SB 447 has expired: What this means for California survival claims

Effective January 1, 2026

As of January 1, 2026, pain and suffering damages are no longer recoverable in survival actions filed in California.

Background

In 2022, California enacted SB 447, which temporarily allowed plaintiffs to recover pain and suffering damages in survival actions filed on behalf of a deceased person’s estate. This legislation marked a departure from California's traditional rule, which limited survival action damages to economic losses such as medical expenses and lost income. SB 447 expired on December 31, 2025. California has now returned to its longstanding rule that survival actions may recover only economic damages, with punitive damages available in limited circumstances.

The governing statute, California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.34, now limits pain and suffering damages to cases in which the action was granted a trial preference before January 1, 2022, or was filed on or after January 1, 2022 and before January 1, 2026.

Relation-back doctrine does not apply to late-filed claims

Plaintiffs cannot circumvent this deadline by amending an existing wrongful death complaint to add survival claims after December 31, 2025.

In Quiroz v. Seventh Ave. Center, 2006 Cal. App. LEXIS 984, the court held that the relation-back doctrine does not apply in these circumstances. The court reasoned that survivor claims do not relate back to wrongful death claims because the two claims seek redress for distinct injuries and are brought by different plaintiffs. See also Thanou v. Cedars-Sinai Med. Ctr., 2024 Cal. Super. LEXIS 71639 at *14 ("A newly pled cause of action for survival does not relate back to the filing of the original complaint for wrongful death.")

However, if a survival claim was included in the original complaint filed before January 1, 2026, subsequent amendments to that claim should relate back to the original filing date, provided the amended complaint alleges the same general set of facts, refers to the same accident and injuries, and involves the same instrumentality. See Fix the City, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles (2024) 100 Cal.App.5th 363, 374.

Practical implications

Those with pending matters involving potential survival claims should be aware that the window for recovering pain and suffering damages in these actions has closed. Parties are encouraged to review any active litigation to assess how this change may affect their case strategies.

For more information, please contact the authors.