“Survival Action” Claims in California – How It Works

When someone dies in California due to another person’s wrongful act, that person may be sued as a defendant in two types of lawsuits:

1. The first is a “survival” cause of action, which compensates the victim’s estate for losses they suffered after the defendant’s wrongful act but prior to the victim’s death.
2. The second is a “wrongful death” lawsuit, which compensates the next of kin for losses they incurred due to the death.

California Code of Civil Procedure 377.30 authorizes survival actions. They get their name because, under this law, the right to sue for damages “survives” the death of the decedent (deceased person).

Wrongful death and survival actions can be brought separately or combined into a single lawsuit. Their differences are illustrated in the following table:

CALIFORNIA LAW	Survival Actions – CCP 377.30	Wrongful Death Lawsuits – CCP 377.60
Plaintiff	Personal representative of the deceased’s estate	The deceased’s surviving family members
Compensatory Damages	Medical expenses incurred before death, lost wages before death, property damage, pain and suffering before death	Loss of financial support, loss of companionship, loss of services, pain and suffering, and funeral and burial expenses
Punitive Damages	May be available if the deceased would have been entitled to them had they lived	Generally not available
Statute of Limitations	Generally 2 years from the date of injury or 6 months after death, whichever is later	Generally 2 years from the date of death

To help you better understand survival causes of action, our California personal injury lawyers discuss:

• What are survival actions?
• Who brings them?
• Compensatory Damages
• Punitive Damages
• Statute of Limitation
• Additional Resources

What are survival actions?

Normally, a plaintiff’s right to sue expires when they die. California law provides an exception for “survival actions,” where the decedent’s estate’s sues for damages the decedent could have sued for had they not died.¹

Who brings them?

A survival cause of action is brought by the decedent’s personal representative. If the estate does not have a personal representative, the action can be brought by the decedent’s successor in interest.

Some decedents’ estates are represented by:

• a lawyer,
• an accountant,
• a close personal friend,
• a member of the decedent’s family, or
• someone else named in the decedent’s trust or will.

Compensatory Damages

The compensatory damages available in a survivor action are the losses the victim sustained after the wrongful act but before their death. Typical compensatory damages in a California survival cause of action include:

• Medical expenses the decedent incurred because of the wrongful act,
• Damage to the decedent’s property during the wrongful act,
• Wages the decedent lost between the wrongful act and the date of death, and/or
• Non-economic losses (such as pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, and disfigurement) that the decedent endured because of the wrongful act.²

In cases where the deceased was killed instantly – and therefore there was no lag time between the wrongful act and the death – there may be no grounds to bring a survival action. Though as long as there was even a slight delay before death occurred, there will usually be some sort of recoverable damages – even if it is only damage to clothing or other minor personal property.

Medical Malpractice Cases

In survival actions based on medical malpractice, there is a cap on the amount of non-economic damages (such as pain and suffering) the court can award.

As of January 1, 2024, the cap is $390,000. Each new year this cap increases by $40,000 until it reaches $750,000.³

Punitive Damages

Punitive damages – which are solely meant to punish the defendants – can be awarded in survival action lawsuits if the defendant acted with malice, fraud, or oppression. This is different from wrongful death lawsuits, where punitive damages are generally not recoverable at all.

Example: Although O.J. Simpson was acquitted in California of murdering Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman, he was found liable in the survival causes of action brought by the victims’ estates.

The court found only nominal (minimal) economic damage since the victims died almost immediately. However, the court still awarded each victim’s estate $12.5 million in punitive damages.

This was possible because, in a survival action, the amount of punitive damages is based in part on the actual harm suffered by the decedent. A wrongful death action, by contrast, focuses on the limited economic damages recoverable by the estate.⁴

Statute of Limitations

In California, a survivor action must be brought by the later of:

• 2 years from the date of the wrongful act, or
• 6 months from the date of the decedent’s death.⁵

Survivor causes of action begin running at the time of the wrongful act. This is different than a wrongful death action, which has a two-year statute of limitations that does not begin running until the decedent’s death.⁶

Example: Joe’s nurse at his nursing home stops cleaning him. As a result, Joe develops bed sores which eventually get infected and kill him. A medical expert establishes that the nurse’s wrongful act (neglect) began in January 2023. Joe died one-and-a-half years later in August 2024.

Joe’s estate can bring a survival action up until February 2025 (six months from the date of Joe’s death). In this case, six months from the death is slightly later than two years from the wrongful act that caused the death.

At the same time, Joe’s next-of-kin have until August 2026 (two years from the date of Joe’s death) to sue for wrongful death.

Additional Resources

If you recently lost a loved one, find guidance here:

• National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization: Offers resources on grief and loss.
• AARP: Provides a checklist for what to do when a loved one dies.
• The Compassionate Friends: Support for families after the death of a child. (
• GriefNet: An internet community of persons dealing with grief, death, and major loss. Offers email support groups and resources.
• What’s Your Grief: Mental health professionals with 20+ years of experience in grief and bereavement, offering online courses, workshops, and resources.

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