Wrongful Death Lawyer in Los Angeles
Lost a Loved One Because of Someone Else’s Negligence?
Tabibnia Law has handled wrongful death cases in Los Angeles for eighteen years. If you’re reading this, you’re probably dealing with something no family should have to face, losing someone because of another person’s carelessness or recklessness.
Call Now for a Free, Confidential Consultation:
Case Review
How Does the State of California Define Wrongful Death?
The grief is crushing enough. Then come the bills. Funeral costs, medical expenses from those final days and suddenly the income your family depended on is gone. While you’re trying to process what happened, insurance adjusters are already working to minimize what they’ll pay you.
California law (Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60) lets certain family members file a civil lawsuit when someone dies because of another person’s wrongful act or negligence.
This is not the same as a criminal case. A wrongful death lawsuit is about getting your family the financial compensation you’ve lost. Both can happen. Sometimes neither happens. They’re separate tracks entirely.
Wrongful Death Claims Can be Filed by Spouses, Domestic Partners, and Children in California
California’s pretty specific about this. Spouses, children, or domestic partners can file a case. If the deceased had children who have already passed away, those grandchildren can file.
Beyond that, it gets more complicated. Parents, stepchildren, or other relatives who were financially dependent on the deceased might qualify. There’s even a provision for a putative spouse, someone who genuinely believed in good faith they were legally married, even if technically they weren’t.
Cyrus had a client last year who came to him unsure if she qualified. She’d been with her partner for twelve years, never formally married but completely intertwined financially. They established her standing and moved forward.
Difference Between a Wrogful Death and Survival Action
California recognizes two separate legal claims, and understanding the difference matters.
- Wrongful Death (CCP § 377.60) compensates the surviving family members for what you’ve lost, including the financial support they would’ve provided, their companionship, love, guidance, the comfort and care they gave, and the list goes on.
Here’s something that surprises people: California doesn’t allow recovery for your grief, sorrow, or emotional distress in wrongful death cases. Courts have been consistent about this. You can recover for losing the relationship, the tangible things they provided, but not for your pain about losing them. It sounds like splitting hairs when you’re grieving, but it’s how the law works.
- Survival Action (CCP §§ 377.30–377.34) is filed by the estate and covers damages the deceased person themselves would’ve been able to claim if they’d lived. Medical bills before death. Lost wages between the injury and when they died. Pain and suffering they experienced before passing.
Punitive damages are tricky. You generally can’t get them in a wrongful death claim unless the defendant was convicted of felony homicide. But you can get them in a survival action if your loved one survived even briefly after the incident and would’ve had grounds for a punitive damages claim.
Between 2022 and 2026, there’s a temporary statute (SB 447) that allows pain and suffering damages in survival actions. We’ll see if the legislature extends it.
Wrongful Death’s Most Common Causes in California
Wrongful deaths come from car accidents, drunk drivers, distracted drivers, people running red lights. Pedestrians and cyclists getting hit. Truck crashes on the 405.
Workplace accidents are common. Construction site falls, machinery failures, employers ignoring OSHA regulations. Property owners who let dangerous conditions persist through unsafe stairs, inadequate security that leads to assaults, swimming pool accidents.
Medical negligence kills people too. Misdiagnosis, surgical errors, medication mix-ups, nursing home neglect. Those cases have different procedural rules under CCP § 340.5, shorter deadlines, more hoops to jump through.
Defective products, criminal acts, assaults, shootings, vehicular homicide.
Economic and Non-Economic Damages Can be Sought
- Economic damages can be calculated. Funeral and/or burial expenses are one example. Medical bills from your loved one’s fatal injury or illness are another. Others include the future income and financial support you’ve lost, like your loved one’s current salary and what they would’ve earned over their expected working life.
Lost benefits like health insurance and retirement contributions can also be economic damages.
- Non-economic damages cover the relationship itself. Companionship, love, comfort, care, guidance, moral support. For spouses and partners, loss of intimacy and consortium.
What you can’t recover: your grief, sorrow, or mental anguish. California explicitly excludes that.
Statute of Limitations on Wrongful Death Cases
You have two years from the date of death to file in most cases (CCP § 335.1).
Medical malpractice wrongful death cases have different rules and often shorter windows. Claims against government entities require filing a government claim within six months before you can even file a lawsuit.
Someone contacted the firm once at twenty-three months. They filed with weeks to spare. Miss the deadline and your case is gone, permanently barred, no matter how strong it is. Don’t wait.
Building a Wrongful Death Case in California
The firm investigates thoroughly. Police reports, medical records, scene evidence. Surveillance footage if it exists. Electronic data from vehicles. Witness statements. Cyrus identifies every responsible party, individuals, corporations, property owners, manufacturers.
The firm works with accident reconstruction specialists when needed. Medical experts. Economists who can project the value of lost income and life services over decades.
Insurance companies will try to minimize what they pay you. They’ll shift blame, challenge your damages, make inadequate offers hoping you’ll take them because you need money now. Cyrus handles them directly and pushes back hard.
Even when cases settle, and many do, strong trial preparation dramatically increases settlement value. Insurers know when you’re actually ready to go to court. Cyrus has appeared in LA courts thousands of times and knows the judges, the procedures, how to position your case effectively.
Case Review
Choose Cyrus Tabibnia to Represent You in Your Wrongful Death Action
Eighteen years of experience with serious injury and wrongful death cases. You work directly with Cyrus, not a paralegal or junior associate, he’s handling your case personally. He speaks English, Persian, and Spanish, so he can communicate with many families in their preferred language.
Deep familiarity with Los Angeles courts. And an understanding that this isn’t just a legal matter, it’s the worst thing that’s happened to your family.
Frequently Asked Questions
Courts typically award one lump sum. Family members divide it by agreement. If you can’t agree, the court apportions it.
Many cases settle. But if the insurance company won’t be fair, Cyrus is prepared to litigate.
Probably. That’s medical negligence and potentially elder abuse. You’re well within the deadline. Time to have a conversation.
Contact Tabibnia Law Today
If negligence killed someone you love, you deserve answers and accountability.
Call Cyrus at (866) 713-2159. You’ll talk through what happened, figure out if you have a case, and map out what comes next. No charge for the consultation.
Let the firm handle the legal fight so you can focus on your family and healing.
