Losing a family member because of someone else’s negligence leaves you grieving and overwhelmed. On top of the emotional pain, you are suddenly facing medical bills, funeral costs, and a future without the person your family depended on. A Los Angeles wrongful death lawyer steps in to handle the legal side of this so you can focus on your family. But most people never see what actually goes into building one of these cases. Here is exactly how it works.
Starting With a Full Investigation
The first thing your attorney does is investigate the circumstances of the death thoroughly. This means collecting police reports, medical records, surveillance footage, witness statements, and any physical evidence tied to the incident. In car accident cases, that includes black box data and accident reconstruction analysis. In medical malpractice cases, it means pulling hospital records and consulting independent medical experts.
This phase moves fast because evidence does not wait. Surveillance footage gets overwritten. Witnesses become harder to locate. Physical scenes change. Your attorney issues legal preservation notices to responsible parties as early as possible to prevent critical evidence from disappearing before the case is built.
Identifying Every Responsible Party
Wrongful death cases in Los Angeles rarely involve just one defendant. A fatal car accident might implicate the driver, a trucking company, a vehicle manufacturer, or even a government agency responsible for road maintenance. A hospital death might involve an individual physician, a nursing team, and the hospital administration itself.
Your attorney maps out every party whose negligence contributed to the death. This matters because each additional defendant represents another source of compensation for your family. Missing even one liable party means leaving money on the table and potentially allowing a responsible party to walk away without accountability.
Working With Expert Witnesses
Strong wrongful death cases are built on expert testimony. Your attorney brings in professionals who can explain to a judge or jury exactly how the death occurred and who was responsible. Accident reconstruction specialists recreate the sequence of events in a collision. Medical experts explain how a treatment error caused or accelerated a patient’s death. Economists calculate the full financial value of your loss, including the deceased’s projected lifetime earnings, benefits, and the monetary value of the care and support they provided to your family.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, unintentional injuries account for over 200,000 deaths in the United States each year, many of which involve negligence that qualifies for a wrongful death claim. Expert witnesses translate that negligence into language a courtroom understands.
Calculating the True Value of Your Claim
This step separates experienced wrongful death attorneys from average ones. Insurance companies will offer a number quickly, and that number is almost always far below what your family actually deserves. Your attorney calculates damages across two categories.
Economic damages include current and future lost income, medical expenses incurred before death, funeral and burial costs, and the loss of financial contributions your family depended on. Non-economic damages cover the loss of companionship, love, guidance, and emotional support. California law allows surviving spouses, children, and other eligible family members to seek compensation for both.
The National Safety Council estimates the average economic cost of a single fatality in the United States at over 1.7 million dollars when accounting for lost wages, medical costs, and related expenses. Your attorney uses this data alongside your specific family circumstances to arrive at a number that reflects your real losses.
Negotiating With Insurance Companies
Trucking companies, hospitals, corporations, and individual defendants all carry insurance, and those insurers employ teams of adjusters and defense attorneys whose job is to pay your family as little as possible. Your attorney handles all communication with these parties directly. You never have to speak to an insurance adjuster alone.
Negotiation is where most wrongful death cases are resolved. Your attorney presents the evidence, the expert analysis, and the full damage calculation to the opposing side and pushes for a fair settlement. If the insurer refuses to offer a reasonable amount, your attorney prepares to take the case to trial.
Taking the Case to Trial When Necessary
Not every case settles, and a good attorney prepares for trial from day one. This includes filing all required legal documents within California’s deadlines, preparing witnesses, building courtroom presentations, and anticipating the defense’s arguments. In Los Angeles, local court experience matters. An attorney who knows the judges, understands local jury tendencies, and has tried cases in these specific courtrooms brings a real advantage when the case goes before a jury.
Your family deserves full accountability and full compensation. A Los Angeles wrongful death lawyer builds the case from the ground up to make both possible.
