Unintentional injuries are regarded as one of the nation’s leading causes of deaths. These types of incidents give rise to a high volume of wrongful death cases annually. The rough estimate of medical malpractice losses alone reaches 250,000 to 400,000 deaths per year.
If some people’s deaths were a result of the carelessness, negligence, or intentional wrongdoing of another party, these cases can be called “wrongful death suits.” Many of these cases are based around criminal acts, defective products, industrial accidents, automobile accidents, and errors made by the medical community.
States differ on how they handle wrongful death claims. For example, Louisiana wrongful death claims allow surviving family members to pursue compensation when someone dies of wrongful death.
Funeral costs, loss of companionship, and suffering are different types of damages for survivors in a wrongful death lawsuit. Unlike criminal cases, where someone seeks punishment, wrongful death claims aim to secure compensation for living family members.
Let us go over the mechanism of wrongful death claims and the legal implications associated with them, including strict filing deadlines, evidence requirements, and complicated legal processes.
What Makes a Death Legally ‘Wrongful’
The law defines a death as wrongful when another person or organization causes it through negligence or recklessness. Deliberate actions that result in the death of another can also be classified as wrongful death.
Drivers’ negligence, medical malpractice, defective products, premises liability, violations in workplace safety, and willful violence are examples of behavior that contribute to a wrongful death claim.
To establish a wrongful death claim, the plaintiff must prove four elements:
- The defendant had a responsibility to protect the deceased
- The defendant behaved negligently or recklessly or with deliberate actions in failing to implement said duties
- The breach of duty resulted in the death of the victim.
- The surviving family members experienced actual financial losses following the death of their family member.
The element of causation presents itself as the main point of disagreement. For example, an evaluation will determine whether the defendant’s driving behavior caused the fatal car crash. The medical malpractice wrongful death case investigates whether the treatment mistake led to the victim’s death or if the death happened as a result of the patient’s existing medical problem.
The product liability case investigates whether the product defect directly resulted in the victim’s fatal injuries. Causation evaluation processes depend on expert evidence that medical professionals, accident reconstruction specialists, and other experts provide.
Wrongful Death Claims and Survival Actions: Two Related but Distinct Claims
Wrongful death claims and survival actions are two legal rights that arise when a person dies due to someone’s neglectful actions.
Wrongful death claims seek compensation for the surviving family members’ personal loss owing to the decedent’s death. The family lost future income, which includes all forms of companionship and guidance and support, when their family member died unexpectedly.
Family members who are typically eligible to receive wrongful death compensation include spouse, children, parents or next of kin, according to Gervelis Law Firm.
A survival action provides compensation to the deceased person’s estate for the losses that the deceased experienced from the moment of injury until their death. The damages from this case include all the pain and suffering the deceased went through. All the medical costs that were paid and all the wages that were lost between the time of their injury and their death are also taken into account.
Under certain conditions, the two claims actually reinforce each other rather than stand as mutually exclusive. Filing both claims when possible greatly assists the family and estate in achieving the maximum aggregate of potential claimable damages.
One of the key procedural rules in many jurisdictions is that in a survival action, punitive damages are allowed, and in a wrongful death case, they are not. For this reason, it is recommended to press both claims when the evidence sustains them.
Who Has the Legal Right to File
The right to file a wrongful death claim is strictly defined by each state’s wrongful death statute, which varies between states.
In most states, the personal representative of the deceased’s estate who acts as executor or administrator of the estate starts the lawsuit to protect the rights of eligible beneficiaries. A personal representative, who may have been designated in a will, can file a wrongful death claim. In other situations, the claimant can be someone who has been appointed by the probate court when a will does not exist and the named one has either passed away or is otherwise unable to serve in such capacity.
The usual list of beneficiaries who can collect damages would be:
- The surviving spouse or registered domestic partner
- The surviving children, including adopted children
- The parents of the deceased, particularly when the deceased was a minor or had no surviving spouse or children
- Other dependents who received financial support from the deceased
- Siblings or other blood relatives may have standing when no closer relatives survive in some states
Several states allow relatives to pursue wrongful death lawsuits without needing a personal representative. For instance, only the ones acting as personal representatives are permitted to file a claim in Florida. Family members with eligibility in California can file their own application.
The requirements differ for every state concerning the filing of a claim so one must understand different processes specifically for that locality.
The Damages Available in a Wrongful Death Case
The settlement for wrongful death is broadly divided into economic damages and non-economic damages. The former involves quantifiable monetary losses and the latter includes compensation for losses that cannot be accurately expressed financially.
