Losing a loved one by wrongful death should be cause for justice
The loss of a loved one is devastating to friends and family, especially those who were close to the victim. There are cases, though, where the victim didn’t have to die, and it could have been preventable. They may have passed away due to someone else’s negligence, or in some cases, intentional acts committed by the individual responsible for their death. It’s an awful thing, but it’s necessary in many cases to seek justice in the name of the deceased. This can be done in many ways, but one way that can help from at least a financial standpoint is a wrongful death lawsuit.
Not everyone likes the sound of that. Some even view it as someone just looking for money and taking advantage of someone’s death. What many people don’t consider is the fact that this places a significant financial burden on those that relied on the victim. Maybe it was a couple with children, and the death involved the one responsible for the primary bulk of income. Perhaps it was a young adult living with a single parent and suddenly they’re gone. Whatever the case is, when they’re faced with a wrongful death, sometimes a lawsuit is necessary to keep food, clothing, and shelter available.
How to begin the process of filing a wrongful death lawsuit claim
So, how do you get the process started, and what’s involved with wrongful death lawsuit claim?
Wrongful death claims allow the deceased person’s estate to bring a claim against the responsible party, whether it was through negligence or intentionally. This applies to many situations, but some of the most common reasons to file lawsuits because of wrongful death are:
- When someone is intentionally killed – Someone is purposefully murdered through an intentional act.
- When medical malpractice causes a fatality – Applicable when a victim who passes away was the result of an undiagnosed condition, or if the doctor was careless in regard to the level of care provided. In this case, this would be brought against the doctor.
- Fatalities in auto incidents involving negligence – If car accident injuries are the reason a victim dies, then a wrongful death claim can be turned in. Drunk driving, texting while driving, or just falling asleep behind the wheel could all be examples of such. Also, if there’s a defect with the car (product failure as listed below) such as an air bag or brakes not working as required, then this could be a claim as well.
- Product failure and defective warning labels – These could go hand in hand, but not always. These stem from pushes from others to meet a high demand for products and sometimes things get missed on the safety and quality assurance checks.
Once this is in place, it then becomes the burden of the plaintiff or plaintiffs to prove their case, essentially what the victim would have to do had they lived. This generally involves proving there was a duty of some sort of care, the breaching of said duty, the fact that by breaching said duty was a proximate and direct cause of death, and that the death caused damages that the plaintiff is attempting to recover.
As far as who is allowed to file a wrongful death lawsuit, this varies from state to state. If you feel like you have a case in Alabama or Georgia, please contact the law office of Steven R. Morris Law today. You can call the number on this page or fill out the Free Consultation form on this site.
