Hi, my name is Matt Eason. I’m a personal injury and wrongful death attorney here in Sacramento, and I have been practicing that law for over 25 years. In this video, we’re going to address the question of what do you need for a wrongful death lawsuit in California? You need three basic things for a wrongful death lawsuit in California, plus a fourth to really make it worthwhile.
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In California, the first thing you have to have in order to maintain a wrongful death action is that you have to have legal standing. Legal standing is a fancy way of saying that you have a legally recognized right to bring that action. While we produced another video that addresses the legal standing question in a little bit more depth, meaning who has a right to bring an action, effectively, if you’re a legal heir of the decedent, you probably have legal standing. Standing is generally limited to the spouse or domestic partner, and then the children, and then it goes in different directions based on the probate code.
The second item to a successful wrongful death action in California is you need liability. Somebody has to have breached a duty. In other words, they had an obligation to act, and they failed to act as a reasonable person would have in the same or similar circumstances. Car accidents, truck accidents, things like that, where someone was rear-ended or was not driving safe those are fairly easy liability-type scenarios or can be easy. The more complex situation has to do with medical malpractice. Just because someone passes away in the hospital under a doctor’s care does not necessarily mean that there’s malpractice or that there’s a liability against that provider. Instead, you have to show that that provider failed to act as a reasonable provider would have in the same or similar circumstances.
The third item to having a successful wrongful death action in California is probably more of a technicality under the circumstances, but still technically has to be proven. You have to have suffered damages. Damages can obviously be economic damages such as loss of support, but damages can also be non-economic, such as loss of love and companionship.
The fourth item for a wrongful death item in California isn’t technically required, but practically it can be very important, and that is collectability. If the person that you’re going after for the wrongful death of someone else does not have any assets. For example, they weren’t insured, don’t own a home, or don’t have a stable job, then sometimes bringing the wrongful death action might be good for your heart and soul to bring closure. It’s not going to really be successful as far as being able to collect. Most of the collectability has to do with insurance, or the person that caused the harm must act in the course and scope of their employment, and their employer has insurance.
So while technically, to have a wrongful death action in California requires standing, liability, and damages, collectability is also an issue that obviously should be looked into as well. If you’ve lost a loved one and you’re curious about a wrongful death action and what it encompasses and what it doesn’t, I hope you consider reaching out to me, Matt Eason, or another attorney at my firm at Eason and Tambornini.
