Lutz Wrongful Death Lawyer
A serious personal injury is bad enough. At a minimum, such physical and emotional wounds usually require months or years to fully heal. A wrongful death is almost infinitely worse. This void never goes away. No doctor, psychologist, or other professional can heal this hurt. The best thing that survivors can do is carry on with their lives. The available financial compensation assuages the grief these survivors feel and lets them pick up the pieces of their lives.
No one can turn back the clock and reverse the event which caused the wrongful death. But the diligent Lutz wrongful death lawyers at the Rinaldo Law Group can and do work hard to build a strong, evidence-based claim that leads to maximum compensation in these cases. Once this foundation is in place, we go toe-to-toe against the big insurance company lawyers, so survivors’ voices are heard in these situations.
Kinds of Wrongful Death Claims
In many ways, a wrongful death claim is the same as an injury claim. Wrongful death survivors, like injury victim/plaintiffs, must usually prove negligence, or a lack of care, by a preponderance of the evidence, or more likely than not. The general areas are roughly the same as well.
- Car Crashes: Today’s cars are much safer than the ones on the road in the 1990s. But today’s cars are also bigger, faster, and heavier than those vehicles, so safety innovations have barely kept up with physics. Head injuries and internal bleeding are the most common fatal car crash injuries.
- Falls: These incidents are often fatal if the victim is a repeat faller or has a pre-existing vulnerability, like an old injury or chronic medical condition. Furthermore, a fall from as little as four stories high is usually fatal.
- Drug Overdose: Opioid overdose deaths have increased 800 percent since the 1990s. Several groups of people share responsibility for the opioid overdose epidemic. Some doctors wrote prescriptions without thoroughly checking patient histories, some drug shipping companies moved boxes without asking questions, and some property owners turned a blind eye to drug use in their own homes.
The negligent actors aren’t always financially responsible for damages in these cases. Some common vicarious liability theories include dram shop alcohol provider liability and respondeat superior employer liability.
Your Claim for Damages
Procedurally, there are some significant differences between injury and wrongful death claims, especially in terms of the compensation available.
In Georgia, only immediate family members, like a parent, spouse, or child, or an independent executor may file a wrongful death claim. If there are no eligible parties, a judge normally appoints an executor.
The statute of limitations, which is normally two years, could be different in some cases as well. A few survivors have up to seven years to file wrongful death claims.
As mentioned, the most significant differences involve available damages. The law restricts most wrongful death plaintiffs to pecuniary losses, such as:
- Lost future financial support,
- Burial and funeral expenses,
- Decedent’s pain and suffering,
- Lost future financial support, and
- Medical bills related to the decedent’s last illness or injury.
Some of these damages, such as compensation for the decedent’s medical bills, belong to the estate. The rest belong to survivors.
Connect with a Diligent Hillsborough County Wrongful Death Lawyer
If you were seriously injured because of someone else’s negligence, the insurance company’s lawyers are determined to reduce or deny compensation. So, you need an experienced Lutz wrongful death attorney from the Rinaldo Law Group on your side. Call us today for a free consultation.
