When a Fatal Crash on Highway 99 Takes a Loved One

Can a Family Bring a Wrongful Death Claim After a Fatal Crash on Highway 99 or 58?

In most cases, yes. Under Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 377.60, a cause of action for the death of a person caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another may be asserted by listed persons, including the decedent’s surviving spouse, domestic partner, and children, or by the decedent’s personal representative on their behalf.

Both highways run through the Bakersfield area. A deadly crash on either one can leave a family facing hard questions within days.

Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60, a wrongful death claim covers a death caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another. Whether a particular claim works depends on the facts of that crash. Who was at fault, and what the road and vehicles were like, all matter.

A wrongful death case is a civil case. It is separate from any criminal case against the driver, so the two can move on different timelines.

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in California?

The law names who may bring the claim. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.60, the decedent’s surviving spouse, domestic partner, and children may sue. So may the issue of deceased children.

If there is no surviving issue, the people who would inherit the decedent’s property under intestate succession may sue.

That includes a putative spouse, stepchildren, and parents. If the parents have died, legal guardians can sue. A minor who lived in the decedent’s household for the previous 180 days, and relied on the decedent for one-half or more of support, can also sue.

A personal representative of the estate can bring the claim on behalf of those eligible. If a family member signs as successor in interest, the law requires a sworn affidavit or declaration under penalty of perjury. It must state the decedent’s name and the date and place of death. A certified copy of the death certificate must be attached (Code of Civil Procedure § 377.32).

Why does the list matter? It decides who signs on and who shares in any recovery. An adult child’s position is covered in more detail on our adult child wrongful death page.

Get the Collision Report, and Know What It Does and Does Not Decide

Ask for the collision report early. The report does not decide fault on its own.

If the California Highway Patrol handled the crash, its collision report is usually the first document to request. It can list the parties, vehicles, times, locations, and what the officer observed.

The report is a starting point. Officer opinions, diagrams, witness statements, and later evidence all get weighed with it. Reports can be incomplete or change as an investigation continues. Ask for any updated copy, and don’t treat the first version as final.

Keep copies of everything the agency gives you, including any citations, in one folder. Write down the report number and the date you requested it. Be careful about accepting any fault conclusion before the facts are in.

Preserve Evidence From the Scene and the Vehicles

Evidence can disappear quickly, so preserve it early. Useful items include photos of the scene and vehicles, vehicle damage, and dashcam or traffic camera video. Witness names and phone numbers matter too, as do phone records when they relate to the crash.

Some vehicles record event data. Ask that it be kept. Some camera systems overwrite footage on a schedule, so request video quickly.

Vehicles are often moved to a tow yard, storage lot, or salvage yard. Once a vehicle is sold or crushed, the evidence in it can be lost. A written request to keep the vehicles can help, and it doesn’t have to wait.

Write down what you remember about road conditions, lighting, construction zones, and signs while your memory is fresh. Keep the decedent’s medical, funeral, and employment records together from the start. If evidence is lost or destroyed, courts have tools to respond, but those tools don’t replace the evidence itself.

Filing Deadlines: Two Years for Most Claims, Shorter Windows for Public Agencies

For most claims against a private driver or company, a wrongful death lawsuit generally must be filed within two years. This comes from Code of Civil Procedure § 335.1.

Public agencies work differently. If a city, county, or state agency may share responsibility for a road condition, a written claim generally comes first. A claim for death must be presented no later than six months after the cause of action accrues (Government Code § 911.2).

A lawsuit against a public entity generally waits until the claim is presented and acted on, or is deemed rejected (Government Code § 945.4). With that notice, suit generally must be filed not later than six months after the date the notice is personally delivered or deposited in the mail (Government Code § 945.6). Without it, the limit is two years from accrual (Government Code § 945.6).

Each rule has exceptions, so check the timing early. For a fatal crash Highway 99 Bakersfield wrongful death claim, the shorter public-agency clock is the one to check first when a road condition may be involved.

Single-Vehicle and Wrong-Way Crashes: How Fault Is Still Examined

Investigators still look at road design, signs, lighting, and the vehicle’s condition.

If a public agency controls the road, the question is whether the property was in a dangerous condition. That means a substantial risk of injury, not a minor or trivial one (Government Code § 830). Under Government Code § 835, a public entity is liable only if several things are shown. These include a reasonably foreseeable risk, and either an employee’s negligence that created the condition or notice of it in time to protect against it.

Wrong-way crashes raise different questions. Investigators look at how the vehicle entered the wrong lanes and what the driver was doing. They also look at whether impairment is reported. Road markings and signs can matter too.

Under Civil Code § 1431.2, each defendant pays non-economic damages only in direct proportion to its own share of fault. The statute does not address the joint or several liability of economic damages.

What a Wrongful Death Claim Can Seek

Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.61, damages may be awarded that are just under all the circumstances. Those damages may not include the survival damages covered by § 377.34. The court decides how an award is divided among those entitled to it.

Economic losses tied to the death, such as lost financial support, are part of many of these claims.

A survival action is separate. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 377.34, its damages are limited to loss or damage the decedent sustained or incurred before death, including any penalties or punitive or exemplary damages the decedent would have been entitled to recover had the decedent lived. Those damages do not include pain, suffering, or disfigurement, except in an action granted a preference pursuant to Section 36 before January 1, 2022, or filed on or after January 1, 2022, and before January 1, 2026.

There is one exception. Pain, suffering, or disfigurement damages are recoverable only in an action granted a preference before January 1, 2022, or filed on or after January 1, 2022 and before January 1, 2026. A family should not assume those damages apply to a new filing.

No dollar figure can be predicted from these basics. The value of a claim depends on the facts of each case.

Talk With Colvin Accident Lawyers Before Deadlines Pass

If your family is now handling a crash report, evidence requests, and deadlines all at once, you do not have to sort it out alone. Colvin Accident Lawyers is based in Bakersfield, California. Please contact us to talk through the crash, the claim, and the timing.

The first consultation is free, confidential, and comes with no obligation to continue.

Related reading on this site includes our wrongful death claims pages for California, Kern County, and Fresno, and our page on adult child wrongful death claims.

Donald Norman Colvin, Colvin Accident Lawyers, Bakersfield, California — responsible for this site.