Q: What is the importance of wrongful death claims?
A: These monetary claims were created to provide financial support to people who have lost a family member due to negligence of another individual. Also, these claims will also deter people from being negligent and promote a sense of responsibility for the safety of other individuals.
Q: Who can file wrongful death claims?
A: All states allow immediate family members including spouse, children (even those who are adopted), and parents to file wrongful death claims. However, in some states, distant family members such as sisters, brothers, and grandparents can also recover these claims.
However, some states are less stringent in granting wrongful death claims. According to lawyers, some jurisdictions allow life partners (even unmarried), putative spouses or those individuals who believe they are married to the victim, and anyone who is financially dependent on the deceased to file claims.
Q: Can I file wrongful death claims against another family member?
A: No. The federal constitution does not allow a person to file wrongful death claims against a family member to protect their relationship and promote family ties.
Q: What are the most common accidents which involved wrongful death claims?
A: According to statistics, car accident is one of the most common causes of preventable deaths in the US. And since these accidents are caused by negligence, surviving relatives often file wrongful death claims against the reckless drivers.
Q: How to compute the amount of wrongful death claims?
A: Many factors determine the amount of such claims including the age of the victims, their earning capacity, and their relation to the claimants.
Lawyers said that relatives of young children and elderly who died in wrongful death accidents will receive smaller monetary compensation since the victims have diminished or no earning capacity and no one is financially dependent on them.
Meanwhile, when a parent died in a wrongful accident, his/her children will receive bigger monetary claims to compensate for the loss of income and other non-economic damages such as loss of care, support, love, and guidance.
In estimating the amount of damages, involved parties usually hire experts and actuaries to determine these.
Q: Wrongful death claims are compensation for what kinds of damages?
A: Lawyers said that surviving relatives can receive wrongful death claims to cover economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.
Economic damages: medical bills, funeral expenses, and loss of income.
Non-economic damages: pain and suffering, and loss of care, guidance, support, love and companionship.
Punitive damages: This allows surviving relatives to receive three times the amount of the actual damage caused by the negligent individuals whose act is malicious and wanton.
Q: What is the statute of limitation in this lawsuit?
A: This pertains to the allowable period of filing wrongful death claims. Usually, states require surviving relatives to file these claims within two years after the accident. Failing to do so may void their petitions, however, some courts extend this period in special cases.
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