Wrongful Death Claim: The Damages that Should be Repaid

Losing a family member from an accident due to the negligence of others is a devastating truth. The situation will become more traumatic when the death of a loved one is unexpected, that maybe it could have been avoided or prevented even so, at least. However, losing a loved one can't be replaced or you cannot revive the dead person again. Thus, a wrongful death claim should be filed against the responsible parties, at least through getting the justice of the dead could lay his memory in peace.

The responsible ones who will file a compensation claim for the dead are the direct families or beneficiaries. The claim will be converted into money or finances for the financial losses and medical bills of the injured and wrongful death. 

Types of Claims

In order to obtain a claim successfully, you need to prove that the death of your loved one was caused by the negligent party or another person's wrongful conduct. Because of the traumatic situation of the victim's death, the negligent party must pay the damages incurred to the family of the victim. Additionally, there must also an exist dependents like a surviving spouse or children and other beneficiaries that are being affected by the loss.

As the rules vary from state to state, there are different situations that constitutes wrongful death claim. The negligence of the other party may be resulted to a vehicular accident, motorcycle accident or pedestrian accident constitutes personal injury or wrongful death when somebody was died after the incident. 

Accidents may also happen even without the involvement of a vehicle. Medical malpractice, prescription errors, medicine errors and defective products can constitute liability on the responsible parties. For medical malpractice such as misdiagnosis, prescription errors or medicine errors, the medical practitioners such as doctors, nurses and psychologists can be held liable. For defective products that resulted to death of the victim, the manufacturer could be held liable. For workplace accidents such as falling debris that resulted to death of an employee, the owner of the new building or the construction agency can be held liable. 

What Kind of Damages that could be Recovered?

When unexpected deaths happened, there might also lots of arising unexpected expenses. The family needs to raise funds to support the funeral and memorial services as well as the medical bills. And also, if the victims is the sole provider of the family, the spouses or the dependents may not have enough resources to support the expenses. 

In a wrongful death claim, the family of the victim can recover damages namely;

• the loss of the future income of the person until his retirement or death
• medical and funeral expenses of the victim that directly resulted to death
• the loss of the survivor's care and companionship
• loss of important benefits like medical coverage and pension

There are also punitive damages that could be recovered. Punitive damages took place when the court orders the responsible party to pay the compensation above and beyond the incurred damages to the family of the victim. This is done primarily to deter future wrongful acts of the same individual or to other individuals in the society. 

When wrongful death happened in your household, you must fight for the just. You will need a lawyer to push the claim to the courts and ensure the best outcome in the wrongful death proceedings. You need to claim the damages and let the negligent party repay their wrongful deeds through the best lawyer from Dolan-law.