In an action or proceeding against a decedent’s personal representative or, to the extent provided by statute, against the decedent’s successor in interest, on a cause of action against the decedent, all damages are recoverable that might have been recovered against the decedent had the decedent lived except damages recoverable under Section 3294 of the Civil Code or other punitive or exemplary damages.
Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 377.42
Cause of Action Against Decedent
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Kraft Power Corp. v. Merrill (2013)
Most recently applied in Flores v. City of Westminster (October 2017)
Added by Stats. 1992, Ch. 178, Sec. 20
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.