California Wrongful Death LawyerAll 58 Counties
Your Loss Matters
- Get answers to your wrongful death legal questions.
- Hold every wrongdoer accountable.
- Acquire full legal compensation for your loss.
Call Anytime - 24/7
No fee or costs unless we recover · Language interpreters available
26
years in practice
300+
wrongful death cases
58
California counties served
24/7
we respond, day or night
Why Rich Harris
I know how the other side decides what your case is worth.
Five years as an insurance agent. Five years as a claims adjuster. Four years defending insurance companies in court. I learned how an insurance claims reserve gets set, what moves it, and what an adjuster is authorized to say versus what they are actually thinking.
Since then, twenty-two years representing heirs just like you, in every California county. I take a limited number of cases so each one gets real attention.
Rich Harris
California Wrongful Death Lawyer
Licensed in California since 2000. Wrongful death, all 58 counties.
What that means for you
- We respond 24 hours a day, seven days a week
- Mr. Harris speaks or Zooms with every client, never an intake service
- No more than thirty active matters at a time, not hundreds
- No fee or costs unless we recover
- Language interpreters available
The first weeks
Before there is a case, there are problems that will not wait.
The coroner has your loved one's body and may not give you timely answers. A mortuary needs a decision and a deposit. A bank has frozen an account. An insurance adjuster has already called, twice, and left a “friendly” message.
We handle these things because they need handling, and because the way they are handled in the first month frequently determines what the case is worth in the third year.
County coroners
The coroner or medical examiner for all 58 California counties. We acquire the coroner's packet free of charge for wrongful death heirs.
Read moreFuneral assistance
Help locating providers, independent guidance on fair pricing, and a formal demand that the wrongdoers pay the funeral expenses now.
Read moreProbate assistance
Property transfers with and without probate, and a referral to a recommended probate specialist for advanced estate problems.
Read moreCan I claim?
Use the Wrongful Death Heir Eligibility Tool to see whether you have standing under California law.
Read moreAsk Rich
The questions families actually ask
We focus on wrongful death cases, in all 58 California counties, when someone else’s negligent or wrongful conduct caused the death. We will also represent seriously injured survivors. The cases we handle most often involve:
- Motor vehicle collisions
- Tractor-trailer and commercial truck crashes
- Motorcycle crashes
- Drunk or intoxicated drivers
- Pedestrians, bicyclists and e-bike riders struck by vehicles
- Transportation network negligence (rideshare)
- Delivery service negligence
- Workplace and industrial accidents
- Drownings
- Falls
- Accidental shootings
- Elder abuse and neglect (non-medical)
- Electrocution and burns
- Police misconduct and deaths in custody
- Suicide when others are to blame
- Murder and manslaughter, as a civil claim
- Product manufacturing defects
- Toxic chemicals
- Trains, boats, airplanes and recreational vehicles
- Choking and other accidental deaths
The firm does not accept medical malpractice matters of any kind. Those claims carry much shorter deadlines and require special medical expert testimony. If that is your situation, consult a medical malpractice specialist immediately.
The test is whether someone else’s negligent or wrongful conduct caused the death, and whether there is a source of recovery, usually insurance or financial assets, behind that person or company. Both halves matter. A clear liability case against someone with no coverage and no assets may not be worth bringing, and an honest lawyer will tell you that before you spend two years finding out.
Anyone who gives you a number in the first conversation is guessing or selling. Value depends on the relationship between the heirs and the person who died, their age and earning capacity, the degree of fault, the conduct of the defendant, the venue, and above all the available insurance coverage and financial resources of the defendant(s). Early in a case the honest answer is a range and the reasoning behind it.
A straightforward case with clear liability and cooperative insurance can resolve within six to twelve months. A contested case that has to be filed and worked up commonly runs eighteen months to three years. Cases against government entities, and cases with disputed causation, run longer.
No. Accepted cases are handled on contingency and this firm advances the case costs, filing fees, experts, depositions, records. If there is no recovery you owe no fee and no costs.
Available 24/7 · No fee or costs unless we recover
Get Answers, Hold Wrongdoers Accountable, Free Consultation
Tell us what happened. Mr. Harris speaks with every client personally, and there is no fee or costs unless we recover.
Free consultations are offered on a case-by-case basis. Not all matters will be offered a consultation following a preliminary discussion with a paralegal, and not all cases will be accepted.
Day or night, weekends and holidays · Language interpreters available