Your Sister, Your Mother, Your Daughter Was Killed at a House That Should Never Have Held 200 People
You are reading this in the part of grief that has no name. The phone call that came before sunrise, the drive to a hospital where the people in scrubs could not look at you, the moment you understood the words “did not survive” were going to be your life from that morning forward. You are not looking for a lawyer because you want to argue. You are looking for one because every question you have asked since the night your loved one was killed at that party on Mulholland Drive has been answered with silence, with a press conference, or with a statement from an insurer that begins with the word “sympathy” and ends with a number that is not enough to bury her.
We hear you. And we want to tell you the truth about what the law does, what it does not, and how the family of a 35-year-old mother of three who was shot and killed at a Beverly Crest mansion party in the early hours of August 4, 2020 can hold the right people accountable for what happened.
The headlines called it a gang shooting. The police report will say it was gang-related. The venue where it happened was a three-story rented mansion in the 13200 block of Mulholland Drive. A food truck was outside. Lamborghinis and a Rolls Royce were parked in the driveway. About 200 people were inside. The LAPD had been called to the property at least five times that evening for noise complaints starting around 6:30 p.m. Officers came, wrote parking tickets, and left. The party went on. Just past 12:45 a.m., gunfire broke out. Three people were struck. The mother of three did not make it to the next sunrise.
The question that nobody at a podium has answered is the one that matters to you: Who let 200 strangers into a residential mansion with no security, no permit, and no meaningful plan for what happens when 200 people drink, argue, and arm themselves in a house in the Hollywood Hills?
We are Attorney911 — The Manginello Law Firm, PLLC. We represent families across the country when a loved one is killed by someone else’s failure to plan for the predictable. This page is written for one family at a time, and it is written for yours.
The People Who Let This Happen — The Liable Parties
The instinctive reaction is to focus on the shooter. We do too — your family deserves the criminal justice system working at full strength. But the criminal case, even if it produces a conviction, will not pay for the children’s college, the lost income your loved one would have provided, the funeral, the grief counseling, or the decades of financial support a 35-year-old mother of three would have given her family. The civil case is built around different defendants and a different theory of responsibility.
We name four categories of defendant in a case like this. The specific entities in your case will be identified through investigation and discovery, but the categories are universal.
The Property Owner
The house was a residential mansion in a residential zone, in a city that has, by ordinance, banned exactly this kind of event for years. The owner is the entity that had the legal right to refuse the rental, the legal right to enforce a no-events clause, and the legal duty to its neighbors and to anyone who stepped onto the property to keep the premises reasonably safe. A residential property that becomes the venue for a 200-person commercial party with a food truck and valet parking is a property whose owner has either made a decision to look the other way, or has delegated that decision to someone who has.
California premises liability law treats an owner who rents out a residence for an event beyond its intended use as having stepped into a different category of responsibility. The owner cannot collect rent for a commercial-scale event and then disclaim the duty that comes with running a commercial-scale event. The “I just rented the house” defense is one of the first things we dismantle, and we have done it before.
The Party Organizer
The person or business that organized the event — promoted it on social media, hired the food truck, parked the supercars out front, charged at the door — is the entity that designed the conditions in which the shooting occurred. The organizer is the architect of the foreseeable risk. Every choice the organizer made — the venue, the crowd size, the guest list, the absence of security, the choice to advertise in a way that attracted the very people who would be armed — is a choice a jury can be asked to evaluate.
The organizer’s name has been reported as “Kenny.” He told a television station the party was for his friends. He said masks were made available and temperature checks were performed. No masks were visible in any video from the event. The organizer of a 200-person commercial event in a residential house in the hills of Los Angeles in 2020 is not “hosting friends.” He is operating an unlicensed venue. The legal duty that comes with that role is the one we enforce.
The Security Firm, If Any
A party of 200 people in a residential mansion, with advertised entry, with alcohol flowing, and in a city under a public health order, ordinarily should have had a professional security plan. The absence of any such plan — or the presence of inadequate security — is itself a theory of liability. California security firms and their employees are held to a standard of reasonable care calibrated to the foreseeable risks of the event they are paid to manage. The fact that a shooting occurred at a party of this scale is itself evidence that whatever security existed was inadequate. The defense will say that no security could have stopped a determined shooter. The law answers that a security plan built on that eventuality is exactly what a reasonable plan requires — and that an event that fails to plan for the predictable is the very definition of negligence.
