No lawsuit brings anyone back. We say that first because it is true, and because a family in grief deserves honesty before anything else. What a wrongful death case can do is answer the questions, hold the responsible party accountable, and protect the people your loved one supported. The Vertanous Firm has recovered more than $60 Million for injured Californians and grieving families, including two $2.0 Million wrongful death recoveries, and we carry these cases the way they deserve to be carried: quietly, carefully, and completely.
Who May Bring the Claim
California answers this question by statute, not by instinct. Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 defines who holds the claim, and the list is precise:
Getting this right at the start matters more than most families realize. California expects the heirs to join together in a single wrongful death action, so identifying every person who holds a claim, early and accurately, protects the family and protects the case. When relationships are complicated, and they often are, we sort it out before the defense can use the confusion.
Two Claims, One Loss
One death can support two distinct legal claims, and serious cases usually include both.
The wrongful death claim belongs to the family. It compensates the survivors for their own losses: the support, the companionship, and the life the family should have had. It is the family's claim from the moment of death.
The survival action is different. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.30, a claim your loved one held before death does not die with them; it passes to the estate and continues. If your loved one lived for a period after the injury, incurred medical expenses, or held other claims, the survival action is how the law accounts for what happened to them, rather than what happened to the family.
The rules about who brings each claim, on whose behalf, and what each recovers are technical. What you need to know at the first call is simpler: the two claims work together, they are usually filed together, and we handle both so your family does not have to learn probate procedure in the middle of grief.
What the Law Recognizes
Under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.61, the jury awards the damages that are just under all the circumstances. In practice, the losses fall into two categories.
One more thing, said plainly because families ask: as a general rule, punitive damages are not part of the wrongful death claim itself. In some situations a related claim can put them in play. We will tell you honestly whether yours is one of them, and we will never inflate expectations to sign a case.
When you are ready to talk, we are ready to listen.
Speak With UsReal Cases, Real Families
Insurance companies read police reports looking for one thing: a reason to blame the person who died. A blood test. A missed signal. A bad decision on the worst night of a life. Then they tell the family there is no case. That is not the law.
California follows pure comparative fault under Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804. Fault of the decedent reduces the recovery by a percentage. It does not bar the claim. If someone else's negligence helped cause the death, the family holds a case, whatever the toxicology report says.
We know because we have done it. In 2026 this firm obtained a $26 Million stipulated judgment for the wrongful death of a pedestrian killed by an impaired driver. The defense argued that the decedent's mother, his sole heir, could not truly grieve because dementia had taken her memory of him. We did not accept that a mother's loss expires with her memory, and judgment was entered for the full amount. This firm also recovered $2.0 Million for a family despite the decedent's blood-alcohol level of 0.356, a number most lawyers would treat as the end of the conversation. We recovered another $2.0 Million for a family whose loved one died in a fire he himself ignited, on a theory of preventable conditions: the death did not have to happen, and the parties who could have prevented it did not. We wrote about how these cases are actually built: wrongful death when the decedent was partly at fault.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. But they do tell you how this firm reads a file. Where others see a closed door, we look for the negligence that opened it.
What to Expect
Families deserve to know the road before they walk it. Every case is different, but the shape is consistent:
Before any paperwork, we hear what happened and what your family needs. You set the pace of that conversation, not us.
We move quickly on evidence even while the family moves slowly through grief. In a fatal crash case, that means the collision report, the vehicles, the data recorders, and the witnesses, secured before they disappear.
We map the family under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 so the action is filed once, correctly, with everyone who holds a claim included.
If a public entity may be responsible, a government claim comes first, on a short deadline. Then the lawsuit, built on facts, not adjectives.
The defense learns the case they are facing. This is where preparation becomes leverage, and where most cases begin to resolve.
Most cases settle at or before mediation. If settlement will not deliver what is just, we try the case. Your family makes the final decision at every fork.
