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Reviewed by David Gammill, California trial attorney · Last reviewed: September 25, 2026
When a death on the Palos Verdes Peninsula is caused by another person’s negligence, California law gives specified family members a wrongful death claim, and it gives the estate a separate survival claim. Both carry deadlines. Gammill Law Accident & Injury Lawyers is a South Bay trial firm that represents families in Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, and Rolling Hills Estates, and across the South Bay, in these cases. The firm has recovered more than $100 million for California clients across verdicts and settlements. Its results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict, a $16 million school sexual abuse verdict, and a $12 million whistleblower retaliation verdict; every case is different, and prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
There is no rush to decide anything today; when it would help, you can request a free case evaluation and we will walk through your options at your pace.
A wrongful death claim is a civil lawsuit brought by the family of a person who died because someone else was negligent, reckless, or acted intentionally. Negligence means a failure to use reasonable care. The claim belongs to the survivors, not to the person who died, and it compensates them for what they lost: financial support, household services, and the person’s love, companionship, comfort, care, and guidance. It does not depend on a criminal case being filed.
California limits who may bring a wrongful death claim. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60, the claim belongs first to the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, the children, and the children of any child who died before the decedent. If none of those people survive, the claim passes to whoever would inherit under California’s intestate succession rules, which usually means parents or siblings. The statute also lets certain financially dependent people file: a putative spouse and that spouse’s children, stepchildren, parents, and a minor who lived in the decedent’s household for the prior 180 days and relied on the decedent for at least half of their support.
All eligible heirs generally join one lawsuit, and the recovery is divided among them. Sorting out who qualifies is one of the first things we do. Our guide to California wrongful death lawsuits and their filing deadline covers the rules in more depth.
A death usually gives rise to two separate claims. The wrongful death claim compensates the family for its own losses. The survival action is different: it is the claim the person who died could have brought if they had lived, and the estate brings it. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.34, the survival action recovers the decedent’s own economic losses before death, such as medical bills and lost wages, and it can recover punitive damages where the conduct qualifies.
One rule changed at the start of this year. For survival actions filed on or after January 1, 2026, the decedent’s own pain and suffering is no longer recoverable, because the temporary window that allowed it under SB 447 closed without extension. Punitive damages, governed by Civil Code § 3294, survive in the survival action where the evidence shows malice, oppression, or fraud, which in a crash case most often means a drunk or grossly reckless driver; they are never guaranteed.
Fatal crashes do happen on the hill. The City of Palos Verdes Estates’ own annual report on its police equipment records that its police department investigated a fatal traffic collision in the city in August 2023. For Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills and Rolling Hills Estates, the state’s published crash rankings do not give a reliable picture, because collisions handled by the Sheriff’s station are not consistently attributed to those cities in the state’s database, so this page does not give a death count for them, and no one should read the state’s low figures for the Peninsula as a safety fact. The numbers a family needs come from the investigating agency’s report and the coroner’s file for their own case. Which agency that is depends on the city: in Palos Verdes Estates it is the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department, and in Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, and Rolling Hills Estates it is the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department through its Lomita Station, because those three cities contract their police services to the Sheriff; in every case the Los Angeles County Department of Medical Examiner conducts the death investigation and issues its findings. The hill roads belong to the city they run through, except in Rolling Hills, where the roads are private and maintained by the community association; the unincorporated pockets belong to the County of Los Angeles, and Western Avenue to Caltrans, because Western Avenue is State Route 213. Under Government Code § 835, a dangerous condition of public property, including the stretch of Palos Verdes Drive South that sits on moving ground, can be part of a wrongful death case, and the entity may raise an immunity for an approved design; that claim is demanding to prove and carries its own six-month deadline, which is why roadway deaths need early investigation, and no city, the County, or Caltrans is liable simply because the road is theirs.
The general deadline is two years from the death. If the person was injured on one date and died on a later one, the wrongful death clock runs from the date of death, not the date of the crash. Our plain-English guide to CCP § 335.1, California’s two-year statute of limitations, covers the rule and its narrow exceptions. Courts rarely excuse a missed deadline.
Government cases move much faster. If a public entity may share responsibility, a written claim must be presented to that entity within six months, before any lawsuit can be filed. On the Peninsula that entity is usually the city that owns the street, which means one of four cities depending on where the crash happened: the City of Palos Verdes Estates, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes, the City of Rolling Hills, or the City of Rolling Hills Estates. The County of Los Angeles comes into it for the unincorporated pockets, a county road, or a Sheriff’s vehicle; because three of the four cities contract their police services to the Sheriff’s Lomita Station, a deputy’s patrol car points at the County of Los Angeles rather than the city. Caltrans comes into it only on Western Avenue, because Western Avenue is a state highway. Filing the claim with the wrong entity does not stop the clock. If the entity rejects the claim, the lawsuit must be filed within six months of the rejection notice. Our guide to the California government claim deadline walks through the sequence.