The Short-Term Rental Platform, If the House Was Rented Through One
If the mansion was rented through a short-term rental platform — the kind that lists “event-friendly” homes in the Hollywood Hills for thousands of dollars per night — the platform itself may be a defendant. The legal theory is straightforward: a platform that markets, takes a cut of, and approves a booking for an unlicensed commercial event in a residential zone is participating in the very conduct that caused the harm. California courts have allowed these claims to proceed against platforms where the platform had actual knowledge, or willful blindness, to the use the property was being put to. The discovery in these cases focuses on the platform’s internal communications about the property, its host verification process, and whether the booking was approved despite a pattern of complaints.
The Los Angeles Municipal Code Section 12.21 forbids commercial parties in residential zones. The Party House Ordinance (Ordinance 185501), which the City of Los Angeles strengthened after a series of high-profile mansion shootings, is the local expression of the rule that has always existed: a house in a residential neighborhood is not a venue. Hosting a 200-person commercial event there is a violation of the zoning code, the public health order in effect that night, and the common-law duty of care every property owner owes to anyone who comes onto the property.
The Wrongful Death Claim in California
Your family is not limited to one claim. The law gives you two, and we will file both.
The wrongful death claim belongs to the heirs of the deceased and compensates them for the losses they personally suffered: the financial support your loved one would have provided, the household services she would have contributed, the loss of her guidance, her care, her affection, her companionship. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60 is the controlling statute. The heirs are typically the children, the spouse or domestic partner, and the parents if there are no children or spouse.
The survival claim belongs to the estate and is the claim your loved one would have had if she had survived. Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.34, it compensates the estate for the pain and suffering she experienced between the moment she was shot and the moment she died, the medical expenses incurred before her death, and any punitive damages the estate can claim. The survival claim is filed by the personal representative of the estate — the person named in a will or, if there is no will, appointed by the probate court to act on behalf of the estate. We handle that appointment. We walk your family through it.
Together, the two claims capture both the loss the family has suffered and the loss she suffered. A defense lawyer is happy to let a grieving family walk through only one door. We make sure you walk through both.
What You Can Recover Under California Law
California is one of the few states where the law allows a jury to compensate the value of a human life itself, not just the financial mechanics of the loss. There is no statutory cap on wrongful death damages in California, unlike some other states. The recoverable categories include:
- Economic damages — the present cash value of the financial support your loved one would have provided over her working life, including the value of benefits and household services she would have contributed.
- Non-economic damages — the loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, assistance, protection, affection, society, and moral support. For a 35-year-old mother of three children, this is the largest category, and it is the category that captures the human loss in a way that no spreadsheet can.
- Funeral and burial expenses — the cost of laying her to rest.
- The value of household services — the cooking, the childcare, the driving, the medical appointments, the homework, the school pickups. For a parent of three, these services have a real economic value measured by what it costs to replace them.
- Punitive damages — designed to punish the defendant and deter repetition when the conduct shows a conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others. Under California Civil Code Section 3294, a plaintiff must prove by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant acted with malice, oppression, or fraud. Hosting 200 people in a residential mansion in violation of a public health order, after five police calls, with no security and no permits, while advertising on social media, is the kind of conduct punitive damages exist to address. The question is whether the conduct shows a conscious disregard — and that is a question we can put to a jury.
The defense will attempt to pin some portion of the responsibility on the shooter. Under California pure comparative fault, established in Li v. Yellow Cab Co., 13 Cal.3d 804 (1975), the family can recover even if a third party committed the shooting, and even if some other share of responsibility is assigned to any party. A jury’s allocation of fault does not bar recovery; it only reduces it proportionally. The defense cannot use the shooter as a get-out-of-jail card.
The realistic case value, based on the age of the victim, the age of her three children, the wrongful-death-vs.-survival structure, the punitive exposure, and the insurance tower behind the defendants, falls in the range of $3.5 million to $12.5 million or more. The exact number depends on discovery of the property owner’s insurance, the organizer’s personal assets, any security firm’s policy, and the platform’s indemnification structure. We do not promise a number. We do promise a complete investigation of every dollar available, and a verdict or settlement that reflects the full value of what was taken from your family.
The Insurance Adjuster’s Playbook — And the Counter to Every Play
Within 48 hours of a fatal incident at a covered property, the insurance carrier assigns a claims team. The team includes an adjuster, an investigator, and in many cases an attorney. The adjuster is trained. The adjuster is friendly. The adjuster’s job is to settle the case for as little as possible, as quickly as possible, before the family understands the value of what has been taken. The playbook is consistent across carriers, and it has been refined over decades. We know the playbook. Here is what you will hear, and here is the answer.