How We Work
A wrongful death case should not become a second burden. At this firm, one attorney handles your case, and it is the attorney you met. Tom Vertanous speaks with families in English, Armenian, and Farsi, explains every step in plain language, and deals with the insurance company, the paperwork, and the deadlines so your family does not have to.
We do not rush families, and we do not let defendants rush them either. There is no pressure to decide anything at the first call, and there is never a fee unless we recover for you. Wrongful death work sits within our broader Pasadena personal injury practice, and it is the part of the practice we treat with the most care, because the people we answer to are the people left behind.
Deadlines
This is the hardest part of our job to say to a grieving family, so we say it gently and early. California wrongful death claims are generally subject to a two-year statute of limitations under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. And if a public entity may share responsibility, a city vehicle, a dangerous roadway, or a hazard on public property, a written government claim is generally due within six months under Government Code section 911.2, long before any lawsuit can be filed. Public entity cases are their own discipline; we handle them through our dangerous condition of public property practice.
Evidence has its own clock, quieter and faster than either statute. Vehicles are repaired, footage is overwritten, and witnesses scatter. Calling a lawyer early does not mean deciding anything. It means keeping every door open while your family decides what is right.
Tell us what happened. We will tell you where your family stands.
Free ConsultationIf we don't win, you don't pay.
The consultation is free. The representation is on contingency. If there is no recovery, you owe no attorney fee.
Questions Families Ask
Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60 sets the list. The surviving spouse or domestic partner, the children, and the children of any child who has already died may sue. If there are none, the right passes to those who would inherit under intestate succession, which can include parents. Certain financially dependent people, including a putative spouse, stepchildren, and parents, may also bring a claim. We sort this out with you at the first call.
Often, yes. California follows pure comparative fault under Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804: fault of the decedent reduces the recovery by a percentage, it does not erase the claim. We recovered $2.0 Million for one family even though the decedent's blood-alcohol level was 0.356. The question is never whether your loved one was perfect. It is whether someone else's negligence helped cause the death.
Two kinds of loss. The financial side: the support and household contributions your loved one would have provided, and funeral and burial expenses. The human side: the loss of companionship, love, comfort, care, protection, and guidance. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.61, the jury awards what is just under all the circumstances. No number replaces a person. The law's answer is accountability and security for the family.
A wrongful death claim belongs to the family and compensates the family's own losses. A survival action, under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.30, continues the claim your loved one held before death and belongs to the estate. Many cases include both. The rules about who brings each claim and what each recovers are technical, and we walk every family through them in plain English.
Generally two years under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. But if a public entity may be responsible, a written government claim is generally due within six months under Government Code section 911.2, long before any lawsuit. Grief makes time move strangely; deadlines do not pause for it. Call early, even if you are not ready to decide anything. The consultation is free and carries no obligation.
Nothing out of pocket. We work on contingency: the consultation is free, we advance the costs, and if there is no recovery your family owes no attorney fee. You will never receive a bill from us while the case is pending, and no settlement happens without your family's approval.
Most wrongful death cases resolve without one. But the strongest settlements go to families whose lawyers are visibly prepared to try the case, and we prepare every case that way. If trial becomes the right path, we will be ready, and the decision to accept or reject any settlement always belongs to your family, not to us.
Client Reviews
Ani A., Glendalevia Yelp"The guy who hit me had a low max coverage. I don't know what magic Vertanous Firm worked, but I got paid for my damages less than a year out from my accident, and was paid three times more than the policy limit."
Tony K., Burbankvia Yelp"Tom is the absolute best. He knows the law and he also knows medicine. One meeting with Tom and he was able to understand the medicine behind my condition and find the appropriate doctors."
Bobby S., Los Angelesvia Yelp"Tom is a straight shooter and he's whip-smart. He treated my case as though it were his own. He has a gift for compassion that sets him apart from other legal professionals."
Where We Work
From our office at 301 N. Lake Ave in Pasadena, we represent grieving families across the San Gabriel Valley and all of Los Angeles County, in English, Armenian, and Farsi.
Contact
Call, text, email, or send a brief message. We respond the same day. Free consultation. No fee unless we win.
