Yes. The family of a person killed in a California wildfire can file a wrongful death claim against the party whose negligence caused the fire or whose conduct caused the death during the fire. The claim is brought by the heirs, and a separate survival claim is brought by the estate of the person who died.
A wrongful death case does not bring anyone back. It does set a number on what a family lost, holds the responsible party accountable through the civil justice system, and provides the financial support a family needs to keep going. This post walks through who can bring a California wildfire wrongful death claim, what damages are available, what the deadlines are, and what evidence supports the case.
California law sets out who is entitled to sue when a family member is killed by another party's negligence. The surviving spouse or domestic partner can bring the claim. The surviving children can bring the claim. If there is no surviving spouse or children, the people who would be entitled to inherit through California intestate succession can bring the claim. In some cases, parents, putative spouses, stepchildren, and dependents who lived in the household can also have standing.
There is one wrongful death case per death, not one per heir. The court generally requires all the heirs to be joined in a single action so the case can be resolved without the defendant facing repeat claims. Our trial team identifies every heir at intake and structures the case so that no one with a legitimate claim is left out.
A separate survival claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate. That claim belongs to the estate itself and is presented alongside the wrongful death claim to the same jury.
The wrongful death claim covers the heirs' losses. Financial losses include the financial support the heirs would have received during the deceased's lifetime, the loss of gifts and benefits the heirs would have received, the loss of household services the deceased provided, and reasonable funeral and burial expenses.
Non-economic losses are usually the larger category in a family case. They include the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, moral support, and the training and guidance the family would have continued to receive. The jury determines the value of those losses based on the family's testimony, documentation of the relationship, and evidence of how the loss has changed the family's life.
The survival claim covers what belongs to the estate. It includes the deceased's medical expenses, lost earnings between injury and death, and any other compensable losses sustained before death. When the conduct of the defendant supports it, the survival claim can also include the deceased's pre-death pain and suffering.
Punitive damages may be available where the defendant's conduct was malicious, fraudulent, or oppressive. In utility-caused wildfires, punitive damages have been an active part of the litigation. Our trial team assesses every case for the availability of punitive damages and builds the record from the inspection history, the maintenance records, and the internal communications that come out in discovery.
The clock starts running at the moment of death. The general California statute of limitations for a wrongful death claim is two years from the date of death. When the defendant is a public entity, the deadline is much shorter. A government claim has to be presented to the entity within six months of the date of death, and the lawsuit has to be filed within six months after the claim is denied.
Some wildfire cases involve federal land or federal entities, and those cases come with their own filing deadlines and procedures. Some cases involve foreign or out-of-state defendants whose insurance, service of process, and jurisdictional issues take time to work out. Each of those issues adds pressure to the front end of the case.
The shorter the deadline, the more important it is to call us early. We have seen families wait six months out of grief and then watch the government claim deadline pass while they were still trying to get the death certificate.
The fire investigation report is the first piece. Cal Fire, the local fire marshal, the local sheriff, and sometimes federal investigators will issue a report identifying the cause of the fire. When the cause was utility equipment, the report names the equipment and the operator. When the cause was a vehicle or a piece of construction equipment, the report names that source. When the cause was arson, the criminal case becomes part of the civil case.
Our trial team works with cause-and-origin investigators, electrical engineers, and vegetation management consultants to build out the liability picture beyond what the public report establishes. The defendants have their own investigators. We have to match and exceed that work to win at trial.
For the death itself, the medical records, the coroner's report, and the witness accounts establish what happened in the final hours. When the deceased survived for a period after the fire, the conscious pain and suffering of those hours is part of the survival damages and has to be documented carefully.
For the family side of the case, the evidence is more personal. Family photographs, family videos, family testimony, the testimony of friends and coworkers, the deceased's writings and social media, and the documentation of the deceased's role in the family all build the wrongful death damages story.
The fire took your loved one. The system should not take the case. Call Bloom Injury Law and let our trial team build the wrongful death and survival case the way it would be tried.
If you've experienced an injury due to someone else's negligence, contact Bloom Injury Law today for a free consultation. Call (310) 525-5985 or contact us online.
