Is there a statute of limitations for a wrongful death suit?

Hi, my name is Matt Eason. I’m a personal injury and wrongful death attorney. I’ve been practicing that area of law for over 25 years here in Sacramento, California. In this video, we’re going to discuss the question, “Is there a statute of limitations for wrongful death in California?”

The short answer is, in California, there’s a statute directly on point. The California Code of Civil Procedure 335.1 says that you have two years to bring an action for bodily injury or wrongful death.  

The problem with that statute and the trout for the unwary is that statute sets forward the outside length from most people to bring an action for wrongful death. Many other statutes actually shorten that time frame by less than two years, and those are the statutes that make us the most concerned about clients missing.  

For example, if your claim is against many government entities here in California, your time period is not two years but actually limited to six months. Additionally, if your claim is for professional malpractice, such as against a doctor or hospital, a lot of those claims are reduced from two years to one year.

Another problem with taking that statute too simplistically is that there are situations in which the time period of bringing an action can be extended based on the actions of the defendant or other matters. 

Those situations are relatively rare and few in far between, but they do exist.  

Another situation in which that’s simple statute isn’t quite so simple has to do with when does that time period begin to run? Historically speaking, the statute of limitations or the time that you have to file a claim starts to run from the date of the misconduct, not necessarily the date of passing. However, there are a lot of complex nuances as to which of those two dates is applicable.