Santa Monica Wrongful Death Lawyer

Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 defines standing: the surviving spouse or domestic partner, the children, and where there is no surviving issue, those entitled to the decedent's property by intestate succession, along with certain dependent parents, stepchildren and putative spouses.

Code of Civil Procedure § 377.61 sets the recoverable damages — the financial support the person would have provided, and the loss of their love, companionship, comfort, care and guidance. It does not compensate the survivors' grief as its own category.

Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.30, the claim the decedent held passes to the personal representative or successor in interest. Section 377.34 governs what it recovers — the losses and expenses sustained before death, and punitive damages where they would have been available to the person.

The two claims are pleaded together. The facts are developed once; the categories of recovery are different.

Two years from the date of death is the general rule under Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1. Where a public entity may be responsible, the six-month government claim requirement in Government Code § 911.2 controls the front end of the case.

Evidence on the coast disappears quickly: Pier and beach-lot cameras, business cameras along Ocean and Main, and the vehicles themselves. We send preservation demands and request the agency file while it is all still retrievable.