It’s never a good feeling when someone gets hurt because of someone else’s carelessness or negligence. It’s even more painful when people lose their loved ones because of such negligence. Such a situation can leave family members angry, confused, and overcome with the grief they experience.
Family members usually want the person who killed their family member to be held responsible. This was the case with the wrongful death case of journalist from Ukraine. When such wrongful death occurs, the family of the person who died can sue the person or organization responsible. In this article, we’ll reveal what you need to know about this type of lawsuit.
What Does Wrongful Death Mean?
It is wrongful death if someone dies because of the negligent, intentional, or wrongful act, omission, or default of someone else. One difference between a personal injury claim and a fatal negligence claim is that the victim’s family or estate files the claim instead of the victim. Every state has its own laws about this sort of lawsuit.
Laws about fatal negligence spell out who can sue and how much they can be awarded in damages. What is the statute of limitations? This is the amount of time that people have to file a claim. In most states, it’s between one and three years.
Who Can Sue for Death Caused by Wrongful Action?
Most state laws say that only immediate family members, surviving spouses, children, and parents can get compensation from this lawsuit. The requirements are different for people who are heirs under the will or the state’s intestacy laws. So, a non-family member who is a named beneficiary in a will cannot sue for fatal negligence.
The personal representative can, however, file a lawsuit on behalf of the estate of the person who died. You can visit https://www.law.cornell.edu/ to learn more about a personal representative. Any recovered damages are then given out according to the will or the state’s intestacy.
Different Kinds of Wrongful Death
A lot of the time, fatal negligence suits come after or along with other personal injury cases. In every case, the first step is to prove negligence. The plaintiff has to prove that the defendant owed the victim a duty, broke that duty, and caused harm that led to death.
The only difference from a personal injury case is that the family members get compensation for their losses. Victims who were hurt in some types of accidents may have to die within a year of the accident in order to make a claim for fatal negligence. Fatal negligence claims are filed in the following situations:
- Trials for crimes, with or without a guilty verdict: In civil trials, the prosecution does not have to prove as much as they do in criminal trials. This means that someone can be held responsible for causing the death even if they were found not guilty in the criminal trial.
- Automobile accidents: Most deadly car accidents, especially DUIs and traffic accidents, are not reported as crimes. This can be frustrating for loved ones of the deceased. As an alternative, fatal negligence cases can provide these people with compensation.
- Accidents at work: If an employer has workers, they have to make sure the setting is safe and free of hazards. If this duty is broken, it can lead to lawsuits for fatal negligence.
- Medical malpractice: When wrong medical care kills someone, the family members left behind have a lot of questions and medical bills. A fatal negligence settlement can take care of both the questions and the medical bills that come up after a loved one dies.
- Product liability: Class action suits or mass torts are often brought against companies that make bad goods that hurt or kill people. As part of a wrongful death case, family members can join such lawsuits.
Damages for Wrongful Death
Claims of wrongful death are not criminal cases but civil ones. It’s not like a criminal case where someone is found guilty. One or more people may be responsible for the death of the victim, but that does not mean they are guilty.
The plaintiffs in a case only get compensation for their claim. Wrongful death claims make sure that widows and orphans of the dead get financial support if the deceased didn’t leave an estate. They also provide some justice to the person who was negligent. When someone sues for fatal negligence, most states limit the damages to the following:
- Economic Damages: These include the loss of the person’s income or future income, hospital bills paid by the survivors, funeral costs, and other financial costs.
- Non-Economic Damages: These aren’t based on money, like loss of consortium, parental loss, and emotional suffering. You can read this article to learn how to cope with the loss of a loved one. These damages require the help of experts to properly calculate the worth of these damages.
- Punitive Damages: People who are sued for fatal negligence in most states do not get punitive damages. In personal injury cases, punitive damages can be given, especially when the defendant was grossly negligent. A wrongful death lawyer can tell you what the laws are in your state.
Conclusion
Wrongful death can be painful when it occurs. To act as a financial buffer, the family can file a lawsuit against the liable party. In this article, we’ve discussed what you need to know about this type of lawsuit.
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