Losing someone close through another’s negligence is deeply painful. In California, survivors of such a loss may have two distinct legal tools to seek justice: a wrongful death action or a survival action. While both arise out of the same incident, they serve different purposes and compensate different losses.

What Is a Wrongful Death Action

A wrongful death action focuses on the losses suffered by the survivors because their loved one died.

In a successful wrongful death claim, the family can recover damages such as funeral and burial costs, lost earnings the deceased would have provided, the cost of childcare if the decedent was a primary caregiver, and non-economic damages like loss of companionship or support.

In California, emotional distress damages are not usually recoverable in a wrongful death claim, although in some cases a separate claim for intentional emotional harm might be possible. Punitive damages are only available when the death resulted from a felony homicide or intentional wrongful act.

The statute of limitations for wrongful death in California generally gives survivors two years from the date of death to file suit. Some cases, such as those involving medical negligence, may have shorter deadlines.

What Is a Survival Action

Unlike wrongful death, a survival action is designed to carry forward the legal rights of the deceased for harms the victim endured before dying.

If the victim lived for even a brief period after the injury, their estate or successors can bring a survival action. Through it, they can recover economic damages like medical expenses, lost wages after injury but before death, and expenses incurred during that period. They can also pursue non-economic damages such as pain, suffering, or disfigurement suffered while alive. In survival actions, punitive damages are also allowed in appropriate cases.

The survival action essentially treats what the injured person would have claimed if they had survived, and allows it to proceed on their behalf. The statute of limitations for survival actions also varies, sometimes matching personal injury deadlines or as short as six months in specific types of cases.

When Both Actions Can Be Pursued

In many wrongful death cases, both a wrongful death claim and a survival action can be filed together, since they address different types of losses stemming from the same event. A survivor action covers what the deceased suffered before death, while wrongful death covers what the survivors lost afterward.

An experienced attorney can help decide the best legal strategy, ensuring all possible claims are properly brought and deadlines are met.

If you have lost a loved one and want to understand whether a wrongful death claim, a survival action, or both are available, contact Hillstone Law. We can guide you through your options and build a case aimed at full justice for your family.