Play One: The Sympathy Call. The adjuster calls within days of the funeral. The adjuster expresses sympathy, says the carrier wants to “do the right thing,” and asks for a recorded statement “just to get our file in order.” The counter: the call is a statement-gathering exercise disguised as a courtesy. Nothing you say in that call helps your family. Everything you say can be used against you. Tell the adjuster you will not give a recorded statement without your attorney present. Call us. We will handle the call.
Play Two: The Quick Check. The adjuster sends a check, sometimes within weeks, for a small amount — $25,000, $50,000, occasionally $100,000 — accompanied by a release. The release is the trap. Signing the release ends your right to pursue the case. The number is a fraction of what the case is worth, and the carrier knows it. The counter: do not sign anything. Do not cash the check. Even depositing the check and writing “without prejudice” on the memo line does not protect you in California. Call us. We will tell you whether the offer is real money for a real claim or a buy-off designed to close the case before you understand its value.
Play Three: The Fault-Sharing Conversation. The adjuster calls and says, “We know the shooter is the one who did this, and we’re working with the criminal courts. Why don’t we wait and see what happens there?” The implied message: the criminal case is the only case, and you should not pursue the civil case. The truth: the criminal case and the civil case are different cases with different defendants, different standards of proof, and different remedies. The shooter is not the only person responsible for the conditions that made the shooting possible. The property owner, the party organizer, the security firm, the platform — each of them is a separate defendant with a separate theory of liability. The criminal case will not pay for the children’s future. The civil case will. The counter: the criminal case and the civil case run on parallel tracks. We pursue the civil case now, and we cooperate with the criminal case, but we do not let the criminal case delay the civil case.
Play Four: The Recorded Statement. The adjuster asks, often after weeks of “let me just confirm a few things.” The statement is a deposition under friendly cover. The adjuster will ask you to describe what you saw, what you were told, what you remember. The statement will be transcribed, and the defense lawyer will study it for inconsistencies, gaps, and language that can be used to impeach you later. The counter: no recorded statement without your attorney. This is non-negotiable. We will be on the call, and we will make sure the adjuster does not turn your grief into a deposition transcript.
Play Five: The Surveillance Footage Request. The adjuster asks you to sign a release so the carrier can obtain the property’s surveillance footage. The release is worded to also release the carrier from any claim you might have for bad faith. The counter: we obtain the footage ourselves through a preservation demand and, if necessary, a subpoena. We do not sign the carrier’s release. We do not give the carrier control of the evidence.
Play Six: The Lowball Authority. The adjuster says, “I just spoke with our attorney, and the most we can offer is $X.” The “attorney” is often the adjuster’s supervisor or an in-house counsel, and the number is a fraction of what the case is worth. The counter: the value of the case is determined by what a jury would award, not by what the carrier’s attorney is willing to pay. Our job is to build the case to jury-ready status and use the threat of trial to negotiate a number that reflects the full value of your loss. We do not accept the first offer, the second offer, or the third offer if the offer is not a real reflection of the case.
Play Seven: The Delay. The adjuster takes weeks to return calls, months to schedule a meeting, and years to make an offer. The strategy is that a grieving family will eventually accept a lower number out of exhaustion. The counter: we run the case on our schedule, not the carrier’s. We file suit when the filing is strategic. We set depositions. We push. The carrier wants delay; we give them motion practice. The case moves at the speed of our preparation, and we do not let delay become a pressure tactic.
Play Eight: The Limits of Policy. The adjuster says, “I would love to help, but the policy is only $300,000 and that’s all there is.” The counter: the policy limit is the start, not the end. If the property owner, the organizer, and the platform each carry separate coverage, those policies stack. If the verdicts exceed the primary policy, the excess and umbrella layers apply. We find every dollar. The first adjuster who tells you what the policy limit is has not necessarily told you about every other policy that applies.
The First 72 Hours: What We Do When You Call
When you call Attorney911 at 1-888-ATTY-911, the first conversation is not about signing a retainer. It is about your family. We want to know who your loved one was, what she meant to the people who loved her, what her children are facing, and what the family needs right now. We will explain the law in plain English, the way a friend who happens to be a trial lawyer would explain it across a kitchen table. We will tell you what is real and what is not, what we can do and what we cannot, what the timing is, and what the choices are.
If you decide to move forward, here is what happens in the first 72 hours:
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Day 1. We send a litigation-hold and preservation letter to the property owner, the property manager, the party organizer, any security personnel, the home-security platform, the food truck operator, the social media platforms, the short-term rental platform (if any), and the relevant insurance carriers. The letter demands the preservation of every piece of evidence in every category above. The letter also gives notice of a potential claim and a request to preserve all insurance policy information.
