What is the statute of limitations for a wrongful death action?

Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 provides: "Within two years: An action for assault, battery, or injury to, or for the death of, an individual caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another." A cause of action for wrongful death is an entirely new and independent cause of action created in the heirs or personal representatives of the deceased, distinct from any action the deceased might have maintained if he or she had survived. (See Fitch v. Select Products Co. (2005) 36 Cal.4th 812, 819, 31 Cal.Rptr.3d 591, 115 P.3d 1233.) Accordingly, the statute of limitations on a wrongful death action begins to run at the time of death, and not at the time of injury which caused

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the death, for it is only on the date of death that the action is complete in all of its elements. (Norgart v. Upjohn Co. (1999) 21 Cal.4th 383, 404, 87 Cal.Rptr.2d 453, 981 P.2d 79.)