Burbank Wrongful Death Lawyer

When someone you love dies in a crash on Olive Avenue, Victory Boulevard, or the 134, the days afterward fill up with calls, forms, and questions you never wanted to ask. Who can sue? What does the city need from you? How long do you have? A Burbank wrongful death lawyer can take those questions off your plate so your family can be together. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. is a Los Angeles firm that takes motor-vehicle injury cases only, including deaths caused by car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, rideshare, bus, and hit-and-run crashes. Attorney Moe Abdallah answers calls himself and updates you by phone and text. Some deadlines in a death case run out in six months, and crash evidence disappears fast, so call early. The first conversation is free, and we work on contingency. You owe no fee unless we recover money for your family. Call (323) 716-1992 any hour. Se habla Español.

Burbank's pedestrian record and its busiest crash intersections

Burbank is a mid-sized city of about 107,000 people with a lot of people on foot, and the state's own numbers show what that costs. In the 2022 California Office of Traffic Safety rankings, Burbank placed 4th of 61 similar-sized cities for pedestrian victims and 2nd for pedestrian victims aged 65 and older. In 2023 it placed 11th for pedestrians and 6th for seniors on foot. Rank 1 is the worst record, so those placements are bad news. City data reported by myBurbank counted 50 crashes from 2015 to 2020 at Victory Place and Burbank Boulevard, the most of any intersection. Olive Avenue and Buena Vista Street had 45, and Buena Vista Street and Victory Boulevard had 41. That data is older, and the article reported no deaths at those three intersections in that period, but each carries heavy daily traffic and pedestrians cross there. The city also says Olive Avenue saw more collisions than comparable hillside streets such as Magnolia Boulevard. In March 2025 it restriped East Olive between Glenoaks Boulevard and North Sunset Canyon to cut lanes and speeds. Fatal crashes can also happen on the 5 or the 134, where a different agency takes the report. Which road, which signal, and which driver was at fault shapes your whole claim.

The Burbank Police report and what to protect in the first week

The Burbank Police Department writes the report for crashes on city streets. Officers take a collision report when someone is hurt or killed, so a fatal crash will have one. The department is at 200 N. Third St. The Traffic Bureau is at (818) 238-3100, and the Records Bureau is at (818) 238-3140. You can buy the report online through LexisNexis at least four days after the crash, or in person at the Records Bureau counter. Fees are listed differently on two city pages, so ask the clerk what you owe before you pay. A crash on the 5 or the 134 is usually handled by the California Highway Patrol instead, and we will work out which agency holds your report. The police report is only the start. Surveillance video from shops and restaurants along Olive Avenue or Magnolia Boulevard is often erased within days. Vehicle data recorders, phone records, 911 audio, and witness names can vanish just as fast. We send preservation letters right away, photograph the scene, and track down witnesses before the insurance company builds its own story. You do not need to gather any of this yourself. Tell us where it happened and we take it from there.

Who can sue for a death in Burbank, and how the money is split

California decides who may bring a wrongful death claim, and it is not always who your family expects. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60, the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner, the children, and the children of any child who has died come first. If the person left no children or other descendants, the people who would inherit under California's intestate rules, such as parents, may file. Some dependents can sue either way. That includes a putative spouse, stepchildren, and parents who relied on the person for support. A minor who lived in the home for the last 180 days and got at least half of their support from the person who died can also bring the claim. When several relatives qualify, the court divides the award among them (Code of Civil Procedure section 377.61). A wrongful death claim covers what the family lost, such as funeral and burial costs, the earnings the person would have provided, and the loss of care, comfort, and society. A separate survival claim belongs to the person's estate, and we cover it in the next sections. Standing matters a great deal here. Burbank ranked 2nd of 61 similar cities for pedestrian victims aged 65 and older in 2022, and when an older parent is killed while walking, the adult children usually bring the claim. If one of those children has already died, that child's own children step into the parent's place. Tell us who is in your family on the first call. We sort out who has standing before we file anything.

Two clocks: two years against a driver, six months against a city

You generally have two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit against a private driver or company (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). The clock is ordinarily counted from the date of death. If a public entity played a part, the window shrinks. A written claim must reach the entity within six months of the death (Government Code section 911.2). That matters in Burbank because the city runs its own BurbankBus service, its own police cars, and its own streets. Claims against the city go to the City Clerk's Office on the city's Claim for Damages form. You can email it to cityclerks@burbankca.gov or mail it to P.O. Box 6459, Burbank, CA 91510. The clerk logs it and passes it to the city's Liability Office for a decision. The city's own claims page does not state the deadline, so do not assume you have more time than the statute allows. If the six months pass, you can still apply for leave to file a late claim, but that application must come within one year of the death (Government Code section 911.4). If the city rejects your claim in writing, you then have six months to sue (Government Code section 945.6). A claim against the State of California, LA County, or LA Metro is filed with that agency, not with Burbank. Insurers know these dates cold. We map every one the day you call.

Providence Saint Joseph, the courthouse, and what a family can recover

Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center at 501 S. Buena Vista St. runs a 24-hour emergency department in Burbank. Its emergency page lists stroke, STEMI, and pediatric emergency designations. Medical records from the ER, the hospital stay, and any ambulance run show what happened in the final hours and what the bills were. Those records can support the survival claim, which recovers losses the person suffered before death, such as medical bills and lost earnings. For survival claims filed on or after January 1, 2026, the damages generally cannot include the person's own pain and suffering, so the wrongful death claim carries most of the weight for your family's loss. Funeral and burial costs, lost income the person would have earned, and loss of care and companionship are the main pieces. The Los Angeles Superior Court runs a Burbank Courthouse at 300 E. Olive Ave., and the downtown Stanley Mosk Courthouse hears many injury cases. Where a given case is filed depends on the facts and the damages claimed, and we make that call with you. No lawyer can promise a result. We can explain what each piece of the claim covers under California law and how we would document it.

Fault arguments, low policy limits, and how Moe runs a Burbank death case

Expect the other side to say your loved one shares the blame. California follows pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). Under Horwich v. Superior Court (1999) 21 Cal.4th 272, the family's award is reduced by the share of fault assigned to the person who died, but it is not wiped out. Pedestrian cases bring the usual claims of jaywalking, a dark jacket, or a phone in hand. At busy crossings such as Olive Avenue and Buena Vista Street, we answer them with signal timing, video, and witnesses. Money is the next problem. California's minimum liability limits are only $30,000 per person, so a driver with a minimum policy can leave a large gap. We look at the family's own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, an employer's policy if the driver was working, and any other responsible party. Moe has recovered policy limits in tough cases, including a $100,000 uninsured motorist recovery for a woman hit by a driver who fled. That was not a death case, and past results do not mean a similar outcome in your case. Moe takes your calls himself, moves fast on evidence, and keeps you in the loop. You pay nothing unless he wins.

Talk to a Burbank wrongful death lawyer

Call (323) 716-1992 for a free, no-obligation case review. You pay nothing unless we win, and we'll handle the insurance companies for you. Learn more about our wrongful death representation →

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