California Wrongful Death Statute of Limitations: Two Years Under CCP § 335.1

What the statute says

Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 sets a two-year limitations period for “an action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another.” The same two-year period that governs ordinary personal injury claims therefore governs wrongful death. Who may bring the action is defined separately by Code of Civil Procedure section 377.60, which lists the decedent's surviving spouse, domestic partner, children, and other specified heirs and dependents. A wrongful death action is a single, joint action; California courts generally require that all heirs be joined in one suit.

When the clock starts

A wrongful death cause of action does not exist until the decedent dies, so it generally accrues on the date of death — not the date of the injury that later caused death. California courts have recognized a discovery rule in limited circumstances, postponing accrual where the wrongful cause of the death was not, and could not reasonably have been, known at the time of death. Whether that exception applies is fact-specific and should be analyzed on the record of each matter.

Key exceptions and tolling

• Claims against government entities.A wrongful death claim against a California public entity or employee generally requires a written claim presented to the entity under Government Code section 911.2 — generally within six months of accrual — before suit. If the claim is rejected by written notice, Government Code section 945.6 generally allows six months from the notice to file suit.
• Medical malpractice.A death caused by a health care provider's professional negligence is governed by Code of Civil Procedure section 340.5, not section 335.1. Section 340.5 sets an outside limit of three years from the date of injury or one year from discovery, whichever occurs first, subject to the statute's tolling provisions, and section 364 requires 90 days' pre-suit notice.
• Minor heirs.Under Code of Civil Procedure section 352, if an heir entitled to bring the action is a minor or lacks legal capacity when the cause of action accrues, the period of that disability is generally not counted, subject to statutory limits and to the different rules that apply to claims against public entities.
• Defendant absent from the state.Code of Civil Procedure section 351 provides that a defendant's absence from the state is generally not counted, though case law has limited its application in some interstate contexts.
• Survival actions are separate.A survival action for the decedent's own pre-death damages (Code of Civil Procedure section 377.30) has its own timing, generally the later of two years after the injury or six months after death.

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