Contra Costa County · Wrongful Death
Wrongful death lawyers serving Concord
When a family in Concord loses someone to another person's negligence, the legal system starts its clocks immediately — while your family is in no condition to watch them. Let us watch them for you.
There is nothing a law firm can say that meets the size of what your family is living through. What we can offer is practical: California gives certain family members the right to bring a wrongful death claim, that right comes with firm deadlines, and protecting it does not require your family to be ready for anything — no lawsuit, no decisions, not even a second phone call.
Oguz Injury Lawyers LLP serves Concord from our office one town south in downtown Walnut Creek, minutes down I-680. We meet families wherever is easiest — in person, by phone, or by video — and we work in English, Spanish, Turkish, and Mandarin Chinese.
If we take your case, we quietly do the urgent work first: preserving evidence, requesting the official reports, identifying every responsible party and insurance policy, and presenting any government claim before its short deadline passes. From there the case moves at the pace your family can manage. There is no fee unless we recover for you.
What the legal process looks like for a Concord family
The first practical question after a fatal incident in Concord is who investigated it, because that record anchors everything that follows. A collision on the city's surface streets — Monument Boulevard, Clayton Road, Willow Pass Road — is documented by the Concord Police Department. A crash on SR-242, I-680, or Highway 4 belongs instead to the California Highway Patrol, which conducts its most serious investigations through specialized reconstruction teams. The Contra Costa County coroner's office prepares its own report. We request all of it, and we bring in independent investigators when the official record leaves questions open.
Not every case begins on a road. Some Concord families come to us after a workplace incident — where, alongside workers' compensation, a separate claim may exist against a negligent third party such as a contractor or equipment manufacturer — and some after a death on unsafe property. Each kind of case points at different defendants and different insurance, and identifying all of them early is a large part of what protects the claim's value.
If a lawsuit becomes necessary, a Concord case is filed in the Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez, a short drive up the hill. Most wrongful death cases resolve by settlement before that point — but insurers negotiate very differently with a family whose case is fully prepared to be tried.
California wrongful death law, plainly stated
- The deadline for a wrongful death claim in California is generally two years from the date of death, under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1.
- If a public entity bears responsibility — a government vehicle, a dangerous public road or property — a government claim generally must be presented within six months. This shorter deadline surprises grieving families constantly, and missing it can end the claim.
- Eligible claimants are defined by law: generally the surviving spouse or domestic partner and children first, then those entitled to the estate through intestate succession if there is no surviving spouse or issue.
- Pure comparative negligence applies: if the person who died was partly at fault, the family's recovery is reduced proportionally — not eliminated.
- A criminal prosecution, if any, is separate from the civil claim. The family's wrongful death case proceeds independently, under a different standard of proof, whatever the criminal outcome.
Frequently asked questions
How long does our family have to act?
The general deadline is two years from the date of death under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. The important exception: if a public entity may bear responsibility — a government vehicle, a dangerous condition of a public road — a claim generally must be presented to that entity within six months. Confirming which deadlines apply takes one conversation and costs nothing, and it can be done long before your family is ready to decide anything else.
The insurance company suggests our loved one was partly at fault. Is the claim over?
No. California follows pure comparative negligence: partial fault reduces a recovery proportionally, it does not eliminate the claim. Insurers sometimes press this argument hard in fatal cases precisely because the person who could answer it is gone — which is why an independent investigation of fault, done early, matters so much.
Who is entitled to bring the claim?
Generally the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner and the children, and if there are none, those who would inherit under California's intestate succession rules — often parents or siblings. Certain financially dependent household members may also qualify. If your family's situation is complicated, do not assume yourself out of a claim; eligibility questions deserve a real answer, and asking is free.
What does hiring you cost?
Nothing up front and nothing unless there is a recovery. We advance the case costs, and our fee comes from the result — never from your family's pocket. The initial consultation is free, without obligation, in whatever language and format is most comfortable for your family.
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The case review is free and confidential, and you pay nothing unless we win. Tell us what happened, and we will tell you honestly where you stand.