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Day 2. We file California Public Records Act requests with the Los Angeles Police Department and the California Department of Public Health for the LAPD incident file, the calls for service, the 911 audio, the CAD logs, the body-worn camera footage preservation, the Safer-at-Home order in effect on August 4, 2020, and any citations issued to the property. We archive publicly available social media material and hire a licensed investigator to begin the scene work.
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Day 3. We identify the personal representative of the estate, file or prepare the necessary probate paperwork to confirm the appointment, and begin the work of putting together the wrongful-death and survival claims. We contact the family’s grief counselor or, if there is not one, help the family find one. We do not require the family to choose between grieving and acting. We act so the family can grieve.
What the Criminal Case Means — and What It Does Not
The LAPD investigation into the shooting is a separate matter. If the shooter is identified and charged, the criminal case will proceed in its own time and on its own track. We are not the criminal defense lawyer and we are not the prosecutor. We are your civil trial lawyer.
The criminal case does not pay you. A conviction may result in prison, restitution, and a sense of justice, but restitution from a defendant who is likely judgment-proof does not provide for three children. The civil case is the case that produces the money that pays for the children’s future, that holds the property owner accountable, that sends a message to the next property owner who is thinking about renting out a residential mansion for a 200-person event.
The criminal case does, however, generate discovery that the civil case can use. Witness statements, forensic evidence, ballistics reports, the LAPD file, the detective’s notes — all of it is discoverable in the civil case, and we will obtain it. The criminal case and the civil case are not competitors. They are complements. We use both.
The Geography of Beverly Crest and Why It Matters to Your Case
The 13200 block of Mulholland Drive sits in the Santa Monica Mountains above Beverly Hills, in a residential corridor that is famous for two things: views and large unsanctioned parties. The corridor’s winding roads and limited access points make it a natural venue for an event that the organizers want to be hard for police to enter. The winding roads also mean that emergency medical services have a longer response time than they would in a flat, accessible neighborhood.
The geographic context matters to the case. The defense will argue that the shooting was unpredictable, that the venue was chosen at random, and that no one could have known. The truth, which the geography of Beverly Crest confirms, is that the mansion-party business in the Hollywood Hills is a well-known phenomenon, that the LAPD has dealt with it for years, and that the property owners in the area know what their houses get used for when they rent them out. The corridor is the context in which the foreseeability argument becomes overwhelming. The shooting at this house was not a random event in a sleepy neighborhood. It was the foreseeable consequence of a residential house being used as a 200-person commercial venue during a pandemic, with five police calls and no security.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who can bring a wrongful death claim in California after a mansion party shooting?
Under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.60, the heirs of the deceased may bring the wrongful death claim. The heirs include the surviving spouse, the domestic partner, the children, and the parents (if there is no surviving issue). If there is no will, the personal representative of the estate is appointed by the probate court to bring the survival claim under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 377.34. The two claims capture both the loss the family has suffered and the loss the deceased suffered between the moment of injury and the moment of death.
What is the statute of limitations for a wrongful death case in California?
Two years from the date of death under California Code of Civil Procedure Section 335.1. The survival action under Section 377.34 is also subject to a two-year deadline. There are narrow exceptions for delayed discovery, tolling for minors, and equitable tolling in extraordinary circumstances, but the general rule is two years and the clock runs from the date of death.
How much is a mansion party shooting wrongful death case worth in California?
The case value depends on the age of the deceased, the ages of the children, the income the deceased would have earned, the household services she would have provided, and the egregiousness of the defendant’s conduct. For a 35-year-old mother of three killed at a 200-person unsanctioned party in a residential house, with five prior police calls, in violation of a public health order, with punitive exposure for conscious disregard, the realistic case value falls in the range of $3.5 million to $12.5 million or more. Punitive damages under California Civil Code Section 3294 can substantially increase the recovery when the conduct shows conscious disregard of the rights or safety of others.
Can we sue the property owner if the house was rented out for the party?
Yes. A property owner who rents a residential house for a commercial-scale event cannot disclaim the duty of care that comes with running a commercial-scale event. The owner had the legal right to refuse the rental, the legal right to enforce a no-events clause, and the legal duty to anyone who stepped onto the property. The “I just rented the house” defense is one we have dismantled before.
Can we sue the party organizer?
Yes. The party organizer designed the conditions in which the shooting occurred. The organizer chose the venue, the crowd size, the advertising, and the absence of security. The organizer may have a personal umbrella policy, may have personal assets, and may be subject to direct liability for negligent security, negligent undertaking, and premises liability.
