When someone else’s actions cause your loved one’s death in Riverside, California, you can file a wrongful death lawsuit to recover compensation for your loss. An untimely death—sudden and preventable due to another’s negligence—can bring significant emotional and financial hardship to families left behind. If you and your family depended on your loved one’s income, the compensation sought through a lawsuit can be vital, helping you pay bills and providing for your needs. Hire a Riverside wrongful death lawyer from Dordick Law Corporation to help with your claim.
Contact Dordick Law Corporation at (310) 341-7176 for a free consultation about your case with a qualified and compassionate Riverside wrongful death attorney. Our firm has spent decades providing families and individuals like you with robust legal support. We’ll review your case, explain your options for seeking financial recovery, and answer all of your questions about the legal process.
What Is a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
Under California law, a wrongful death lawsuit is a legal action taken by the family of a deceased person against the individual or entity responsible for their death. Such lawsuits arise from a wrongful act, which can include a negligent act or an intentional act that causes someone’s death. Wrongful deaths can occur in various ways in Riverside, with the most common causes being:
- Motor vehicle accidents, including car, truck, bus, motorcycle, and pedestrian accidents
- Defective product accidents, including products with design, manufacturing, or warning label defects
- Premises liability accidents, including exposure to hazardous materials, slips and falls, and other incidents involving hazardous property conditions
- Medical malpractice, including misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, medication errors, and surgical errors
- Workplace accidents, including the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) “fatal four” (falls from heights, struck-by incidents, caught-in/caught-between incidents, and electrocutions)
- Criminal acts, including domestic violence, physical assault, gun violence, and homicide
If you believe your loved one was the victim of a wrongful death, our knowledgeable and experienced lawyers can investigate the incident to identify the at-fault parties and gather the evidence needed to hold them financially liable for your loss.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Riverside?
Under California law, only certain individuals can file a wrongful death lawsuit. These are the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate, the deceased’s spouse or domestic partner (surviving spouse), and the deceased person’s children. If the deceased has no spouse, domestic partner, or children, their parents, heirs, or other next of kin may be eligible to file the lawsuit. A family member, including a surviving spouse or putative spouse, may also be eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit if they were financially dependent on the deceased or believed in good faith they were married to the deceased.
Regardless of who files the wrongful death lawsuit, any compensation recovered is for the exclusive benefit of the parties mentioned above.
While the courts typically presume that spouses, minor children, and the parents of deceased minor children have sustained compensable losses following a wrongful death, other parties may have to demonstrate they were financially dependent on the deceased person to recover certain types of compensation.
What Compensation Can You Recover from a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
The compensation available to family members through a wrongful death lawsuit falls into two categories. Wrongful death damages are intended to provide fair and just compensation to the decedent’s family. First, there are economic damages, which are the compensation sought for the losses you sustained due to your loved one’s death that have tangible value, such as funeral and burial costs (including funeral and burial expenses and burial expenses). And second, there are non-economic damages, which are the compensation sought for the losses you sustained with intangible value.
An experienced and compassionate wrongful death lawyer in Riverside can help maximize your compensation by adding up your tangible losses and speaking with you to understand the intangible impact your loved one’s death has had on you and your family. The decedent’s family may be seeking compensation for both economic and non-economic losses, including funeral costs and other wrongful death damages. Our team will help you determine a fair value for these losses and will pursue the compensation you need.
Economic Damages
The California Civil Jury Instructions (CACI) Section 3921 outlines the losses for which family members can seek economic damages. These losses include:
- The financial support your loved one would have continued to provide for your family
- The gifts or benefits your loved one would have been expected to give you and your family
- The reasonable cost of household services that your loved one would have continued to provide
- Your loved one’s funeral and burial costs
Non-Economic Damages
Section 3921 of the CACI proceeds to outline the losses for which family members can seek non-economic damages. These losses include:
- Your loved one’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support
- Your loved one’s training and guidance
- Your loved one’s sexual relations
There is no set standard for determining the value of non-economic losses. However, damages sought for these losses can make up a significant part of a wrongful death lawsuit, which is why it’s important to work with a wrongful death attorney in Riverside who can empathize with you and seek fair compensation.
Survival Actions
Survival actions are distinct legal actions separate from wrongful death lawsuits. However, they are related and often filed alongside wrongful death lawsuits seeking additional compensation for the same incident that caused a deceased victim’s death. Survival actions are filed on behalf of the deceased victim, and any compensation recovered goes to the deceased’s estate.
