Hollywood Wrongful Death Lawyer

Someone you love died on Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset, Cahuenga, or the 101, and the questions pile up fast. Who is allowed to sue? Who pays the funeral bills? How long before the claim expires? A Hollywood wrongful death lawyer can take those questions off your plate while your family grieves. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. handles fatal car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, rideshare, bus, and hit-and-run crashes. Attorney Moe Abdallah takes your calls himself and updates you by call and text. No case manager stands between you and him. Some deadlines in a death case run only six months, and security video from Hollywood storefronts and hotels can be recorded over long before that. We start protecting your family's rights right away. The first conversation is free, we work on contingency, and you owe no fee unless we recover money for you. Call (323) 716-1992 any hour. Se habla Español.

A fatal crash in Hollywood: the streets, the crowds, and what the record shows

Hollywood is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles, not its own city, and that shapes every part of a death claim here. The busiest streets include Hollywood Boulevard, Sunset Boulevard, Highland Avenue, Vine Street, Cahuenga Boulevard, Santa Monica Boulevard, Fountain Avenue, Vermont Avenue, and Western Avenue, with the US-101 Hollywood Freeway cutting through the middle. The Walk of Fame area pulls in heavy tourist and pedestrian traffic, much of it unfamiliar with the blocks it is crossing. The city has seen the danger on at least one stretch. In August 2023 LADOT began the Hollywood Safety and Mobility Project on Hollywood Boulevard between Gower Street and Lyman Place because so many people were killed or badly hurt there. That stretch sits in the eastern part of Hollywood toward Los Feliz, and Phase 2 reaches Sunset Boulevard from Lyman Place to Fountain Avenue. Recent local news shows the risk for people on foot. A 32-year-old man was killed in a crosswalk on Hollywood Boulevard at Cherokee Avenue on October 4, 2026, and the driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI. In September 2026, two pedestrians were hit in a hit-and-run on Sunset near Bronson Avenue, and LAPD West Traffic Division is investigating. A standing City reward of up to $25,000 is offered for information leading to the driver. An arrest is not a conviction, and we make no claims about any open case. These crashes show why your family needs someone examining the street design, the lighting, and the driver's conduct from day one.

LAPD Hollywood Division, West Traffic, and getting the report

A death on a Hollywood street can involve two LAPD offices. The Hollywood Community Police Station at 1358 N. Wilcox Avenue, Hollywood, CA 90028, covers the neighborhood. You can reach it at 213-972-2971. LAPD's station page says traffic and homicide matters go to West Traffic Division, and that unit investigates serious crashes. The station page links to an Obtain a Traffic Collision Report request, which is where your family should ask for the report. Reports take time, and early versions can be thin, so do not rely on the first page alone. Ask for the investigator's name and a case number. You will also need certified copies of the death certificate, because the law requires one for the estate's survival action. Evidence in Hollywood disappears fast. Storefronts, hotels, and parking garages along the boulevard often keep security video that is recorded over within days. A rideshare or delivery app may hold trip data. A truck may hold engine and driver-log data. A car's own event recorder can show speed and braking. We send preservation letters quickly, photograph the scene before skid marks and debris vanish, and find witnesses before memories blur. If the driver fled, we also look for private cameras along the route and stay in touch with the West Traffic investigator, who may get tips through the reward program. Your family should not have to run that search while planning a funeral.

Who can sue for a death in Hollywood, and what the claim covers

California decides who may file, and the rule is narrower than many families expect. Under Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60, the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner and the children come first, along with the children of any child who has died. If the person left no children or other descendants, the people who would inherit under intestate succession can file, which often means parents. Some dependents may also qualify on their own, whether or not anyone above survives, such as a putative spouse, stepchildren, and parents who relied on the person 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 may also have a claim. When more than one relative qualifies, the court divides the award among them under section 377.61. The damages cover what your family lost, and the law lets a jury decide what is just under all the circumstances. That can mean lost income and support, household services, and the care, comfort, and companionship your loved one gave. A second claim, called a survival action, belongs to the estate. It covers losses before death, such as medical bills and lost earnings, and it can include punitive damages when the facts warrant them. It does not cover pain and suffering. The person bringing it must file a sworn statement and a certified death certificate under section 377.32. If your family is blended, if parents lived apart, or if you are unsure who counts, tell us on the first call so nobody is left out.

