What is the applicable statute of limitations for wrongful death actions?

The same is true of Frost v. State of California (1966) 247 Cal.App.2d 378, 382, 55 Cal.Rptr. 652, 655; it merely stated that a "cause of action for wrongful death arose on the date of death" under the circumstances of that case, which did not involve any claim of delayed discovery of the cause of the death.

Except in the case of wrongful death claims for "professional negligence" against "a health care provider," governed by Code of Civil [89 Cal.App.3d 55] Procedure section 340.5, ² the statute of limitations applicable to wrongful death actions is Code of Civil Procedure section 340, subdivision 3, specifically referring to actions "for injury to or for the death of one caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another . . . ." Section 340, subdivision 3, does not specify when the one-year period commences. However, since no cause of action for wrongful death can exist until the death of the decedent and it "is an entirely new cause of action created in the heirs and based on the death of the decedent as that death inflicted injury upon them" (Larcher v. Wanless (1976) 18 Cal.3d 646, 656-657, 135 Cal.Rptr. 75, 80, 557 P.2d 507), the earliest date that the one-year period could start would be the date of death.