When a person is killed by another person, the family members who are left behind might choose to seek compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit. These lawsuits enable the family members who are financially affected by the death to try to recoup some of the money they had to spend. Compensation can also help them to make ends meet since they can’t count on their loved one’s income any longer.
What must be present in a wrongful death lawsuit?
There are four elements that must be present in a wrongful death lawsuit. One is that the person who died must have been a human. The next is that there must be a personal representative named for the person’s estate. The person must have died because of negligence, recklessness or purposeful acts of another person. The person or people filing the wrongful death lawsuit had to have suffered financial damages because of the untimely death.
When might a wrongful death lawsuit be filed?
A wrongful death lawsuit might be filed when a person dies in a car accident, a murder, a semitruck crash, a pedestrian accident or any other similar event. Even medical malpractice can lead to a wrongful death lawsuit as long as the four previously mentioned elements are present.
The damages you claim in a wrongful death claim vary greatly from one case to another. You might claim damages for the loss of earning capacity of your loved one or the loss of companionship. You might file for the funeral expenses and final medical bills. All of these can add up to considerable sums that can give you some financial stability.
Source: FindLaw, “Wrongful Death Overview,” accessed March 30, 2017
