Wrongful Death Claims and The Law

Personal injury accidents happen every day. The worst case scenario involves an accident related death.

When this happens a personal injury case is not filed. A wrongful death claim may be possible if someone else caused the fatality.

Death of a loved one often creates financial hardship. Medical bills, funeral and burial costs and other expenses pile up.

The death presents extreme difficulty when the person’s income provided the primary financial household support. Survivors are left to struggle financially due to the loss of that income.

Common Wrongful Death Cases

The most common cases in this category are negligence cases; serious car accidents, defective product cases, medical malpractice and drunk driving deaths. Other types of accidents likely to be fatal include:

• Construction accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Work-related accidents
• Premises liability accidents
• Amusement park accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Aviation crashes
• Train accidents
• Amusement park accidents
• Prescription error
• Emergency vehicle accidents
• Slip and falls

These represent only some examples of incidents underlying the cases.  Such accidents are extremely tragic. Family members however may be able to receive justice for the loss that occurred, often by means of compensation.

Elements of Wrongful Death

Claims of this type are meant to hold the defendant accountable for their negligent or purposefully negligent behavior that ended a person’s life by allowing the family to receive compensation and justice for this tragedy. A successful wrongful death claim legally must include specific elements. Those legal elements, each of which must be proven, are:

1. A death of a person occurred
2. The defendant owed the deceased person a duty of care
3. The death was a direct result of the defendant’s negligence or willful malicious conduct breaching the standard of due care
4. The remaining family who survived the deceased have suffered from monetary injury or extreme financial loss

The death can be proved to the court with a death certificate, but the other elements are not so simple. It is much more complicated to prove that the deceased’s death was directly caused by the defendant’s negligent actions, or by their dangerous behavior that foreseeably could have caused injury to another.

Wrongful Death: Negligence or Strict Liability?

Some wrongful death claims arise from strict liability cases such as defective products and medications. In instances where the victim died due to a defective product, the manufacturer may not be required to have previous knowledge of the danger under strict liability, which can make the claim easier to prove.

But in order for a family to successfully receive compensation for a wrongful death in a premises liability case, attorneys must usually prove that the property owner or manager had knowledge of the danger that the property posed, and ignored the danger by failing to adequately correct the issue. This is called the notice requirement. We know it is a lot to take in when you lose someone you love and we know how stressful it can be.

How is Compensation Calculated?

Courts consider a number of factors in determining damages to be awarded in wrongful death claims. They include the deceased’s prior income, the age of death compared to normal life expectancy, living circumstances, how many dependents the deceased supported, and their health condition before death. Courts often rely on an expert to properly estimate an adequate compensation for the family to receive.

The relationship and closeness between the personal representative filing the wrongful death claim and the victim are usually closely investigated and evaluated. In addition to confirming the relationship, this investigation assists in determining exactly how much the deceased’s income was relied on by the personal representative and the close family.

Before the claimants receive any compensation for the wrongful death claim, the court will weigh the circumstances that caused the death, such as contributory negligence and more. The family who survived the deceased may receive pecuniary damages or punitive damages after filing a wrongful death claim. Pecuniary damages are very common and cover expenses such as funeral costs and medical bills, but also additional financial loss. Other types of financial loss that may be awarded through pecuniary damages include pain and suffering damages, loss of income, companionship, inheritance, guidance for young dependents, and emotional loss.

Different states in the U.S. have different statutes of limitations for filing a wrongful death claim.

Claims Requires Formal Estate

Prior to filing a wrongful death claim in court an estate must exist for the deceased person. Some states call the person filing the estate in probate court the Executor or Administrator, depending on whether or not the deceased had a will. Other states call this a Personal Representative.

Whatever the name, the person in charge of the estate files the wrongful death claim on behalf of family members or other beneficiaries. Typically the person handling the estate will be the spouse of the victim, or another immediate family member.

Don’t let the procedural details discourage you. These and other technicalities are handled by our office.

Wrongful death laws vary state-by-state. In Massachusetts the procedure and list of allowable damages are specified in M.G.L. c. 229. New Hampshire’s wrongful death law is spelled out in RSA 556.

This blog article is intended as a summary overview for general informational purposes. As stated elsewhere on this website, legal advice can only be given by an attorney during a personal consultation which we will be happy to provide upon request.

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