While wrongful death lawsuits seek compensation for the losses sustained by a deceased individual’s surviving family members, survival actions seek compensation for the losses the deceased suffered before their death. This could include their medical bills, which encompass medical expenses incurred by the deceased victim prior to death, lost wages, and pain and suffering. Additionally, unlike wrongful death lawsuits, survival actions can seek punitive damages in rare cases.
These lawsuits are filed by the deceased’s personal representative and may include any legal claim the deceased had that hadn’t expired by their death, including personal injury lawsuits. These legal claims “survive” the deceased individual, and the compensation recovered through them goes to the deceased’s estate. From the estate, this compensation is then transferred to the heirs through intestate succession.
California’s Wrongful Death Statute of Limitations
California’s statute of limitations for wrongful death cases provides families with two years to file their lawsuits against the parties responsible for their loved one’s death. For a California wrongful death claim, this two-year time limit typically begins on the date of the person’s death. Filing a wrongful death claim within this period is essential to preserve your rights under California law. The process for a Riverside wrongful death claim follows the same deadlines as a California wrongful death claim. However, if the cause of death or a party’s involvement in their death was unknown, the time limit may not begin until you knew or should have reasonably known that information.
Missing the deadline provided by the statute of limitations will result in the courts barring you from recovering compensation for the loss of your loved one. For this reason, it’s crucial that you hire an experienced wrongful death attorney to handle your case.
If your loved one’s death resulted from medical malpractice, the time you have to file a lawsuit is different. In medical malpractice cases, you have three years from the date of death or one year from the date you discovered malpractice was the cause of death, whichever is sooner.
And if the defendant is a government entity, in addition to the standard two-year time limit for filing your lawsuit, there’s a six-month deadline to file a notice of claim with the relevant government agency. Failing to file your notice of claim in time will result in losing your ability to sue the government.
How Our Riverside Wrongful Death Lawyers Can Help
Our Riverside wrongful death attorneys at our law firm and law office serve clients in Riverside and San Bernardino, as well as throughout Southern California and Riverside County. Our Riverside personal injury attorneys have extensive experience handling wrongful death claims and personal injury claims, including those arising from car accidents and someone else’s negligence.
We’ll start by investigating the circumstances surrounding your loved one’s death to identify the responsible party and gather evidence needed to hold them financially liable. A successful wrongful death claim depends on thoroughly examining these circumstances and proving that the defendant breached their duty of care, which led to the loss. In some cases, the defendant’s guilt may be established in a criminal prosecution or criminal case. This requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt. However, a wrongful death claim arises in civil court with a lower standard of proof.
Our law firm will work to seek justice for the victim’s family and ensure your family receives the compensation you deserve to secure your family’s future. We can also assist with personal injury claims if the victim had survived, as the process for a wrongful death claim is similar to a personal injury claim.
Then, we’ll calculate your damages and enter settlement negotiations with the at-fault party’s insurance company. If the insurer refuses to offer a fair settlement during negotiations, we’ll proceed to take your case to trial to seek the maximum compensation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below, we’ve included answers to some of the most common questions family members have after the wrongful death of their loved one in Riverside, California.
Do I have to pay taxes on wrongful death compensation?
According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), compensation recovered from wrongful death lawsuits is not taxable. However, certain types of damages, including punitive damages awarded through a survival action, may be taxable.
Please ask our lawyers during your initial consultation if you have specific concerns about how your wrongful death and survival action lawsuits may impact your taxes.
How much does it cost to hire a Riverside wrongful death attorney?
Most wrongful death attorneys work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you only pay if they recover compensation for you. Their fee is generally between 30 and 40 percent of your settlement or trial award, so you never have to worry about how you’ll afford their services.
When should I hire a wrongful death lawyer?
The best time to hire a wrongful death lawyer is right now. The sooner you hire a lawyer, the sooner they can start working on your case by investigating your loved one’s death, identifying the at-fault parties, and gathering evidence needed to hold them liable.
Because of the time limits on filing cases, any additional time you can give your lawyer to work on your case helps. Generally, the more time your lawyer has to work on your case, the stronger your case will be.
Contact Our Wrongful Death Lawyers in Riverside, CA
If someone else’s actions caused your loved one’s death in Riverside, contact Dordick Law Corporation at (310) 341-7176 for a free consultation. Contact our team of knowledgeable and experienced California wrongful death lawyers. Our firm has been representing grieving families in Riverside since 1987, emphasizing a commitment to quality work and compassionate guidance. Let us show why our clients recommend our services to their friends and family through our contact form.