The economic damages of a wrongful death case use the deceased person’s expected future contributions to their economic value. The economic damages include
- The calculation of financial support loss uses the deceased person’s income and their future career path and work life duration until their dependents would use that income for support.
- The calculation of the value of lost household services uses the financial worth of cooking, childcare, home maintenance, and other domestic work that the deceased performed.
- The medical expenses include all costs that occurred from the moment of the fatal injury until the moment of death.
- The expenses for the funeral and burial
- The loss of future gifts and inheritances and financial support that the deceased would have provided to the family
To determine lost income, experts need to present their findings through forensic economic analysis together with vocational rehabilitation assessment. The assessment predicts earnings based on multiple factors, including occupation, education level, age, health condition, and industry developments.
Non-economic damages
Non-economic damages provide compensation to survivors for human losses that lack any market valuation. The damages include loss of companionship, loss of parental guidance for surviving children, loss of consortium for a surviving spouse, and the emotional suffering that results from death.
The damages, which exist as completely personal matters, cannot be measured through any established calculation method. The jury must determine a monetary value for all the love and support that the family has lost through their relationships. The jury’s decision about damages depends on how well the evidence shows the deceased person’s role as a parent and spouse. Presenting the deceased’s personal qualities also helps maximize the potential damages that the court can award.
States impose limits on non-economic damages for wrongful death cases that happen in medical malpractice situations.
What the Case Investigation Involves
The investigation needs to create its proof before any wrongful death lawsuit can proceed. The initial weeks after a death demonstrate key evidence that establishes how strong the case will become. The investigation requires the following:
- The death certificate states the official cause and manner of death. This document could be reviewed by a medical examiner or coroner. The death report is usually supplemented with autopsy results.
- Police and incident reports are sources originating from the scene, possibly gathering eyewitness testimony, and have a direct bearing on the possible filing of criminal complaints.
- Medical records from all treating facilities with respect to the final illness or injury. This document should outline the treatment rendered in the course, during, or after the incident, right up to the time of death
- Income, benefits, and career progression of the deceased
- Expert consultation with medical doctors, accident reconstructionists, or product engineers.
The first hours of an investigation require immediate action to protect evidence. The crash site and workplace area contain physical evidence that can undergo both alteration and destruction. Surveillance systems store recorded footage for a limited period before it gets automatically deleted.
Vehicles use event data recorders to save speed and braking information, which can be deleted. After a family hires a wrongful death attorney, the lawyer’s first step involves sending a preservation letter to potential defendants.
The Statute of Limitations: Why Timing Is Critical
Every state establishes a specific time frame that requires plaintiffs to submit wrongful death lawsuits. The claim rights become permanently lost when people fail to meet the deadline even by one single day, regardless of how strong the case itself is.
Most states set a two- to three-year period after a person dies as the time frame for filing wrongful death lawsuits. The following exceptions serve to modify the time frame for filing lawsuits:
- Government defendants: Most states require an administrative claim to be filed within three to six months of the death. This requirement exists because the government entity needs to be notified about the claim before anyone can proceed with a lawsuit.
- Discovery rule: Some states begin the limitations clock when the cause of death is discovered. The time limit could be paused for deaths with unknown causes at the time and for which the cause could not be found through reasonable investigation.
- Medical malpractice: For wrongful death cases arising from medical malpractice, many states limit the statute of limitations to shorter periods compared to other wrongful death claims.
- Minor beneficiaries: Many states pause the statute of limitations for minors so they can still realistically file suit years later when they become of legal age.
It is important to consult an attorney specializing in wrongful death as early as possible after the death of a loved one. The investigation process requires time to complete but it must be done right away since evidence quality deteriorates over time.
What Families Should Expect From the Process
Most wrongful death cases are resolved through negotiated settlements, which exist as an alternative to trial proceedings. The complexity of liability issues, the number of defendants, the required expert testimony, and the insurance carrier’s disputes about liability and damages all determine how long it takes to resolve a case from filing to resolution.
People need less than one year to handle simple cases. Medical malpractice cases with numerous defendants and questions regarding causality take a long time before they can be resolved.
While deciding on settlement proposals and communicating with the advocate, the family must present facts and support evidence. Most of the wrongful death lawyers want to undertake these cases for the plaintiffs on a contingency basis. Under this arrangement, families can access competent lawyers, as there will be no fees required until compensation is achieved.
Since no amount of money can completely replace the life of an individual, a wrongful death claim seeks to restore at least some of the justice for the deceased by way of financial compensation.
