Losing someone because of another person’s negligence leaves a family without answers, without income, and without time to grieve before the financial pressure begins. The driver who caused the crash, the property owner who ignored a known hazard, the employer who violated safety rules: they all carry insurance, and their insurers are already working to limit what they pay. Pedram Law, PC represents surviving family members in wrongful death cases throughout Riverside County. There are no upfront fees. You pay nothing unless we win.
What California Law Says About Wrongful Death Claims
A wrongful death claim is a civil lawsuit filed by the surviving family members of a person whose death was caused by the negligent, reckless, or intentional conduct of another party. Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60, the following people may file a wrongful death claim: a surviving spouse or domestic partner, surviving children, and, if there is no surviving spouse or children, any person who would be entitled to inherit from the decedent under California intestate succession law. Surviving parents and siblings may file when no spouse, domestic partner, or children survive. Putative spouses who can demonstrate a good-faith belief that the marriage was valid are also entitled to file under Section 377.60.
California law also permits a survival action, filed alongside or as part of the wrongful death case, which recovers damages the decedent could have pursued had they survived. The survival action is brought on behalf of the estate. It can include the decedent’s pre-death pain and suffering, medical expenses incurred before death, and lost wages from the time of injury to death. The wrongful death claim is brought by the survivors themselves, and recovers their own economic and non-economic losses. Both claims are frequently filed together in serious cases, and understanding the distinction between them matters for how damages are structured and distributed.
Who Can Be Held Liable in a Riverside Wrongful Death Case
Wrongful death cases in Riverside arise from the full range of fatal injuries: car and truck accidents on the I-215 and SR-91, pedestrian deaths at intersections throughout Downtown Riverside, workplace fatalities at construction sites and distribution facilities, fatal slip and fall incidents on poorly maintained commercial and residential properties, and deaths resulting from medical negligence. The liable party depends on the facts of the death.
A negligent driver and their insurer are the primary defendants in motor vehicle fatalities. In commercial truck accidents, the carrier, a maintenance contractor, and a cargo-loading company may all share liability. A property owner who failed to remedy a known dangerous condition bears liability under California Civil Code Section 1714. An employer whose safety violations caused a workplace death may face both a workers’ compensation claim and a civil wrongful death lawsuit, though the path to a civil claim when workers’ compensation is involved requires careful legal analysis. A product manufacturer whose defective product caused the fatal injury faces products liability exposure regardless of who operated the product.
Identifying every liable party and every available insurance policy from the start of the case is one of the most important functions a wrongful death attorney serves. Families who pursue only the most obvious defendant frequently leave substantial compensation unclaimed. Surviving family members trying to navigate that process while grieving benefit from connecting early with an experienced personal injury attorney who can map the full liability picture before evidence is lost or deadlines pass.
What Damages Are Available in a California Wrongful Death Case
California wrongful death law allows surviving family members to recover for the financial and personal losses the death has caused them. These damages fall into two broad categories.
Economic damages are the quantifiable financial losses caused by the death. They include the financial support the decedent would have contributed to the family over their expected lifetime, the value of household services the decedent provided, the value of gifts and benefits family members would reasonably have received, and funeral and burial expenses. Future financial support is calculated using actuarial data, the decedent’s earnings history, their age, occupation, and projected career trajectory. These calculations require expert testimony in serious cases, and the numbers involved are substantial when the decedent was a working adult with dependents.
Non-economic damages are the personal losses that do not appear on a balance sheet. They include loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support. A surviving spouse recovers for the loss of consortium. Children recover from the loss of guidance, training, and education that their parents would have provided. California does not cap non-economic damages in wrongful death cases the way it does in medical malpractice cases. There is no ceiling on what a jury may award for these losses.
Punitive damages are not available in a wrongful death action under California law. They may be available through the survival action in cases of malice, oppression, or fraud. An attorney evaluates whether the facts of the case support a punitive damages claim through the estate’s survival claim.
California Wrongful Death Filing Deadlines You Cannot Miss.
Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, surviving family members have two years from the date of death to file a wrongful death lawsuit. The clock starts at the date of death, not the date of injury, if the decedent survived the incident for a period before dying. If the death resulted from medical malpractice, the limitations period differs and is governed by Code of Civil Procedure Section 340.5, which imposes a three-year deadline from the date of injury or one year from the date the plaintiff discovered or should have discovered the cause of death, whichever occurs first.
If the death involved a government entity, including a government vehicle, a public road defect, or a government employee acting in the course of their duties, the California Government Claims Act requires surviving family members to file an administrative claim within six months of the date of death. Missing that six-month deadline permanently bars the claim against the government defendant. If a Riverside Transit Agency vehicle, a city-maintained road, or any public entity was involved in the fatal incident, call immediately.
California follows a pure comparative fault rule. If the decedent was found partially responsible for the incident that caused their death, the surviving family’s compensation is reduced by that percentage, not eliminated. If the wrongful death case is valued at $1,000,000 and the decedent was found 20% at fault, the family recovers $800,000. Defendants and their insurers frequently argue inflated fault percentages against the deceased, who cannot speak for themselves. An attorney builds the factual record on the decedent’s behalf.
How Wrongful Death Settlement Proceeds Are Distributed
Wrongful death proceeds are distributed among the eligible claimants under California Probate Code Section 11802. When multiple family members file together, which is common, the total recovery is divided among them according to their individual losses. This division can be agreed to among the family members or, when they cannot agree, determined by the court. The law requires proportional distribution based on each claimant’s individual damages, not equal shares.
From the gross recovery, attorney fees are deducted first under the contingency agreement. Case expenses, including expert fees, medical record costs, court filing fees, and deposition costs, are deducted next. Medical liens held by providers who treated the decedent before death, or who treated surviving family members for related injuries, are satisfied from the appropriate portion of the recovery. What remains is distributed to the claimants according to the agreed or court-ordered allocation.
Survival action proceeds are distributed differently. Because the survival action belongs to the estate rather than the survivors directly, those proceeds pass through the estate and are distributed according to the decedent’s will or, if there is no will, according to California intestate succession. The tax treatment of wrongful death proceeds and survival action proceeds also differs in certain circumstances. An attorney should walk the family through the full distribution structure at the start of the engagement so there are no surprises at resolution.
Legal Tip from the attorneys at Pedram Law, PC: The insurer for the at-fault party will often make early contact with the family within days of the death. Early contact is a strategy to reach a settlement before the full scope of the economic loss is calculated and before the family retains an attorney. The lifetime economic value of a working adult with dependents, calculated properly with expert support, frequently exceeds early offers by a significant margin. Do not sign a release or accept any offer without first having an attorney calculate the full value of the claim. Once a release is signed, it is final.
What to Do After a Wrongful Death in Riverside
- Preserve all physical evidence connected to the death. Do not return or repair a vehicle involved in a fatal crash. Do not alter the site of a workplace fatality. Do not discard medical records, prescription bottles, or any items connected to the incident. Evidence disappears quickly, and some of it cannot be reconstructed.
- Request the police report, accident report, or incident report as soon as it is available. These records document the scene, the parties, and in many cases the responding officer’s or investigator’s observations about what happened.
- Do not speak with the at-fault party’s insurance company, their attorney, or any representative of the liable entity before consulting with a wrongful death attorney. Do not give a recorded statement. Do not accept any offer. Do not sign any form presented by the insurer or by an employer’s representative.
- Preserve the decedent’s financial records, employment history, pay stubs, tax returns, and any documentation of their role in the household. These records form the foundation of the economic damages calculation.
- Document the family’s ongoing losses from the date of death forward. Missed income, out-of-pocket expenses, and the specific services the decedent provided to the household are all recoverable and must be documented contemporaneously.
- Contact Pedram Law as soon as you are able. The six-month government claims deadline and the two-year general deadline begin running from the date of death. Evidence preservation is time-sensitive. The earlier an attorney is involved, the more of the evidentiary record can be protected.
