Wrongful Death Representation
No settlement can restore what your family has lost. What we can do is carry the legal burden, pursue full accountability, and treat your family with the care this moment demands.
Who Can Bring a Wrongful Death Claim in California
California law allows certain family members to bring a wrongful death claim — generally a surviving spouse or domestic partner and children, and in some circumstances parents and other heirs. Determining who has standing can require probate and heirship work, particularly when the person who died was unmarried or family members live out of state. We handle that coordination as part of the representation, so the family isn't left to navigate two court systems alone.
What Can Be Recovered
- Loss of the family member's love, companionship, comfort, care, and guidance
- Loss of financial support the family member would have provided
- Funeral and burial expenses
- In a related “survival” action, certain losses the person sustained before passing
How We Handle These Cases
Wrongful death cases are often factually and legally hard. The other side may dispute fault aggressively — and may even point at the person who died. There may be a parallel criminal investigation, which changes how discovery unfolds. Families are often out of state, grieving, and asked to make decisions on unfamiliar timelines.
Our approach, drawn from cases we have litigated:
- Independent investigation — police records, scene evidence, neighborhood camera footage, and electronic records that establish what actually happened
- Coverage and asset work — identifying every policy, demanding asset disclosures, and evaluating realistically what can be recovered
- Coordination with criminal proceedings — navigating discovery when a defendant invokes constitutional protections, without letting the civil case stall
- Litigating through disputed liability — we have recovered full available policy limits for grieving families in cases where the defense believed its comparative fault arguments were strong
- Care with the human details — from probate paperwork to the practical matters families face after a loss, handled with patience and respect
Hard Questions, Honest Answers
Families deserve honesty about what a case can and cannot accomplish. If the available insurance is limited, we will tell you — and explain what it would take to pursue more, and whether that pursuit is realistic. If the other side will try to shift blame, we will prepare you for it. What you will not get from us is false promises or pressure.
There is no fees or costs unless we recover compensation for your family, and the consultation is free and unhurried.