Torts/Personal Injury,
Civil Procedure
May 13, 2025
The 'death discount': Ending an unjust legal paradox
California law once allowed negligent parties to escape full accountability when injured victims died before trial--erasing their pain and suffering from the record--but unless lawmakers pass Senate Bill 29 to make recent reforms permanent, that unjust "death discount" will return in 2026.
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Historically, California law had a troubling loophole: if a negligent
party injured someone--especially an elderly person or someone with a terminal
illness--they could benefit financially by delaying the case until the victim
died.
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