Two clocks: two years against a driver, six months against the City

Against a private driver or company, your family usually has two years to file suit under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. The time is generally counted from the date of death. The clock runs much shorter when a public entity is involved. If a road condition, a city vehicle, a signal, or a transit bus played a part, you must present a written claim within six months of the death under Government Code section 911.2. In Hollywood, the entity is often the City of Los Angeles. Claims go to the Office of the City Clerk, online through the Claim for Damages portal, by mail, or in person at 200 North Spring Street, Room 395, City Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90012. The City does not accept emailed or faxed claims. The City Attorney's claims page says that, with limited exceptions, no lawsuit for money damages can be brought against the City unless a written claim was filed first. If the six months pass, you must apply for late-claim relief within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the death under section 911.4, and the application must explain the delay. If the City rejects the claim in writing, you have six months from that notice to sue under section 945.6. LADOT DASH is a City of Los Angeles bus service, so a DASH crash points back to the City claim process, while LA Metro is a separate agency with its own claim rules. Insurers know every one of these dates and will not remind you of them. We map each deadline on day one and put them on a calendar.

Fault fights, DUI drivers, and the insurance limits that cap a claim

Expect the other side to blame the person who died. California follows pure comparative negligence under Li v. Yellow Cab Co., so a family can still recover when the person was partly at fault, but the award drops by that person's share. That rule applies to wrongful death heirs under Horwich v. Superior Court. On a pedestrian case, insurers like to say the person crossed mid-block, wore dark clothes, or looked at a phone. We answer with the crosswalk markings, the lighting, the driver's speed, and the video. Proposition 51 also matters when several parties share blame. Each defendant pays the noneconomic part of the award, such as loss of companionship, only in proportion to its own fault, while economic losses like funeral costs and lost earnings stay joint. Insurance can hurt more than fault does. California's minimum liability limits are $30,000 per person and $60,000 per crash, and a driver who carries only that cannot pay for a life. We hunt for other coverage, including a rideshare policy, an employer's policy, a commercial truck policy, and your family's own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. If a drunk driver caused the crash, the estate's survival claim can seek punitive damages. If the driver fled, your family's UM coverage may apply, but only when the statutory conditions are met, and those include a report to police within 24 hours. We have recovered policy limits on difficult cases, including a $100,000 UM recovery for a woman hit by a driver who fled. Past results are no promise of a similar outcome.

Hollywood Presbyterian, the courthouse, and how Moe runs your case

CHA Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center sits at 1300 N. Vermont Avenue, at the corner of Vermont and Fountain in East Hollywood. Its emergency department is open 24/7, and the hospital lists itself as a certified stroke center and a certified STEMI receiving center for heart attacks. Its emergency page does not list a trauma center designation, so a person with the gravest injuries may be taken to a different hospital. If your loved one lived for hours or days, the records from the first responders and the hospital show what care was given and when, and those records can support the survival claim. Cases that do not settle are filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The Stanley Mosk Courthouse at 111 North Hill Street in downtown Los Angeles is a likely venue, but the right courthouse depends on the case, so we confirm the filing location before anything is filed. Our office at 527 W 7th St, Ste 924, is also downtown. Moe handles each case himself. He answers the first call, explains who can sue and which deadlines apply, collects the evidence, deals with the insurers, and keeps your family informed by call and text. You pay nothing up front, and you owe no fee unless Moe recovers money for you. Call (323) 716-1992, day or night, or ask for Spanish.

Talk to a Hollywood 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 →

Frequently Asked Questions

Other cases we handle in Hollywood

See everything we handle in Hollywood →

Wrongful Death lawyers in other cities we serve