Contra Costa County · Wrongful Death
Wrongful death lawyers serving Lafayette families
Grief does not run on the legal system's schedule. We protect your family's claim — the evidence, the deadlines, the insurers — so that the decisions that can wait, do.
When a death is caused by someone else's negligence, California law allows certain family members — generally a surviving spouse or domestic partner and children first — to bring a wrongful death claim. The claim cannot restore anything. What it can do is secure a family's financial future and insist, formally, that the loss mattered.
Oguz Injury Lawyers LLP is one town east of Lafayette, in downtown Walnut Creek, and families from Lafayette and the Lamorinda area can meet us in person within minutes — or by phone or video if that is gentler. We work in English, Spanish, Turkish, and Mandarin Chinese, and a first conversation is free and commits you to nothing.
Our approach in these cases is to take over everything the law demands: the investigation, the official records, the identification of every responsible party and insurance policy, and every deadline — including the short six-month one that applies when a public entity may be involved. There is no fee unless we recover for your family.
What a Lafayette case involves, practically
Lafayette's geography shapes how these cases begin. The city lives along the Highway 24 corridor, where fatal crashes are investigated by the California Highway Patrol, often with specialized reconstruction resources. On Lafayette's own roads — Mt. Diablo Boulevard, Moraga Road, and the narrow residential lanes in the hills — the Lafayette Police Department documents what happened. Those hill roads are also shared daily by a serious cycling community, and when a collision there takes a rider's or a walker's life, questions about sight lines, speed, and road conditions become central to the case.
Road-condition questions carry a legal consequence worth knowing early: where the design or maintenance of a public road may have contributed, a claim against the responsible public entity generally must be presented within six months — far sooner than the general two-year deadline. Evaluating that possibility is part of our standard early work, not an afterthought.
If a lawsuit becomes necessary, a Lafayette case is filed in the Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez. Most cases resolve by settlement; we prepare every one as if it will not, because that preparation is what fair settlements are made of.
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
Our loved one was cycling and the insurer says the crash was partly their fault. Does that end the claim?
No. California's pure comparative negligence rule means a decedent's share of fault — if any — reduces the recovery proportionally; it does not bar the claim. In fatal cases insurers often press fault arguments aggressively because the one person who could respond is gone. An early, independent investigation is how those arguments get answered.
What deadlines apply to our family?
Generally two years from the date of death under Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1. But if a public entity may share responsibility — including through the condition of a public road — a government claim generally must be presented within six months. Which deadlines apply depends on the facts, and confirming them early costs nothing.
Who has the right to bring the claim?
Generally the surviving spouse or registered domestic partner and the children; if there are none, the right passes to those who would inherit under California's intestate succession rules, and certain dependent household members may also qualify. Getting this right at the outset protects everyone in the family, and it is one of the first things we sort out.
How are you paid?
On contingency only. We advance the costs of the case, and our fee comes from the recovery — never from your family directly. If there is no recovery, you owe nothing, and the initial consultation is always free.
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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.