Torrance Wrongful Death Lawyer

One phone call changes everything. Your relative was driving home on Hawthorne Boulevard or crossing Crenshaw, and now your family is facing a funeral, an insurance adjuster, and a legal deadline nobody warned you about. Moe Abdallah Law, P.C. is a Los Angeles firm that handles motor-vehicle injury cases only, including wrongful death after a fatal car, truck, motorcycle, pedestrian, bicycle, rideshare, or drunk-driving crash. Attorney Moe Abdallah handles these cases himself. Our office sits at 527 W 7th St, Ste 924, in downtown Los Angeles, and Moe talks with Torrance families by phone and keeps you updated by call and text. The consultation is free, we answer 24/7, we speak Spanish, and we charge nothing unless we recover money for you. You do not need every answer today. Call (323) 716-1992 and we will tell you who can file, how long you have, and what to protect right now.

A fatal crash on a Torrance street: what the record shows

We found no official ranking of Torrance's deadliest roads, and we will not invent one. The record does show pedestrians dying on busy arterials. In April 2025, ABC7 reported that a pedestrian fell off the curb into Pacific Coast Highway near Ocean Avenue on a Saturday night and was struck and killed in a hit-and-run involving several vehicles. Police arrested one driver for DUI. In May 2025, a southbound Jeep struck and killed a pedestrian outside a marked crosswalk on Crenshaw Boulevard near 235th Street, around 5:25 in the morning. Police shut the road in both directions for about five hours. Those are single events, not rankings. The state Office of Traffic Safety adds city-wide context. In its 2023 rankings of 62 similar-size cities, Torrance had 647 fatal and injury victims, 43 pedestrian victims, and 36 bicyclist victims. In those rankings a lower number means a worse record. Torrance ranked 29th of 62 for pedestrian victims and 5th of 62 for pedestrian victims under age 15, with eight children hurt or killed on foot. The city says Hawthorne Boulevard, the gateway to Del Amo Fashion Center, carries about 70,000 vehicle trips a day. Add the 405, the 110, the 91, Sepulveda, Western, Artesia, and Del Amo, and a family can lose someone almost anywhere in town. Your crash facts matter more than any statistic, so we start by finding them.

Torrance PD, the collision report, and the first two weeks

The Torrance Police Department investigates crashes inside city limits. Its Records Division is at 3300 Civic Center Dr. and answers at (310) 618-5529. You can order a collision report online through LexisNexis eCrash, but plan on waiting at least 15 days after the crash, and a convenience fee applies. You can also mail or bring in a Request for Release of Police Records form with a copy of your photo ID and an $18.00 check or money order. Reports go to drivers, vehicle owners, injured parties, and their authorized representatives. Do not wait for the report before protecting evidence. Early on, we send preservation letters to the other driver, the insurer, and any employer or fleet owner. We look for camera footage from gas stations, shops along the street, and doorbells, because many systems record over themselves within days. We also request the vehicle's event data recorder where one exists, and we find witnesses while they still remember. If the other side's adjuster calls, do not give a recorded statement and do not sign anything. Hand them our number. Keep the death certificate, funeral bills, and your loved one's pay records together, and tell us what you have.

Who can bring the case and what the claim can recover

California sets the list of who can sue, and your family does not get to choose it. Under Code of Civil Procedure 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 who died left no children or other descendants, the people who would inherit under intestate succession can file, often a parent. The statute also lets certain dependents file. That includes a putative spouse, stepchildren, parents who relied on the person for support, and a minor who lived in the household for the prior 180 days and got at least half their support from the person who died. These dependents can file whether or not a spouse or child also brings a claim. Wrongful death damages are such as may be just under all the circumstances, and the court divides the award among the heirs (Code of Civil Procedure 377.61). A separate survival claim belongs to the estate. It covers what your loved one lost between the crash and death, like medical bills and lost earnings, but not pain and suffering. A successor in interest who files it needs a sworn declaration and a certified death certificate (Code of Civil Procedure 377.32). We sort out who qualifies first, so nobody is left out and no claim gets dismissed on a technicality.

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

Against a private driver or company, you generally have two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit (Code of Civil Procedure 335.1), and courts ordinarily count from the date of death. A public entity changes the math. If a city road, a signal, or a public vehicle played a part, you must present a written claim within six months of the death (Government Code 911.2). In Torrance, that means the City Clerk's Office, 3031 Torrance Blvd. You sign the city's Claim for Damages form and mail it or bring it in. The city does not accept email or fax. It processes claims in about four to six weeks, and the filing help line is (310) 618-2870. Check who owns the road before you file. The city says Caltrans, not Torrance, maintains Pacific Coast Highway, Western Avenue, and Hawthorne Boulevard north of PCH, so a claim over a defect there may belong with the state. A crash on county or Los Angeles city ground needs its own claim to that agency. If the six months slip by, you must file a late-claim application within a reasonable time and no later than one year after the death (Government Code 911.4). After a written rejection, you have six months to sue (Government Code 945.6). Bring us the date of death and we will map every deadline for you.

Harbor-UCLA, Torrance hospitals, and the Maple Avenue courthouse

Three hospitals sit in or right next to Torrance. Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, the county-run hospital on West Carson Street, lies just outside the city line in unincorporated West Carson. Torrance Memorial Medical Center on Lomita Boulevard has an emergency department. Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center Torrance on Torrance Boulevard runs a 24/7 emergency department and is a paramedic base station, comprehensive stroke center, and STEMI receiving center. Medical records from the ambulance run through the final hour matter, because they show how long your loved one survived and what care they needed. Those records feed the survival claim. The Torrance Courthouse is at 825 Maple Avenue and serves Gardena, Lomita, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Estates, and Rancho Palos Verdes, among others. Do not assume your case lands there, though. Unlimited civil injury cases may be assigned to a downtown courthouse, and the Superior Court's Filing Court Locator shows where yours belongs. Our office is in downtown Los Angeles. We handle the travel, the filing, and the hearings, so your family does not have to learn the court system while grieving.

Fault fights, low policy limits, and how Moe runs a Torrance death case

Insurers often blame the person who died. A pedestrian off the curb on PCH or outside a crosswalk on Crenshaw is a classic target. California follows pure comparative negligence (Li v. Yellow Cab Co.), so the wrongful death award is reduced by your loved one's share of fault instead of being barred outright (Horwich v. Superior Court). Under Proposition 51, each defendant pays noneconomic damages only in proportion to its own fault, so we name every responsible party, from the driver to an employer or a vehicle owner. Coverage is the other fight. California's minimum auto limits are $30,000 per person and $60,000 per crash, which rarely match a death. We look for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage, employer policies, and rideshare coverage when an app was on. Moe gathers the evidence early, talks to your family himself, and tells you honestly what he sees. Our past results include $30,000 and $100,000 policy-limit recoveries, a $75,000 recovery after an insurer offered $900, and $105,000 for an uninsured client. A past result does not predict a similar outcome. The consultation is free, and you owe no fee unless we win.

Talk to a Torrance 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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