Glendale Wrongful Death Lawyer

Losing someone in a crash on Brand Boulevard, Colorado Street, or the 134 leaves your family with grief and a stack of questions nobody wants to ask. Who pays the bills? Who is allowed to sue? How long do you have? A Glendale wrongful death lawyer can answer those while you take care of each other. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. represents families after fatal car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, rideshare, bus, and hit-and-run crashes. Attorney Moe Abdallah takes your calls himself and updates you by phone and text, so no case manager passes you along. Some deadlines in a death case are short, and a few run out in six months. Evidence from the crash scene and the vehicles fades fast too. We can start protecting your family's claim right away, and the first conversation is free. We work on contingency, so you owe no fee unless we recover money for your family. Call (323) 716-1992 any time, day or night. Se habla Español.

Who can bring a Glendale wrongful death claim, and what it covers

California decides who may sue over a death, and the list surprises many families. 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 your loved one left no children or grandchildren, the people who would inherit under intestate succession, such as parents, can file. Some dependents can sue even when others qualify first. That includes a putative spouse, stepchildren, and parents who relied on the person who died for support. A minor who lived in the household for the past 180 days and got at least half of their support from the person who died can sue as well. When more than one relative qualifies, the court splits the award among them. A wrongful death claim covers what your family lost: the financial support your loved one would have provided, funeral and burial costs, and the care, comfort, and society they gave you. It is separate from a survival claim, which we explain below. Is your family blended? Were the parents separated? Not sure who counts? Tell us on the first call. We sort out who has standing before we file anything, so the right relatives are named from the start.

The deadlines that start the day your loved one dies

Most families have two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit against a private driver or company (Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1). The clock usually starts on the date of death. When a public entity is involved, the deadline gets much shorter. If a Glendale Beeline bus, a city truck, or a dangerous road condition played a part, you must present a written claim within six months of the death (Government Code section 911.2). In Glendale, a claim against the city starts with the Claim for Damages form on the City Clerk's page, and City Hall is at 613 E. Broadway. If that window closes, you can ask to file a late claim, but you must apply within one year of the death (Government Code section 911.4). When the city rejects your claim in writing, you have six months from that notice to file suit (Government Code section 945.6). Claims against the City of Los Angeles, LA County, or LA Metro go to those agencies instead. Insurers know these dates better than most families do. Do not count on an adjuster to mention a deadline while the file is still under review. Call us early and we will map every date that applies to your case.

Where Glendale's crashes cluster: Brand, Colorado, Central, and the freeway ramps

Glendale's own Vision Zero analysis counted 5,125 crashes from 2012 through 2021. Thirty-seven were fatal, and 192 caused serious injuries. The city found that 13 percent of its streets account for 71 percent of crashes and 78 percent of killed-or-seriously-injured crashes. City staff told the City Council that many of those crashes happened on streets such as Brand Boulevard, Colorado Street, and Central Avenue, and near freeway entrances and exits. The nine sites picked for safety work include stretches of San Fernando Road, Glendale Avenue, Louise Street, Brand Boulevard, Los Feliz Boulevard, and Chevy Chase, almost all in downtown or southern Glendale. People on foot pay the heaviest price. They were in 17 percent of crashes but 45 percent of the killed-or-seriously-injured crashes. In 2022 Office of Traffic Safety data, Glendale ranked 4th of 61 similar cities for pedestrian victims aged 65 and older. Four freeways run through or along the city: the I-5, the SR-134, the SR-2, and the I-210 in the north. A fatal pedestrian crash on Brand looks nothing like a wrong-way crash on the Ventura Freeway, so we investigate each one on its own facts. Fault can land on a driver, a trucking company, a rideshare driver, or a public agency that left a hazard in place.

Police reports, evidence, and what we do in the first days

The Glendale Police Department takes collision reports for crashes in the city. GPD has said that reports needing a criminal investigation by its Traffic Bureau, such as collisions that cause a death or hit-and-runs, may be delayed or may not be available online. Glendale's Records Bureau is at 131 N. Isabel Street, and the number is 818-548-3135. The city's published report fees date from 2014, so confirm the current cost when you call. On a freeway crash, we confirm which agency wrote the report before we request it. We request the report for you and do not wait on it before we move. Our first steps depend on the crash. For a truck, we send a preservation letter covering engine data, driver logs, and dash camera footage. For a rideshare crash, we ask for the app trip record. Businesses near Brand Boulevard, Colorado Street, and Central Avenue often overwrite their video within days, so we canvass for it fast. We also photograph the scene, find witnesses before memories blur, and check whether any city camera or signal timing record exists. If the other driver left, we work the hit-and-run angle at the same time. Every driver in an injury or death crash must stop, give their information, and help the injured person (Vehicle Code sections 20001 and 20003). A driver who leaves a fatal crash can face a state prison term of two, three, or four years (Vehicle Code section 20001(b)).

Survival claims, comparative fault, and what the money can cover

A death case often has two parts. The wrongful death claim belongs to your family. The survival claim belongs to your loved one's estate, and the personal representative or successor in interest brings it (Code of Civil Procedure sections 377.30 and 377.34). It recovers what the person lost before they died, such as medical bills and lost earnings, and it can include punitive damages. For survival cases filed on or after January 1, 2026, you can no longer recover pain and suffering. A successor in interest who files must also sign a declaration and attach a certified copy of the death certificate (section 377.32). A wrongful death award is whatever is just under all the circumstances, and the court divides it among the heirs (section 377.61). Insurers push comparative fault hard in these cases. California cuts an award by the percentage of fault assigned to the person who died, and that rule applies to your family's claim (Li v. Yellow Cab Co.; Horwich v. Superior Court). When several parties share blame, each pays noneconomic damages only in proportion to its own fault (Civil Code section 1431.2). If a drunk driver caused the death, punitive damages may be possible, but they are not automatic. Your family must prove malice by clear and convincing evidence, which includes despicable conduct with a willful and conscious disregard of others' safety (Civil Code section 3294). The 2022 state ranking data lists 377 DUI arrests in Glendale. If your loved one was a pedestrian or cyclist, expect the insurer to blame them. We gather the evidence to push back.

How Moe Abdallah handles a Glendale family's case

Moe takes your call himself, explains the process in plain language, and updates you by call and text. You do not chase a case manager. We start by gathering the police report, the medical records, and any evidence that can disappear. In Glendale that often means records from Adventist Health Glendale Medical Center on Wilson Terrace and Glendale Memorial Hospital on South Central Avenue. Neither is a designated trauma center. The LA County EMS Agency lists both as umbrella facilities under Los Angeles General Medical Center, so we track records from every facility that treated your loved one, including any trauma center outside Glendale. We read the insurance picture early, including the at-fault driver's policy and your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. California's minimum liability limits are only $30,000 per person, so a policy can be far too small for a death. Our past results include a $100,000 policy-limit uninsured motorist recovery for a woman after a driver fled and other firms turned her down, and $75,000 after an insurer first offered $900. Every case is different, and past results do not promise a similar outcome. The Glendale Courthouse is at 600 East Broadway, but the right filing court depends on your case, so we confirm it through the court's filing locator. The consultation is free, you pay nothing unless we win, and you can reach us 24/7 at (323) 716-1992.

Talk to a Glendale 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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