Can we sue the short-term rental platform if the house was booked through one?
Yes, if the platform had actual knowledge or willful blindness to the use of the property. California courts have allowed these claims to proceed against platforms where the platform approved the booking despite a pattern of complaints, where the platform marketed the property for events, or where the platform had internal communications about the property. The discovery in these cases focuses on the platform’s communications and its host verification process.
What if the shooter is never identified?
The civil case does not depend on the criminal case. The shooter is one defendant among several. The property owner, the party organizer, the security firm, and the platform are independent defendants with independent theories of liability. The family’s recovery does not require the conviction of any individual.
What if the family has already given a recorded statement to the insurance company?
The statement does not end the case, but it can complicate it. We review the statement, identify any inconsistencies, and frame the issues for trial. The first thing to do if a statement has already been given is to call us and let us read it. We work with the facts as they are, not the facts as we wish they were.
What if the family is offered a quick settlement by the insurance company?
Do not accept it. The first offer is rarely a real reflection of the case. The first offer is designed to close the file before the family understands the value. Call us before you sign anything. We will tell you whether the offer is real or a buy-off. We will tell you what the case is worth. We will tell you what to do and what not to do.
What does it cost to hire Attorney911 for a Mulholland Drive mansion party shooting case?
We work on contingency. You pay no fee unless we win. The initial consultation is free. If we do not recover for you, you owe us nothing. If we do recover, our fee is a percentage of the recovery. The math is straightforward and is set out in the retainer agreement before you sign anything. We do not charge by the hour, and we do not send you a bill. We invest in the case because we believe in it, and we get paid when you get paid.
How long does a case like this take to resolve?
A mansion party shooting case in California typically takes 18 to 36 months from filing to resolution, depending on the defendant’s willingness to settle, the complexity of the discovery, and the court’s calendar. The first six months are evidence preservation, probate appointment, and defendant identification. The next six months are defendant responses and motion practice. The following year is discovery, depositions, and expert workups. Settlement talks intensify as the trial date approaches. We do not promise a timeline because the case sets its own pace. We promise to move as fast as the evidence and the law allow.
What if our family prefers to speak in Spanish?
Call us. Lupe Peña is fluent in Spanish and conducts full client consultations in Spanish without an interpreter. Hablamos Español. Your language should not be a barrier to your rights, and at our firm it is not.
Can the family afford to wait before calling?
No. The evidence clock is the single most important reason. The surveillance footage, the social media posts, the LAPD records, the property management communications, and the platform’s internal records are all subject to automatic deletion. The insurance carrier is already building its file. The personal representative of the estate needs to be appointed before the survival claim can be filed. The two-year statute of limitations is already running. The first 72 hours are when we build the foundation that protects your case for the next three years. Call us today.
What Happens Next
The first step is the conversation. It is free. It is confidential. It is not a commitment. We will listen. We will answer your questions in plain English. We will tell you what the law allows, what it does not, and what we can do for your family. We will not pressure you. We will not make promises we cannot keep. We will give you the information you need to make the decision that is right for your family.
If you decide to move forward, we will begin the work the day you call. The preservation letters. The records requests. The probate filing. The investigation. The building of the case. We will not wait for the criminal case to conclude, because the civil case has its own clock and its own proof.
Your loved one was killed at a house that should never have held 200 people, in a corridor with five prior police calls, in violation of a public health order, with no security and no plan. The people who made the decisions that night had a duty to keep her safe. They did not. The law gives you the right to hold them accountable. We give you the trial team to do it.
Call 1-888-ATTY-911. The consultation is free. The case is taken on contingency — you pay no fee unless we win. If you prefer to write to us, our contact page is at https://attorney911.com/contact/. If you want to learn more about the firm’s wrongful-death practice, you can read about it at https://attorney911.com/law-practice-areas/wrongful-death-claim-lawyer/. If you want to see the team that will handle the case, you can read about Ralph Manginello and Lupe Peña directly. We handle cases across the country, and we have resources on other practice areas at https://attorney911.com/law-practice-areas/ if your family has other needs.
Past results depend on the facts of each case and do not guarantee future outcomes. The information on this page is legal information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. The relationship begins only when you and the firm sign a written retainer agreement.
Hablamos Español. Your language is not a barrier to your rights. Lupe Peña conducts full consultations in Spanish.
1-888-ATTY-911. The line is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by real people — not an answering service. When you call, you will speak with someone who can begin the work of protecting your family’s case.
We are sorry for what has happened. We are ready to help.