What damages are available in a wrongful death case?

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

No amount of money balances the loss of a person. Money is simply the only remedy a court can order.

California: support, services and companionship

California juries are instructed with CACI No. 3921. It lists the economic damages a family may claim:

• the financial support the person would have contributed to the family, measured over the shorter of the person’s life expectancy before death or the family member’s life expectancy
• the loss of gifts or benefits the family member would have expected to receive
• funeral and burial expenses
• the reasonable value of household services the person would have provided

Future economic losses must be reduced to present cash value. The noneconomic damages are the loss of the person’s love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society and moral support. Where it applies, the jury may also consider the loss of training and guidance and a spouse’s loss of the enjoyment of sexual relations. No fixed standard exists for these amounts.

The same instruction tells jurors not to consider the family member’s grief, sorrow or mental anguish, the pain and suffering of the person who died, or the family’s poverty or wealth. California compensates the loss of the relationship and leaves out sorrow itself.

Punitive damages in California

California courts have read the wrongful death statutes to bar punitive damages, as the Sources and Authority notes to CACI 3921 explain, citing Tarasoff v. Regents (1976). The exception is in Civil Code 3294(d): punitive damages may be recovered when the death resulted from a homicide for which the defendant was convicted of a felony.

Separately, the estate’s survival claim may include punitive damages the person could have recovered had they lived, under CCP 377.34. Our page on survival actions explains that claim and the change to pain and suffering damages that took effect in 2026.

Texas: mental anguish and loss of companionship

The Texas wrongful death statute, Civil Practice and Remedies Code 71.002, allows actual damages for an injury that causes death, and section 71.010 lets the jury award damages “proportionate to the injury resulting from the death,” divided among the spouse, children and parents in the shares it finds. In Sanchez v. Schindler (1983), the Texas Supreme Court rejected the old rule that limited recovery to lost money and allowed damages for loss of companionship and society and for mental anguish, in a case brought by a parent for the death of a child. Damages under the statute are not subject to the debts of the person who died (section 71.011).

Section 71.009 allows exemplary (punitive) damages when the death was caused by the defendant’s willful act or omission or gross negligence. The family must prove that by clear and convincing evidence (section 41.003). Under section 41.008, the award is generally capped at the greater of $200,000 or two times economic damages plus noneconomic damages up to $750,000. The cap does not apply to certain felonies, including intoxication manslaughter.

Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou.

Washington: damages that are just under all the circumstances

Under RCW 4.20.010, the personal representative may recover the economic and noneconomic damages the beneficiaries sustained, in amounts the jury finds just under all the circumstances of the case. The beneficiaries are listed in RCW 4.20.020. The Legislature’s final bill report on the 2019 amendments states that both economic and noneconomic damages are recoverable against the person causing the death.

The person’s own pain and suffering, anxiety, emotional distress or humiliation before death are recovered through the survival statutes, RCW 4.20.046 and RCW 4.20.060. Washington does not allow punitive damages unless a statute authorizes them (Dailey v. North Coast Life, 1996). The Washington Supreme Court struck down the state’s statutory limit on noneconomic damages in Sofie v. Fibreboard (1989), a personal injury case. See also the Washington deadline.

Deaths caused by medical care: caps in California and Texas

When the death followed negligent medical care, both California and Texas limit some damages.

• California, Civil Code 3333.2: for cases filed on or after January 1, 2023, noneconomic damages in a wrongful death case are capped at $500,000 against health care providers as a group and a separate $500,000 against health care institutions as a group, with a third category for certain unaffiliated defendants. Each wrongful death cap then rises by $50,000 on each January 1 for ten years, up to $1,000,000. The statute applies the amount in effect at the time of judgment, arbitration award or settlement, so the cap for a judgment, award or settlement in 2026 is $650,000.
• Texas, sections 74.301 and 74.303: noneconomic damages against physicians are capped at $250,000 per claimant, and in a wrongful death or survival case the total damages against a physician or health care provider are capped at $500,000 per claimant, adjusted for inflation since 1977, not counting medical and custodial care expenses.

Wrongful death damages at a glance

What this means for your case

The value of a wrongful death claim turns on facts that can be proven: pay stubs, tax returns and benefits for lost support; the cooking, child care, driving and repairs the person did; and, for companionship, the family’s own accounts and the people who knew the relationship. Save funeral and burial receipts. The evidence of fault and the insurance available matter as much as the losses.

If the person who died was partly at fault, the award may be reduced. In Texas, the person who died counts as a claimant (section 33.011), and a claimant found more than 50 percent responsible recovers nothing (section 33.001); see our page on comparative fault. Who may share in the damages is covered on our page about who can file.

Common questions

Related pages

Injury law FAQs

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 7, 2026.