduct.
Government entity cases require additional administrative steps. Claims against California cities, counties, or state agencies need administrative claims filed within six months before lawsuits can proceed.
How Wrongful Death Attorneys Protect Financial Recovery
Fatal accidents create immediate financial strain that grows worse over time as families realize the full scope of lost income and support.
Calculating Lost Lifetime Earnings
When working-age individuals die in accidents, families lose decades of income and financial security. When needed, we work with economists and vocational experts to calculate lost lifetime earnings based on:
- The deceased’s age and remaining working years
- Occupation and income history
- Education level and career trajectory
- Health status before the fatal accident
- Likely promotions and salary increases over time
Lost income calculations account for raises, promotions, and inflation adjustments that would have occurred over working years.
Addressing Loss of Household Services
Stay-at-home parents and family members who didn’t earn paychecks outside the home still provided enormous economic value through childcare, housekeeping, meal preparation, transportation, home maintenance, and financial management.
Wrongful death claims value these household services based on what it would cost to replace them over the years the deceased would have performed them.
Handling Medical Liens and Outstanding Bills
Medical bills from treatment before death create liens against wrongful death settlements. Hospitals, doctors, and ambulance services file liens claiming portions of recoveries for unpaid services.
Attorneys can help negotiate these liens. This leaves more money for families rather than paying medical providers full billed amounts from settlements.
Managing Insurance Subrogation Claims
If your loved one had health insurance that paid medical bills before death, insurers might claim reimbursement rights from wrongful death settlements. California law limits these subrogation claims, particularly when settlements don’t fully compensate families for all losses.
We handle subrogation disputes, so families receive greater benefit from settlements rather than repaying insurance companies.
FAQ for Wrongful Death Legal Help in Los Angeles
Do I Have a Wrongful Death Case If the Insurance Company Already Called Me?
Yes, insurance company contact doesn’t prevent wrongful death claims. Their early calls and settlement offers don’t obligate you to anything. Forward any insurance communications to attorneys immediately so we can handle all subsequent contact and protect you from statements or agreements that might reduce recoveries.
What If the Fatal Accident Was Partly My Loved One’s Fault?
California applies comparative fault rules to wrongful death cases. Even when deceased individuals contributed to accidents, families may still recover compensation reduced by fault percentages.
How Long Do Wrongful Death Cases Take in Los Angeles?
Case timelines vary based on liability complexity, number of defendants, insurance company cooperation, and whether cases settle or require trial. We move cases forward as efficiently as possible while still giving the case the attention it deserves, not just a quick settlement.
How Much Does a Wrongful Death Attorney Cost?
Best Law works on contingency fee arrangements. We charge no upfront fees, no hourly rates, and no costs unless we recover compensation for your family. Our fee comes as a percentage of settlements or verdicts, so you aren’t paying out of pocket for legal representation.
Do Most Wrongful Death Cases Settle or Go to Trial?
Most wrongful death cases settle before trial when insurance companies make reasonable offers that adequately compensate families. Settlements provide certainty and closure without trial stress and uncertainty. However, we prepare every case as though a trial is inevitable, negotiating from a position of strength from day one.
Can I Sue After My Parent Died in a Car Accident in Los Angeles?
Adult children can file wrongful death claims when parents die in accidents. If your parent left a surviving spouse, you file together with them. If your parent was unmarried at death, you and any siblings file the claim.
Can families recover punitive damages in a California wrongful death case?
California law permits recovery of punitive damages in survival actions (which compensate the estate) but not in wrongful death claims (which compensate family members). Punitive damages punish the defendant and deter similar conduct. When a defendant acts with malice, oppression, or fraud—such as in a DUI case—the estate may pursue punitive damages, but the family members may not claim them directly as part of their wrongful death recovery.
What happens if the responsible driver does not have insurance?
Your family’s own auto insurance policy may provide coverage under the Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) provisions. This coverage allows you to recover damages from your own insurer up to the policy limit if the at-fault driver has no insurance (UM) or insufficient coverage (UIM).
Filing a UM/UIM claim involves negotiating with your own insurance company, which can often grow as contentious as negotiating with the at-fault driver’s insurer. Experienced attorneys manage this process to ensure you recover the compensation you deserve under your policy.
Your Family Deserves an Advocate Who Understands What You’ve Lost
The legal system doesn’t pause for grief. Evidence fades. Deadlines approach. Insurance companies move forward with their evaluations, whether your family feels ready or not. But you don’t have to face these pressures alone.
Best Law represents families throughout Los Angeles County who’ve lost loved ones to preventable accidents. Attorney Elissa Best’s background working for insurance companies now serves families dealing with insurers’ settlement tactics and liability defenses. We understand how insurance companies evaluate wrongful death claims and what arguments strengthen families’ positions during negotiations.
Our approach recognizes that every family’s loss is different. We listen to your story, learn who your loved one was to you, and fight for outcomes that reflect what your family has truly lost. We handle the legal process so you can focus on supporting each other through this painful time.
Contact Best Law for a free consultation about your family’s situation. We explain your options clearly, answer your questions honestly, and help you understand what legal action might mean for your family’s future. Our No Win, No Fee Guarantee means you pay nothing unless we recover compensation.
