California Wrongful Death Lawyer · All 58 Counties
Your Loss Matters
Someone you love is gone because another person, company or agency was careless. Your loss has a value the law recognizes, and you deserve a lawyer who knows how to hold the wrongdoers accountable.
No fee or costs unless we recover · Language interpreters available
26
years in practice
300+
wrongful death matters
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 a 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. I take a limited number of cases so each one gets real attention from very experienced professionals.
Rich Harris
Attorney at Law
Licensed in California since 2000. Wrongful death and serious injury, 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 obtain the reports at no charge, and read them for you.
Read moreFuneral assistance
Help finding providers, judging whether a price is fair, and demanding the responsible party pay final expenses now.
Read moreProbate assistance
Whether you need probate at all, what a small estate affidavit can do, and how the estate affects the claim.
Read moreCan I claim?
California limits who may sue. Spouses, domestic partners, children, and in narrower circumstances parents.
Read moreAsk Rich
The questions families actually ask
The test is whether someone else’s negligent or wrongful conduct caused the death, and whether there is a source of recovery, usually insurance, 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. 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 in 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. I would rather take longer and be right.
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.
Most wrongful death cases settle. But cases settle for their proper value only when the other side believes you are genuinely prepared to try them, so every case I accept is worked as though it will be tried. If it does go to trial, you will be prepared and you will not face it alone.
Available 24/7 · No fee or costs unless we recover
Talk to Rich Harris
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