Common Questions About Wrongful Death Cases
Wrongful death is defined as a death resulting from someone else’s negligence or misconduct. At times, the case will have gone before a criminal court as well. The evidence used in that trial is typically used in a civil trial as well, though a civil case does not require the stringent burden of proof that a criminal suit does.
What Elements Have to Be Present to Win a Wrongful Death Suit?
If you have lost a family member due to the negligence or misconduct of someone else, you may be eligible to pursue a civil lawsuit for wrongful death. A wrongful death suit must have the following four elements to succeed. These elements are as follows:
- Evidence of the person’s death.
- The death was due to negligence or the intent to harm the deceased person.
- There are surviving family members who sustain monetary damages because of the death.
- The deceased’s estate has appointed a personal representative.
How do Wrongful Death Situations Arise?
The ways a wrongful death may occur are too numerous to list. But a few common wrongful death situations are listed below:
- Automobile, boat, plane, or motorcycle accidents
- Criminal misconduct
- On-the-job accidents
- Exposure to dangerous chemicals
- Medical malpractice situations
- Death due to a poorly supervised activity
Are Damages Available From a Wrongful Death Case?
Wrongful death suits seek financial damages to offset the family’s monetary loss and out-of-pocket costs. Some of the damages that are most often sought are as follows:
- Medical expenses
- Burial costs
- Loss of the victim’s current and future wages
- A reduced inheritance that the victim would have provided
- The loss of guidance that the parent could have provided had they lived out their natural life
- Services provided for the family by the victim, such as child care, insurance, and elder care.
The loss of a parent’s guidance, moral training, and emotional support cannot be understated. Adult children may seek these damages as well as minor children, though the impact is much greater on younger family members.
How are Damages Determined?
In a wrongful death suit, the jury will consider the victim’s age, health, earning potential, intelligence, and the beneficiaries’ circumstances. When a victim has minor children, the loss of income and parental guidance will factor heavily into the amount of damages awarded.
A Real-Life Example of a Wrongful Death Case
In 2006 TV commentator Nancy Grace questioned a young mother about her missing two-year-old son. To make her show more compelling, she viciously questioned the 21-year-old mother. Melinda Duckett, a South Korean-born mother, was adopted in the United States at four months old and was not a suspect in the disappearance of her young son.
Nancy Grace’s on-air posturing and angry manner advanced the distress the young mother was facing over her son’s disappearance. Leading to such emotional distress that Melinda committed suicide hours before the show was to air.
Grace’s insinuation that Duckett had killed her child was more than she could bear. The family took legal action and filed a wrongful death suit. In 2010, it was resolved with a settlement of $200,000. The money was to fund investigations about Trenton Duckett’s whereabouts until the time that he would have been 13 years old. If he were not found by that time, any money left would roll over to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Trenton has not been seen since his kidnapping.
How Will an Attorney Help in a Wrongful Death Claim?
The experienced wrongful death attorneys with Gattuso & Ciotoli, PLLC, understand that losing your loved one has been a traumatic time for you. Our goal is to compassionately and respectfully attend to our clients while fighting tenaciously for the damages they are owed by the person or entity that caused the death of their loved one. Contact us today so we can use all of the available resources to investigate your loved one’s death, gather the evidence to prove each of the four elements necessary to prove their death was wrongful, and seek the compensation you are owed.