What do the following accident and or injury scenarios have in common?
- Automobile driver collides with a pedestrian
- A doctor botches a surgery
- Poorly designed SUV rolls over on the highway
- Customer is assaulted in a poorly lit parking lot
The answer is that any one of these can result in a fatal injury for the victim due to someone else’s fault. When someone dies as a result of another party’s negligence, legally it is known as a “wrongful death.” Obviously, losing a family member can be emotionally devastating, but when it is related to carelessness on the part of another person or company, it becomes much harder to accept. The death of a person has an IMMEDIATE impact on the family members left behind. In an instant, lives are changed forever. That’s why the law provides a legal remedy for surviving family members in the form of a wrongful death claim. If successful, the family may be rewarded compensation for:
- Medical Expenses
- Funeral Expenses
- Loss of Future Wages
- Mental Suffering
It is important to remember however that just because a person dies in an accident, it may not necessarily be “wrongful.” Instead, a lawsuit is only valid where someone else causes the person’s death through a wrongful act, neglect
or carelessness.
While nothing can replace a lost loved one, a successful wrongful death lawsuit at least can try to provide some level of comfort and assurance in the face of uncertainty and grief. No one would trade the life of a family member for a check, no matter how large, however there are some kinds of losses the law cannot fix, such as death. The damages that can be recovered in a wrongful death suit are intended to make the loss more bearable by compensating the family. A wrongful death lawsuit is quite complex, so you need our law firm on your side to help. Remember, if a family waits too long to pursue the incident, they may lose the right to file a lawsuit.
Let Us Help You!
The last thing most people think of after the death of a family member is calling a lawyer, but there are many important reasons to do so. First, we can help you determine if you have a wrongful death claim at all. Moreover, the sooner you contact our firm, the better we can work to preserve valuable evidence that will help with the case.
Our office will guide you and your family through this area of the law and arrange for the necessary expert witnesses essential to proving the claim. Of course, Evan M. Ostfeld, P.A. works on a contingency fee basis meaning that you are not required to pay for any fees or costs up front!. Please remember that if you and our family remain unrepresented by counsel, an insurance company representative will only offer you a fraction of what the case is worth.
