Santa Monica Wrongful Death Lawyer

A fatal crash on Wilshire Boulevard, Lincoln Boulevard, or the ramps of the 10 leaves a family with grief first and a pile of questions right behind it. Who pays the hospital and funeral bills? Who is allowed to sue? How long do you have? A Santa Monica wrongful death lawyer can answer those questions while you take care of each other. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. represents families after fatal car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, rideshare, bus, hit-and-run, and drunk-driving crashes. Attorney Moe Abdallah takes the calls himself, and the first conversation is free. Santa Monica is a dense coastal city with heavy foot traffic. The state's Office of Traffic Safety ranked it 3rd of 103 similar-size California cities for pedestrian victims in 2023. If your loved one died after a crash here, the clock on some claims is already running. This page covers who can file, the deadlines, where the evidence sits, and what Moe does in the first days.

Who can file after a death on a Santa Monica street

California decides who may bring a wrongful death case in Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60. The surviving spouse or registered domestic partner comes first, along with the children and the children of any child who has died. If the person left no children or grandchildren, the people who would inherit under California's intestate rules, such as parents or siblings, can file. Others can file too, with or without anyone in that first group, as long as they depended on the person who died for support. That list includes a putative spouse, stepchildren, and parents. A minor also qualifies if they lived in the household for the 180 days before the death and got at least half of their support from the person. Older pedestrians face real risk here, too. OTS ranked Santa Monica 3rd of 103 similar-size cities in 2023 for pedestrian victims age 65 and older (11 victims). When the person killed is an older parent, the adult children stand in that first group along with any surviving spouse. A separate survival claim belongs to the estate. Under sections 377.30 and 377.34, the personal representative can recover what the person lost before death, such as medical bills and lost wages. So can a successor in interest who files the sworn declaration and certified death certificate that section 377.32 requires. In the first meeting we sort out who stands where, so nobody in your family gets left out by mistake.

The Santa Monica deadlines that can end a claim early

Most wrongful death lawsuits against a private driver or company must be filed within two years (Code Civ. Proc. 335.1), and courts ordinarily count from the date of death. Santa Monica adds a trap. Suppose a city vehicle, a Big Blue Bus, or a city-controlled street is part of the story. Then you must present a written claim to the City within six months of the death (Gov. Code 911.2). The city's own claim form says the same thing. Claims go to the City Clerk, 1685 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401, and Risk Management at (310) 458-8374 handles them. If the City rejects the claim in writing, you have only six months from that notice to sue (Gov. Code 945.6). Miss the first deadline and you can ask permission to file a late claim. That request must come within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the death (Gov. Code 911.4), and the City can deny it. We don't wait to learn whether a public entity is involved. In the first week, we review the crash facts, decide whether any government deadline applies, and calendar every date in writing.

Fatal crash risk in a walkable beach city

Santa Monica's wrongful death cases look different from those in suburbs where everyone drives, because so many people here walk, bike, and ride. The OTS 2023 rankings for the city's size group put Santa Monica 3rd of 103 for pedestrian injury and fatality victims (62 victims), 8th for bicyclists (48), and 6th for motorcyclists (33). In those rankings, rank 1 is the worst. The City of Santa Monica says half of all fatal and severe crashes happen on just ten percent of its streets. Its Vision Zero program names Ocean Park Boulevard at Lincoln Boulevard and Olympic Boulevard at 14th Street as priority intersections, based on more than a decade of collision data. It calls Wilshire Boulevard a top priority, and Phase 1 of the Wilshire Safety Study began in May 2023. Those listings don't prove who caused any one crash. They do show us where to look for signal timing, lane design, sight lines, and prior complaints. Any of those can matter if the road itself played a part. A fatal crash on Lincoln, Pico, or Santa Monica Boulevard gets the same close look, even when the city has not flagged it.

Getting the report and locking down evidence in Santa Monica

The Santa Monica Police Department, at 333 Olympic Dr, writes the report for most crashes on city streets. You can request it through the city's online Public Records Request Center (choose Police), by calling the Records Unit at (310) 458-8431, or in person at the Public Safety Facility. The city says it must tell you within 10 days whether the records exist and can be provided, and a fee may apply. We put in the request early and follow up until the report arrives. Evidence in a fatal case disappears fast. Business cameras along Main Street, Ocean Park Boulevard, and nearby blocks may overwrite footage in days. A truck's data recorder, a rideshare driver's trip record, and a phone's location history can all vanish or get wiped. Moe sends preservation letters right away. He photographs the scene before it changes and finds witnesses who never made it into the report. He does not take the other side's version of events on faith.

Hospitals, medical bills, and the final hours

Many fatal crashes do not end at the scene. A person may go to UCLA Santa Monica Medical Center on 16th Street or to Providence Saint John's Health Center on Santa Monica Boulevard and die hours or days later. That timeline matters for your claim. Emergency care, surgery, ICU days, and ambulance charges become part of the survival claim for what the person went through before death. Funeral and burial costs, the income the family counted on, the loss of household help, and the loss of love, comfort, and companionship belong to the wrongful death claim. The court divides that award among the eligible heirs (Code Civ. Proc. 377.61), and the wrongful death award can't repeat what the survival claim already pays. We gather the hospital records, billing statements, and the coroner's findings. We also watch for liens that hospitals or health plans may try to take from a settlement. An insurer may call grieving relatives soon after the crash and ask for a recorded statement. You do not have to give one. Send them to us, and we handle the conversation.

Fault, insurance, and what Moe does for a Santa Monica family

California follows pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co. (1975) 13 Cal.3d 804). Insurers use that rule against families. They argue a pedestrian crossed mid-block or a rider was speeding, then cut the claim by that share. Courts apply the reduction to heirs in a wrongful death case too (Horwich v. Superior Court (1999) 21 Cal.4th 272), so we build proof of the other driver's fault early and test every blame theory. When more than one party is at fault, each defendant pays the family's non-economic damages only in proportion to its own share (Civ. Code 1431.2). That is why we name every party that belongs in the case, including trucking companies and rideshare firms. If a hit-and-run driver fled, uninsured motorist coverage on the family's own policy may still pay. The fleeing car must have made physical contact, the crash must be reported to police within 24 hours, and a sworn statement must reach the insurer within 30 days (Ins. Code 11580.2). Moe's office is at 527 W 7th St, Ste 924 in downtown Los Angeles, but he works with families by phone and text and keeps you updated. Calls are answered 24/7, Se Habla Espanol, and the fee is contingent.

Talk to a Santa Monica 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 Santa Monica

See everything we handle in Santa Monica →

Wrongful Death lawyers in other cities we serve