Frequently Asked Questions: Riverside Wrongful Death Claims
Who is legally entitled to file a wrongful death claim in California?
Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60, a wrongful death claim may be filed by a surviving spouse or domestic partner, surviving children, and, if none survive, by any person who would inherit from the decedent under California intestate succession law. Surviving parents and siblings may file when no closer heirs exist. A putative spouse who can demonstrate a good-faith belief that the marriage was valid is also eligible. A surviving domestic partner has the same standing as a surviving spouse under California law.
How long do we have to file a wrongful death lawsuit in Riverside?
Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1, the general deadline is two years from the date of death. If the death resulted from medical malpractice, the deadline under CCP Section 340.5 is three years from the date of injury or one year from discovery, whichever comes first. If a government entity was involved, the California Government Claims Act requires an administrative claim within six months of the date of death. That six-month deadline runs regardless of the severity of the family’s loss. Do not assume you have time to wait.
Can we still file if our family member was partially at fault for the accident?
Yes. California follows a pure comparative fault rule. The family’s recovery is reduced by the decedent’s percentage of fault, not eliminated. If the wrongful death case is valued at $800,000 and the decedent is found 25% at fault, the family recovers $600,000. Defendants and their insurers routinely argue inflated fault percentages against the deceased. An attorney builds the factual record to counter those arguments and keep the fault allocation accurate.
What is the difference between a wrongful death claim and a survival action?
A wrongful death claim is brought by the surviving family members for their own losses: lost financial support, loss of companionship, funeral and burial costs, and related damages. A survival action is brought on behalf of the estate and recovers what the decedent could have claimed had they survived: pre-death pain and suffering, medical expenses incurred before death, and lost wages from the time of injury to death. Both are frequently filed together. Survival action proceeds pass through the estate and are distributed according to the will or intestate succession. Wrongful death proceeds are distributed among the eligible claimants based on their individual losses.
My spouse was killed in a workplace accident. Can I still file a wrongful death lawsuit even though workers’ compensation is involved?
Potentially yes. Workers’ compensation generally bars a direct lawsuit against the employer. However, if a third party other than the employer contributed to the fatal workplace accident, a wrongful death lawsuit against that third party is not barred by workers’ compensation. Common third-party defendants in workplace fatalities include equipment manufacturers, property owners, contractors, and subcontractors on multi-party job sites. Whether a viable civil claim exists outside of workers’ compensation depends on the specific facts of the death and who was present and liable. An attorney evaluates that question at the start of the case.
How long will a wrongful death case take to resolve?
Wrongful death cases take longer on average than standard personal injury cases because the damages are larger, the liable parties more contested, and the expert documentation more extensive. A case with clear liability and cooperative parties may resolve in 12 to 18 months. Cases involving disputed fault, multiple defendants, government entities, or complex economic damages calculations can take two to three years or longer. Cases that proceed to trial extend the timeline further. The priority in the early months is evidence preservation and investigation, not rushing to a settlement that the insurer designed to be cheap.
Will we have to go to court?
Most wrongful death cases settle before trial. Pedram Law negotiates from a fully documented demand that accounts for the complete economic and non-economic losses the family has suffered. Most insurers and defendants settle when they understand the case is prepared for trial and the numbers are supported by expert testimony. When settlement negotiations do not produce a fair result, Pedram Law is prepared to litigate. The firm handles wrongful death cases with trial preparation built into the process from the first consultation, which is precisely what keeps the settlement pressure honest.
Attorney Nima Pedram and Attorney Silvia Gonzalez have recovered significant results for families throughout California, including a $500,000 settlement in a wrongful death case and a $1,000,000 settlement in a slip and fall case. Every wrongful death case is handled with full trial preparation from the first consultation. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Get your free case evaluation online or call (844) 344-4444 today. There are no fees unless we win.
Pedram Law, PC
11801 Pierce St., Suite 200
Riverside, CA 92505
(844) 344-4444
Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. This content is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice or create an attorney-client relationship.
