Wrongful Death Law In California, A Basic Understanding1

By Paul Ralph
In California, the law relating to claims against loss arising out of wrongful death is a creature of statute and very often, it is found to be complicated or even illogical. If a loved one has been lost because of a wrongful conduct of another, it's crucial to understand your rights and those of other surviving loved ones.

Use of the term "wrongful death" refers to any case in which a death occurs due to negligence or intentional misconduct from another person. Such carelessness can include a physician whose negligent actions during surgery result in death, or who should have diagnosed a curable condition but did not. You might have a valid claim if the death was the result of a car accident, or a slip, trip, or fall. The same rights would be for an untimely death that comes from a premeditated act like assault and battery.

Determining who has "standing", or the right to bring a wrongful death action, depends on statutes having to do with the order certain heirs are entitled to property of the deceased. You can bring a wrongful death suit to court depending on which order the heirs are entitled to the deceased's property. For instance, in most cases, the people with the most standing to bring such a lawsuit are the parents and siblings of the victim. In normal circumstances, the ability to bring such a lawsuit is not available to other family members such as the parents and siblings of the victim. However, depending on the circumstances, there are some exceptions. The rules determining people allowed to recover damages are complicated.

One example of such circumstance would be the death of a person that is unmarried and without children. This person’s "domestic partner" is entitled to bring forth a lawsuit. If the spouse and children are passed away, but there are grandchildren, then the grandchildren would have a claim. However, unless the deceased has been supporting their parents, this is true for the surviving parents of the deceased as well. To make matters even more confusing, a spouse in a voided marriage who believed in good faith that the marriage was legal might have the right to initiate action.

After it has been clearly established which parties have standing, damages can be addressed. Always remember that these and other types of personal injury actions come under two headings: economic and non-economic. The economic grouping has to do with items such as the funeral, burial expenses, lost support, etc. Non-economic damages include loosing a relationship with the deceased.

Below is a list of economic damages in detail:

1.Financial support contributed to the family by the late person or expected during the loved one's remaining life expectancy;

2. Deprivation of benefits and expected gifts from the deceased;

3. The cost of the funeral including all other expenses involving the burial

4. The estimate of the value of household services that the person who passed would have provided.
For over 15 years, Paul W. Ralph has been a personal injury attorney Orange County dealing with court cases and lawsuits in California. Because of the importance of the cases handled in the past as a wrongful death attorney Orange County and high profile personal injury cases, Mr. Ralph has appeared on CNN, has been quoted on the front page of the Los Angeles Daily Journal and his cases have made the cover of Trials Digest.

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