Chula Vista Wrongful Death Attorney

When a person dies due to the negligent, careless, intentional, or reckless act of another person or entity, this is called "wrongful death." If a loved one has died due to wrongful death, it is important to find an experienced, aggressive wrongful death lawyer immediately.

In order to protect your rights, your lawyer must move quickly to investigate all the circumstances of the death. It is critical to preserve evidence and identify all potential defendants as early as possible. For this reason, you should not delay in hiring a qualified attorney.

Under California law, only persons with a specific relationship to the victim may file a wrongful death claim. The specific relationships that qualify are defined by the California Wrongful Death Statute (in descending order of priority) as follows: surviving spouse, children, dependent stepchildren, dependent minors living in the victim's household for at least six months, and dependent parents.

If there are no persons in these categories, then persons entitled to inherit the victim's estate are next in line: Parents, whether or not they were dependent; if there are none, then siblings or children of deceased siblings; if there are none, then grandparents; if there are none, then children of a deceased spouse. If none of these relatives exist, the next of kin may file a wrongful death suit.

In some cases, the Probate Court will appoint a personal representative to handle the victim's estate. The personal representative may bring a wrongful death action on behalf of the persons identified in the statute. Where the personal representative recovers proceeds in a wrongful death case, they may be disbursed according to the requirements of the wrongful death statute.

Damages in a California Wrongful Death Case

A wrongful death action compensates the heirs for their own losses, not the losses of the deceased. The heirs are not entitled to certain types of damages normally recoverable in a personal injury claim, such as the victim's medical expenses, lost income and property damage. These claims may be recovered by the victim's estate (through the personal representative) in a "survival action." A wrongful death action compensates the heirs for their own losses which resulted from the victim's death; however, a survival action recovers compensation for claims which belonged to the victim (those claims pass to the victim's estate upon his or her death).

Occasionally, punitive damages can be recovered in a survival action where the victim survived the accident, however briefly, or where the victim's property was damaged or lost before death. Brief survival or property damage are not necessary to recover punitive damages where the wrongful death was the result of homicide for which the defendant was convicted of a felony. Often, the survival action is joined and litigated together with the wrongful death claim.
What, then, are qualified persons entitled to recover in wrongful death cases? They are entitled to recover their own economic and non-economic losses which resulted from the wrongful death of a loved one. In California, juries may award compensation for economic damages as follows:

• Compensation for the financial support the victim would have contributed to the heir during either the life expectancy of the victim or the heir, whichever is shorter;
• Compensation for the loss of gifts or benefits that the heir would have expected to receive from the victim;
• Compensation for funeral and burial expenses; and
• Compensation for the reasonable value of household services the victim would have provided to the heir.

California juries are also permitted to award the monetary value of certain non-economic losses, as follows:

• Compensation for the loss of the victim's love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, and society;
• Compensation for the loss of the enjoyment of sexual relations, if applicable; and
• Compensation for the loss of the training and guidance of the victim, if applicable.

Unlike in other personal injury actions, the jury in a wrongful death case is not permitted to compensate the heirs for grief, sorrow or mental anguish; nor may the jury consider the poverty or wealth of the heirs, or the wrongful death victim's pain and suffering. However, where a parent or sibling witnesses the injury or death of the victim, a personal injury action may be brought to recover compensation for negligent infliction of emotional distress.

Wrongful Death Lawyers

Careful preparation of a wrongful death case is necessary to achieve the best outcome. It is essential to hire an experienced wrongful death lawyer, who will take the following steps:

1. Prove and explain liability and damages. Depending on the circumstances of the case, it may be necessary to hire expert witnesses to establish the liability of the defendant for the victim's death. Depending on the nature of the damages, expert witnesses are often necessary to quantify the amount of financial harm to the heirs resulting from the death of the victim.

2. Determine whether an estate should be created. If there are many heirs entitled to recovery, the creation of a probate estate may be preferable. In those cases, the wrongful death claim is brought in the name of the estate instead of by the heirs.

3. Establish the life expectancy of the victim. There are many factors to be considered in this analysis; however, determining the life expectancy of the victim is essential to establishing the value of the claim.

4. Determine how much financial support has been lost by the heirs. A complex economic analysis of the victim's assets, wage history and anticipated future wages is often necessary to determine the amount of financial support lost by the heirs.

5. Establish a dollar value for loss of companionship, society and comfort. These "non-economic damages" are highly subjective, and a skilled trial attorney must persuade the jury to award an amount of money that is fair and reasonable in light of the loss suffered by the heirs.