Personal injury
Families are usually told to wait until things settle before thinking about a claim. The difficulty is that several of the deadlines, and most of the evidence, do not wait. The consultation is free.
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Who may sue
Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 gives the wrongful death claim first to the surviving spouse or domestic partner, the children, and the issue of deceased children. If there is no surviving issue, it passes to those entitled to the decedent’s property by intestate succession. Putative spouses, their children, stepchildren, parents, and legal guardians may also bring a claim where they were dependent on the decedent, and dependency has to be proved.
California requires all heirs to be joined in a single action, so identifying everyone with standing at the outset is a practical necessity rather than a formality, particularly in blended families.
Sources: Code of Civil Procedure 377.60(a)–(b) — who may bring the claim; Code of Civil Procedure 377.61 — the damages recoverable.
The two claims
The wrongful death claim belongs to the heirs and covers their own losses: financial support, household services, funeral and burial costs, and the loss of the decedent’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support. It does not compensate grief as such.
The survival claim belongs to the estate and carries the claim the decedent had: their economic losses before death, and punitive damages where the conduct supports them. One current point matters: Code of Civil Procedure 377.34(b) allowed the decedent’s pre-death pain and suffering to be recovered in actions filed on or after 1 January 2022 and before 1 January 2026. That window has closed, so an action filed now falls back under subdivision (a), which excludes it.
Sources: Code of Civil Procedure 377.34(a)–(b) — survival damages, and the exception that closed on 1 January 2026; Code of Civil Procedure 377.30 — the survival cause of action.
Deadlines
Two years from the date of death is the general rule, which is not necessarily two years from the injury where the person survived for a period. Medical negligence runs under Code of Civil Procedure 340.5 with its own shorter limits and its 90-day notice requirement.
Where a public entity is involved — a city, the County of Orange, a transit agency, a public hospital, a school district, or a dangerous condition of a public road — a written government claim is due within six months of the death, and only six months remain to sue after it is rejected.
Sources: Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 — two years from the death; Code of Civil Procedure 340.5 — medical negligence deadlines; Government Code 911.2(a) — six months to present a government claim.
The county
Civil cases are filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, with unlimited civil matters generally heard at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. Where the death is under investigation, the Orange County Sheriff-Coroner conducts the examination, and the autopsy and toxicology findings frequently determine the shape of the civil claim.
Where the coroner does not perform an autopsy, or where the finding on cause of death is likely to be contested, an independent examination is a decision with a very short window. It is one of the first questions worth asking.
Sources: Superior Court of California, County of Orange; Orange County Sheriff-Coroner.
The first weeks
Vehicles are repaired or scrapped, commercial vehicle and electronic logging data is overwritten, and surveillance footage is recycled within days. A letter demanding preservation is often the difference between a provable case and an unprovable one.
Cause of death drives the case, and the opportunity closes quickly.
If a city, the County, a transit agency, a public hospital, or a road condition is involved, the six-month claim clock is already running from the date of death.
The other side’s insurer will make contact early and sympathetically. Nothing requires a grieving family to give them a statement, and those statements are used to build comparative fault.
The office
Patrick S. Aguirre has represented injured people and their families across the Los Angeles and Orange County courts for nearly three decades, with offices in Long Beach and Downey. A death case is built on two tracks: establishing responsibility, and documenting the family’s loss through the economic analysis of support and services alongside the testimony of the people who knew the decedent.
The early work is identifying every heir with standing, structuring the wrongful death and survival claims correctly, and protecting any government claim deadline. No result is promised here. The office speaks Spanish and the consultation is free.
Frequently asked questions
Code of Civil Procedure 377.60 sets the order: the surviving spouse or domestic partner, children, and issue of deceased children first; failing surviving issue, those entitled by intestate succession. Putative spouses, stepchildren, parents, and guardians may claim where they were dependent on the decedent. All heirs must be joined in one action.
Not in an action filed now. Code of Civil Procedure 377.34(b) permitted it for actions filed on or after 1 January 2022 and before 1 January 2026, and that window has closed. The estate can still recover the decedent’s pre-death economic losses and, where the conduct supports it, punitive damages.
Generally two years from the date of death. Medical negligence cases run under Code of Civil Procedure 340.5 instead. If a public entity is involved, a written government claim must be presented within six months under Government Code 911.2, and once rejected there are six months to file suit.
Not without review. Early offers are made before the full losses are established and before every responsible party and policy has been identified, and the release is permanent as to everyone it names. Lifetime support and services analysis takes longer than the first few weeks an insurer typically moves in.
Selected case results
A selection from 55 documented results
$2,850,000
Premises liability
$320,000
Maricopa County, Arizona
$480,000
Premises liability
$520,000
Maricopa County, Arizona
$360,000
Los Angeles Superior Court
Client experiences
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Meet your attorney
A Professional Law Corporation
The future of your case may depend on a successful outcome. It can be stressful to go through the legal process alone—but thankfully, you don’t have to.
The Law Offices of Patrick S. Aguirre will stand up for clients’ interests and rights, providing high-quality representation in personal injury cases and criminal defense matters throughout California from its Long Beach office.
We work with you and for your best interests. Our legal team is compassionate, hard-working, and tenacious—fighting to get the job done right when it matters most. No case is too complicated or insignificant for our full attention. Our clients may move forward into a brighter future free from worry about past mistakes.
We’re the legal team that never gives up. When you need an attorney who will fight for what’s right, turn to us, and we’ll do everything in our power to help. No matter how challenging your situation may seem, there is hope.
“Courage is the most important attribute of a lawyer.”
Robert F. Kennedy
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