Wrongful Death in Workplace Accidents

Every year, dozens of hard-working individuals in California lose their lives in tragic workplace accidents. It is an employer’s legal responsibility to maintain a safe work environment that is free from significant and fatal injury risks. If you lost a loved one in a deadly workplace accident in Southern California, learn your rights and find out how to seek justice.

What Is the Definition of Wrongful Death in California?

Under California Code of Civil Procedures § 377.60, a fatality may be considered wrongful death and give a family grounds to file a civil cause of action if the death was caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. 

A wrongful death case is similar to a personal injury claim, but it is filed by certain surviving family members after a preventable accident takes someone’s life, rather than the accident victim being able to file.

Common Causes of Wrongful Death in Workplace Accidents

While some industries are inherently more dangerous than others, such as the construction industry, employer negligence is often a factor when a worker dies on the job. Such serious accidents can frequently be prevented with the proper amount of care and safety measures taken by the company.

Examples of employer negligence include:

• Inadequate worker training 
• Lack of safety measures 
• Failure to provide workers with personal protective equipment 
• Violated federal safety laws 
• Lack of posted safety signage 
• Improper storage of chemicals or hazardous materials 
• Ignored safety complaints
• Lack of emergency protocols

Negligence by employers, coworkers, contractors and third parties increases the risk of many different types of fatal work accidents. Examples include catastrophic falls, equipment incidents, transportation accidents, electrocutions, falling objects and scaffolding accidents.

Why Take Legal Action After a Fatal Work Accident?

If you lost a loved one in a sudden workplace accident, filing a wrongful death claim can help you and your family hold someone accountable to get the justice and financial compensation that you deserve. You can stand up for your deceased loved one’s rights in the face of serious employer negligence. 

A lawsuit against an employer, company, product manufacturer or another party can call for changes on an institutional level that ultimately improve worker safety in your loved one’s industry – potentially saving lives in the future. Working with a lawyer handling injury lawsuits in Los Angeles can also result in financial compensation that can help your family move forward.

After the death of your family’s breadwinner in a workplace accident, you may be eligible for compensation for funeral and burial costs, lost wages, lost future earnings and inheritance, grief and anguish, loss of consortium, and more. Your family could receive this payment through a workers’ compensation insurance claim (death benefits), a separate wrongful death lawsuit or both.

How a Fatal Work Accident Lawyer Can Help

A workplace wrongful death claim in California requires evidence or proof that someone else is at fault for the worker’s fatal injury or illness. The family member who files the claim, or the plaintiff, will have the burden of establishing negligence or fault based on a preponderance of the evidence.

Proving a fatal work accident case may involve police and workplace accident reports, eyewitness accounts, expert witness testimony, photographs and video footage, safety and maintenance logs, federal compliance history, medical records, and other unique types of evidence. A Los Angeles wrongful death lawyer can investigate your loved one’s fatal workplace accident to preserve and collect important evidence. If your case involves complex topics related to your loved one’s industry or job, a lawyer can hire a subject-matter expert to make things clear to a judge or jury. Throughout the legal process, your family can count on a lawyer to tell your loved one’s story and fight for the best possible results.