Wrongful Death

Just because police officers may be acquitted of criminal wrongdoing in an incident involving the death of an individual does not necessarily mean that they may not be liable for civil charges. This is a conclusion that may be drawn from a case out of Santa Ana involving two police officers and the death of a homeless man. The incident arose from a violent encounter the police had with the deceased during which the officers...

The recent killing of a 32-year-old woman in San Francisco, allegedly by an undocumented immigrant who had been convicted of seven prior felonies and deported five times from the United States -- but who was staying in the city under its "sanctuary" policy -- has many people looking in different directions to decide who other than the accused killer may have been responsible for his being free at the time of the murder, despite an...

Wrongful death claims in California can lead to confusion in a number of ways. Most people, when they contemplate filing a lawsuit based on a physical injury, think in terms of injury to themselves; but a wrongful death claim relates to injuries suffered by someone else. Furthermore, it can be challenging to understand how a wrongful death lawsuit can be proven in court when the person directly involved -- the decedent -- is unavailable to...

The California Highway Patrol reported that a 24-year-old man was killed in a crash on Interstate 80 in Roseville in the morning hours of Nov. 1. Another man sustained injuries in the crash. Both individuals were passengers in a vehicle when the driver reportedly collided with a tree while trying to avoid a car that had stalled in the road. The driver was employed by a ridesharing service. Ridesharing services are typically private enterprises that...

An almost untenable accident occurred in Riverside only two days prior to Father's Day. A car accident claimed the life of a former associate of high rank with the defense department of Laos who assisted American forces during the Vietnam War. The worst part of the tragedy is that the 69-year-old man died at the hands of his 37-year-old daughter, who had been drinking and arguing with her family members at their home on Bush...