Where the case is heard. Most Palos Verdes wrongful death lawsuits are filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court’s Southwest District, at either the Torrance Courthouse or the Inglewood Courthouse; the court’s own filing locator gives that answer for all four Peninsula cities, and since 2022 the court has kept new personal injury cases in their local district courts from filing through trial. There is no courthouse on the Peninsula.
The family must prove that the defendant’s negligence caused the death and what the family lost as a result. The evidence is gathered early: the investigating agency’s collision report, whether from the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department or the Sheriff’s Lomita Station, the Medical Examiner’s findings, scene photographs, vehicle event data, camera footage from nearby premises before it is overwritten, phone records, and witness statements. Where the roadway itself is in issue, the city’s, the County’s, or Caltrans’ own records become evidence too. Experts often carry the case: an accident reconstructionist, medical witnesses on the cause of death, and an economist to calculate what the family will go without over a lifetime. A police fatal investigation and any criminal prosecution run separately from the civil claim; the civil case can proceed whether or not charges are filed, and it uses a lower standard of proof.
The firm has recovered more than $100 million for California clients across verdicts and settlements. Separately, its results include a $21.1 million wrongful death verdict in a roadway-danger case against a public entity, returned by a jury after a $10,000 pre-trial offer; every case is different, and that result does not predict the outcome of any Peninsula case. What it shows is that the firm prepares wrongful death cases to be tried.
Our office is in Torrance, at the bottom of the hill from every Peninsula city, on Del Amo Boulevard at Hawthorne Boulevard, and our attorneys bring more than 40 years of combined legal experience to every case we take.
We work on a contingency fee: nothing upfront, no hourly bills, and a fee only out of the recovery, under a written contingency fee agreement that complies with California law.
An initial consultation can be held by Zoom video, and we meet families at home or at the hospital when travel is the last thing anyone needs. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 310-750-4149, and nothing about your case moves faster than you want it to.
Two years from the date of death for most claims. If a public entity such as one of the four Peninsula cities, the County of Los Angeles, or Caltrans may be responsible, a written claim is due to that entity within six months, and the lawsuit deadline then runs from the entity’s response.
The surviving spouse or domestic partner, the children, and the children of a child who died earlier. If none survive, the people who would inherit under intestate succession may file, and certain financially dependent stepchildren, parents, putative spouses, and household minors also qualify under CCP § 377.60.
The claim survives. California follows a pure comparative negligence rule: the recovery is reduced by the decedent’s percentage of fault, never eliminated by it. Insurers exaggerate that share for exactly that reason, and on Peninsula roads they reach first for the argument that a cyclist or a downhill driver was out of position; we push back with evidence.
No. A wrongful death claim is a civil case with its own standard of proof, and it proceeds whether or not the district attorney files charges. The police investigation, by the Palos Verdes Estates Police Department or the Sheriff’s Lomita Station, and any prosecution run on their own track; a death caused by a drinking driver, or by a driver who left the scene, is the usual example, and the civil claim goes forward on its own evidence. An acquittal does not end it.
The wrongful death claim compensates the family for its own losses. The survival action, brought by the estate, recovers the losses the person suffered before death, and can include punitive damages. For survival actions filed on or after January 1, 2026, the decedent’s pain and suffering is not recoverable, because the temporary window that allowed it closed without extension.
Nothing upfront. The fee is a percentage of the recovery, set in a written agreement, and there is no fee if there is no recovery. Our page on what a personal injury lawyer costs explains how the percentage and case expenses work.
We represent families across the Palos Verdes Peninsula, including Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, and Rolling Hills Estates, and throughout the South Bay: Torrance, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Carson, Gardena, Hawthorne, Inglewood, and Lawndale. For other Peninsula injury cases, start at our Palos Verdes personal injury attorney page. Families elsewhere in the South Bay can also start with our Torrance wrongful death page.
When you are ready, we will listen, explain the deadlines that apply to your family, and tell you what a claim would involve. The conversation is free and confidential, and there is no obligation. Call 310-750-4149 any time, or send us a message through our contact page and we will reach out at a time that works for you. There are no upfront legal fees; a fee is collected only if we win.
This page is attorney advertising and general information, not legal advice for any specific situation. Deadlines and outcomes are fact-specific; consult a licensed California attorney about your own circumstances. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
