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Santa Rosa Wrongful Death Attorney

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Attorney Michael Rehm — (800) 978-0754

The death of a family member from someone else's negligence or wrongful conduct leaves surviving family members facing grief, financial disruption, and unanswered questions simultaneously. California's wrongful death statute provides a legal path for eligible survivors to pursue compensation for the losses that flow from a wrongful death — not as a remedy for grief, which the law does not compensate directly, but for the concrete and measurable losses the family sustains. Attorney Michael Rehm represents surviving family members in wrongful death claims throughout Santa Rosa and Sonoma County on a contingency fee basis.

Who May Bring a Wrongful Death Claim

Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60 limits wrongful death standing to a specific class of claimants. The statute permits claims by the decedent's surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, the decedent's children and the issue of deceased children, and — where there is no surviving issue — those persons who would be entitled to succeed to the decedent's estate under California's intestacy laws. The statute also permits claims by the decedent's putative spouse, stepchildren, parents, and legal guardians, but only if those individuals were financially dependent on the decedent at the time of death.

Standing to bring a wrongful death action is a threshold issue that must be pleaded and proved by the claimant. A disputed question of fact about the claimant's status as a § 377.60 claimant cannot be resolved by summary judgment — it must be tried. Only those persons specifically identified in the statute may sue; there is no general right of action for the wrongful death of a loved one outside that statutory framework.

What Damages Are Recoverable

Code of Civil Procedure § 377.61 provides that a wrongful death judgment must be in an amount that the jury determines to be fair and just compensation for the loss. The recoverable losses include direct pecuniary loss — the financial support, contributions, and benefits the claimant would reasonably have expected to receive from the decedent; loss of services, advice, counsel, and training the decedent would have provided; and loss of love, companionship, comfort, affection, society, solace, and moral support. Funeral and burial expenses are also recoverable.

What wrongful death claimants cannot recover is equally important to understand. The claimants' personal grief, sorrow, and mental suffering from the loss are not compensable in a wrongful death action. Damages for the decedent's own pain and suffering, the decedent's lost wages before death, and the decedent's medical expenses are likewise not recoverable in the wrongful death action — those items belong instead to the estate's separate survivor action under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.30. The wrongful death action and the estate's survivor action are independent of each other and are often filed and pursued together.

The Underlying Claim for Wrongful Conduct

A wrongful death action requires proof that the decedent's death was caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. The underlying legal theory follows the same negligence framework that applies in personal injury cases: the defendant owed a duty of care, the defendant breached that duty, and the breach caused the death. Civil Code § 1714 and the factors set out in Rowland v. Christian (1968) 69 Cal.2d 108 govern whether a duty existed and was breached. A wrongful death arising from a car crash, a premises liability incident, a truck accident, or exposure to a toxic substance each involves the same threshold negligence analysis as the corresponding personal injury case — the difference is that the plaintiff is the surviving family member rather than the decedent.

Sonoma County Wrongful Death Context

In 2023 (the most recent year for which data is currently available), 497 people were killed or injured in Santa Rosa traffic crashes. Across Sonoma County, the UC Berkeley SafeTREC database shows an average of 37 traffic fatalities per year from 2021 through 2025. Alcohol-involved crashes accounted for an average of 11.2 fatalities per year over that period. The Vision Zero Action Plan documented 176 traffic fatalities in Sonoma County from 2016 through 2020. Not every fatal crash gives rise to a viable wrongful death claim — but when another party's negligence caused the death, the surviving family has legal recourse.

Filing Deadline

Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1 provides a two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death claims, running from the date of death. For deaths caused by the conduct of a government entity or its employees, the Government Claims Act requires a written claim to be presented within six months of the date of death. Missing that deadline can potentially bar a lawsuit. Tolling doctrines may apply depending on the facts — contact Attorney Michael Rehm to assess the specific timeline in your situation.

Related Pages

Attorney Michael Rehm handles wrongful death cases throughout Santa Rosa and Sonoma County on a contingency fee basis. No fee without a recovery. Call (800) 978-0754 for a free consultation.

The information on this page is general legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case turns on its own facts. The law can change — statutes are amended, cases are decided, and regulations are revised; nothing on this page should be relied upon as a statement of current law without verification. Deadlines and legal bars discussed on this page are general guides — whether a particular deadline applies, has run, or is subject to tolling, and whether a particular doctrine bars or limits recovery in your case, requires individual analysis. Contact Attorney Michael Rehm to discuss the specific facts of your situation.

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