Wrongful Death
Losing someone quite close could be a tragic incident in anyone’s life. The pain becomes even worse when such death was a result of an act of negligence or due to a wrongful act. Such a death serves as a basis for a civil action for damages due to the victim’s heir. Cases of wrongful death are those claims that are brought to the court of law by their survivors. These survivors could be their surviving spouse, child or parent as well.
It is alarming to note that nearly 20% of the deaths in US could be attributed to wrongful deaths. The majority of the causes for such deaths are motor-vehicle related accidents (15%), fire and burns (6%), falls (6%), drowning (2%), and poisoning (1%). The other major types of wrongful deaths brought to trial include medical mistakes, defective products, personal injury, catastrophic injury, nursing home abuse, criminal attacks, work-related accidents, and death during certain supervised activity.
The act in regard with wrongful death may vary by state or jurisdiction. In general cases, the survivors are eligible to claim the following damages under wrongful death case:
- All expenses incurred on death of the person or victim
- All benefits withdrawn due to the victim’s death
- Any loss of estimated future earnings anticipated over the lifetime of the victim
- Anguish, pain and suffering caused to the survivors of the victim
- Loss of care, protection and companionship due to victim’s death
- General and penal damages
The initial step you need to take in case of a wrongful death includes determining which individual or entity is at fault for such a catastrophe. You can gather enough evidence in this regard by visiting the site of incident, getting details about potential witnesses, and the like. You can hire a lawyer to help you with filing the suit since this involves a tedious long procedure like determining the courts empowered to hear the case, making a choice between such courts, getting the paper work done etc.
Unlike other cases, most wrongful death cases do go to the trial court rather than having an out-of-court settlement. In most cases, defendants try to keep dragging the case to earn an active interest on such money and in hope of getting a better settlement of a lesser amount later on. You need to have an aggressive approach and the expertise of a lawyer to help you get your rights at the earliest.
Remember that each state has its own limitation period within which such wrongful death claim should be filed after the incident has occurred. Similarly not any one can file a claim in case of a wrongful death. This decision as to who can file such a claim varies as per the jurisdiction. Also one family cannot sue another family member for wrongful death. Though most such cases are tragical, it is of utmost importance that you take up the necessary steps in time to get relief claim and hire a good professional lawyer for the same.