Wrongful death is used to describe the death of a person that’s caused by negligence. It could be the recklessness of a caregiver. Family members of the victim often seek claims in order to obtain financial and emotional damages. It may be parents, children or spouses of the deceased.
Elements Of Wrongful Death
As defined by the law there are four important elements of a wrongful death claim. Anyone that wishes to make a claim must prove one of these four elements before his claims is granted. These four elements are discussed below;
Negligence
Anyone that’s making a wrongful death claim must prove that the death of the person in question was caused by either full or partial recklessness from the defending party. Before making any claim you should gather all the possible evidence that proves your loved one was killed due to recklessness.
Breach Of Duty
In order to win your case and claim you have to prove that the person that caused the death owed a duty to your loved one.
Causation
You must provide to the court the cause of death, you should define clearly what lead to the incident of death, and you should explain how the negligence of the defendant caused the death of the victim.
Damages
If the death of the person in question has lead to significant damages that need to be compensated, it should also be proven in the court. A lot of expenses might rise such as medical expenses before the victim dies, hospitalization, funeral and burial costs, loss of protection, and any other important aspect that needs to be claimed.
If you want to prove any of the above points you must provide strong and convincing evidence to the court and these need to be presented by a skilled attorney who specializes in dealing with wrongful death cases.
Causes Of Wrongful Death
There are many factors that lead to wrongful death, we’ll mention some of them so that you have an idea how things work because wrongful death is a serious case which must be examined thoroughly before filing a lawsuit.
- Medical malpractice.
- Product defects.
- Birth injuries.
- Automobile or motorcycle accidents.
- Criminal actions.
- Daycare supervision.
- Nursing home abuse.
Wrongful death can arise in many situations. These are just a few examples. The most important thing isn’t the situation, but how the incident happened. You must prove negligence or any of the other three elements we’ve mentioned above that caused the wrongful death.
Wrongful Death – Is It A Criminal Case?
Wrongful death lawsuit isn’t considered a criminal case, it’s a civil action, and that’s why the burden is lower. In a criminal case, the defendant must be guilty without any doubt. In a civil action, strong evidence is required in order to win your case.
In order to file a lawsuit for wrongful death, there are various steps that are involved: investigating the claim, developing a good strategy, meeting witnesses and talking to experts that can help you along the process.
How To Win Your Claims
You don’t need a lot of evidence in order to win a wrongful death lawsuit; you just need a concrete one that’s enough to support you in court. That’s why it’s important before filing the lawsuit that you talk to a professional attorney so that he can advise you on the type of evidence you need to gather before the case begins. If you try to do things on your own you’ll most likely end up losing the case and your damages won’t be recovered.
Choosing a skilled and experienced lawyer is a crucial step to any wrongful death claim, you have to get yourself an attorney that has dealt with similar cases like yours, and you should search for customer reviews in order to make sure that you’ll be working with a good one.
Dealing with a wrongful death claim is a complex process and that’s why it’s important to choose a good attorney to help you make the right decisions. If you have any concerns or question about wrongful death claims please contact us at Massey & Duffy to help you with your claim. We are available to answer your questions about a wrongful death claim. We have helped a lot of people file successful lawsuits in different areas. Call us now for a free consultation.
