Suicide: When Others Are To Blame

The general rule, and why it exists

Ordinarily, a suicide is treated in California as an independent intervening act that cuts off a defendant’s liability for the conduct that preceded it. The reasoning is that the deliberate act of a third person breaks the causal chain.

The rule is not absolute, and courts have recognized categories where it does not apply.

Where liability has been recognized

• Custodial settings, jails, prisons and juvenile facilities, where there is a duty to protect a person known to be at risk, and that duty was breached
• Psychiatric hospitals and inpatient facilities, where a patient was admitted precisely because of that risk
• Negligence by a treating facility, a category this firm does not handle, but one families should know exists so they can consult a specialist
• Cases where the death followed an injury causing an uncontrollable impulse, or a delirium, that deprived the person of the capacity to form a deliberate intent
• Schools and employers, in circumstances involving sustained bullying or harassment they knew of and failed to address

The custodial cases

Deaths in jail are the most common category. Where a facility knew or should have known that someone was at risk, a completed intake screening flagging it, a prior attempt, a documented mental health history, a family member who called and warned them, and failed to act on it, liability can attach.

These cases frequently proceed as federal civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 alongside a state wrongful death claim, which changes the available damages and the applicable deadlines.

Deadlines are shorter than families expect

Where a public entity is involved, and in a custodial death it always is, a written government claim is generally due within six months under Government Code section 911.2. Six months, not two years.

Families in these cases are frequently still waiting for records, still waiting for an inquest, still being told very little. The deadline runs anyway. If you are anywhere near six months, do not wait for answers before consulting a lawyer.

A word about how these cases are handled

Families in this situation are often carrying the belief that they should have seen it, or that raising a legal claim implies something about the person they lost. It does not.

These cases are about whether an institution with a specific, documented duty performed it. That is a separate question from anything the family did or did not do, and it deserves to be answered.

If you are in crisis, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, available 24 hours a day in the United States.