Wrongful Death

Helping Individuals and Families Cope with a Fatal Accident

When you have lost a loved one as the result of a fatal accident, it can be difficult to see beyond your grief to understand all that you have lost. If your loved one was the sole or principal provider for your family, you need to recover compensation for lost wages and income. You are also entitled to recover for the loss of companionship or consortium you had with that person. You want an aggressive and compassionate attorney who will protect your rights while understanding your loss.

At the offices of Kerr & Sheldon, A Professional Law Corporation, we have represented individuals and families throughout Southern California in accidental and wrongful death claims since 1979. Because of our reputation for successful and aggressive advocacy, a large portion of our clients are referred by other lawyers, doctors and chiropractors, and by former clients. Contact us for a free and confidential consultation.

In California, all wrongful death claims are governed by Section 3921 of the California Civil Code, which spells out the damages that you can receive. Section 3921 allows both economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages include the financial support, any gifts expected by the survivors, the cost of funeral and burial expenses and the reasonable value of any household services the deceased would have provided. Non-economic damages include loss of love and companionship, loss of the enjoyment of sexual relations and the loss of the deceased’s training and guidance. Section 3921 specifically prohibits recovery for the survivor’s grief, sorrow, or mental anguish or the deceased’s pain and suffering.

Though most of the fatal accident lawsuits we have handled have involved traffic accidents, we have also seen wrongful deaths resulting from work-related injuries and from dangerous and defective products. We know that no amount of money can replace your loved one. Nonetheless, you are entitled to compensation for all that you have lost.

At Kerr & Sheldon, we take all fatal accident claims on a contingency basis. We do not charge any fee until we have recovered money for your injury. We also advance all costs and expenses, so that you pay nothing at all until your case is resolved.

If you want experienced lawyers to aggressively and compassionately pursue full and fair compensation in a wrongful death action, contact Kerr & Sheldon, A Professional Law Corporation, to schedule a free consultation.

Excellent4.5★★★★☆ Based on 110 reviews from review us onRuth Atega ★★★★★ Atty Russell Kerr, Jr. had negotiated a fair accident settlement agreement with the opposing counsel. I highly recommend this law firm for reasonable legal fees and efficient services.Teresita Peregrina ★★★★★ I am thankful that Kerr & Sheldon was recommended to me by my family chiropractor. She treats me like family and I knew I could trust her judgement.From what was an extremely traumatic traffic accident that left me shocked, stressed, and emotionally shaken; Kerr & Sheldon took charge with the intricacies of dealing with the aftermath. I was able to focus on my healing, mentally and physically, while they took care of the rest. They were very clear the whole process in communicating with me and made sure to go above and beyond to help me get the best services I needed in repairs (car & myself).I’d also like to give a personal thank you to the receptionist I spoke with who prayed for my dog when she was very ill. Even though my stress and sadness of a sick pet was not their responsibility , she took the time to be there for me and help lift me up in the added stress of a motor accident. Unfortunately my poor baby passed away in April, I will never forget the prayer I received through the phone and the kindness and love I was given. That reflects on the whole team and I’m happy I decided to put my trust in them. Thank you!Larry Paul ★★★★★ I was referred to Kerr and Sheldon by a family friend for my personal injury case. They did an excellent job with helping me get medical care, answering any questions I had and helping get my case sorted out as quickly as possible. They even sent a Christmas card to my family which was a nice personal touch.Emad Tadros ★★★★★ Great law office. very respectful and friendly. gave me ton of valuables Information about a diminished value claim while I'm not even his client. My personal injury attorney office was not willing to help with the diminish value claim, however Mr. Russ, who I found his website on google didn't hesitate to guide me with tremendous amount of information about how to proceed with my claim. Thank you very much... very recommended.S Taban ★★★★★ I found Mr. Kerr while searching for an attorney for loss of value. Our car was brand new and I got hit hard by another car. Luckily I wasn’t hurt, but it was frustrating that our brand new car wasn’t worth the same anymore because of this accident and it would be harder to sell. Other law firms I called almost hung up on me as soon as they heard that there were no injuries. They advertised Loss of Value, but would only consider a case if there were serious enough injuries. When I contacted Mr. Kerr he was so incredibly helpful. The car was only partially damaged and repairable, so this was not a case for an attorney. Nevertheless Mr. Kerr helped me so much, from giving references for appraisers, to guidance on how to proceed and explanations of how loss of value works.I hardly ever post reviews, but he was so amazing and responded quickly and thoroughly to all my emails and all my questions even though I wasn’t a client that I wanted to let people know.Hopefully I don’t get into another accident, but should I ever need an attorney for an accident, I will definitely contact Mr. Kerr as an actual client. In the meantime I am very grateful for all the help and advice he gave me.Paul Johnson ★★★★★ Russell Kerr and the team have successfully and for me painlessly recovered property damage and GREAT settlements in both of 2 Motorcycle Injury Accident cases where I was the victim. In both cases they acted very firm with the other parties insurance company and controlled the situation very well. They were also very successful in negotiating down the medical bills to be disbursed from the settlement to less than half of what was initially owed translating to more money in my pocket! From the beginning, to deposition (in first case 10 years ago), and through negotiations, they were extremely impressive and get a 10/10 from me. They get my endorsement!Delilah Nina Ko ★★★★★ My 2015 Porsche was in an accident and after it was repaired it wasn't worth as much as before. The insurance company said I couldn't recover for the diminished value. I hired Mr. Kerr and he helped me recover the value that my car lost in value.