Losing a family member is traumatic at any moment, but it is even more painful whenever the demise is unexpected and avoidable. This includes in the case of a fatal accident due to the negligence of another. After such a tragedy, you may be eligible to receive compensation for your dear one's passing.
The legal procedure known as a wrongful death suit can come in handy in claiming such compensation. It allows you to retrieve damages from the person whose negligence led to the death of your loved one. A Murrieta wrongful death lawyer can help throughout the claims process.
Whenever a family member passes away because of another person’s carelessness, you may require the assistance of a Murrieta wrongful death lawyer to help you with your appeal. The mourning phase is already so difficult, so retaining a lawyer to handle the legal side of things can take some of the burden off of you while you process your loss.
Your lawyer will be able to inform you of how the claim process works, but here are some basics. The standard of proof in a wrongful death lawsuit is preponderance rather than beyond a reasonable doubt like it is for a criminal proceeding. This is because a wrongful death claim starts as a civil action rather than a criminal matter.
A claim mostly succeeds when there is a preponderance of the facts supporting it. The burden of proof is not as onerous as it would be in criminal prosecution. If convicted in a civil case, the jury will hold the offender accountable through financial penalties rather than incarceration.
When you’ve lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence, you and your lawyer will fight to receive your just compensation. Determining whom of the deceased’s family members may sue, though, gets challenging. A Murrieta wrongful death lawyer can help you understand the process.
California law defines the people who can bring forward a wrongful death lawsuit, giving priority to the decedent’s survivors. By state law, the people who have the priority legal right to file wrongful death lawsuits are members of the deceased person’s immediate family, including:
Determining immediate family can get complicated with an atypical family structure, so a lawyer can help determine who in your family will be the best fit for pursuing compensation.
No one else may file a claim on behalf of the decedent’s survivors if any of the above people are still alive. A parent, stepchild, putative spouse, and/or any of the putative spouse’s children, though, may launch a lawsuit if they were monetarily reliant on the deceased and there are no living immediate family members.
In other instances, an estate representative can file the claim. This includes when there are no living dependents or family members of the deceased. The proceeds of a successful case will be added to the probate’s assets and passed on to the deceased’s beneficiaries.
If there are many qualified survivors, they may either file individually or collectively with the help of a personal injury lawyer who will represent all the qualified survivors in the family. The attorney could also help establish the priority pick of the individuals to present the case.
Family members may seek damages under the law whenever a loved one passes away because of someone else’s carelessness. There are two categories of wrongful death damages in California state; economic and non-economic.
Medical costs, funeral costs, missed wages, and other financial obligations that a family member may have experienced because of the death are all covered by economic damages. The non-economic damages include compensation for things such as:
While economic damages are simple to calculate due to costs being explicit, non-economic damages are harder to calculate. A wrongful death lawyer will be able to determine both of these types of damages by referencing non-economic damages of similar cases in the past.
It is crucial to get prompt legal counsel and representation after losing a loved one in order to safeguard your right to compensation. In California, you must file wrongful death lawsuits within two years of the death.
This timeline is set by the state’s statute of limitations, which prevents anyone from filing a wrongful death claim within the stipulated time period. This means that if the time lapses, you would no longer be able to pursue damages for your family’s loss.
Since survivors bringing a Murrieta wrongful death claim are not eligible for punitive damages, wrongful death lawsuits differ from other personal injury suits. The estate must thus present a surviving cause of action to court in order to get punitive damages for losing a dear one.
A Murrieta wrongful death lawyer will show that the at fault party acted negligently, recklessly, or intentionally. Along with that, your attorney will show that the offender’s careless, malicious, or negligent actions were the direct cause of your loss. Following the proof of negligence, your attorney will calculate and present the damages your family suffered as a result, such as medical bills, loss of income, and pain and suffering.
Your Murrieta wrongful death attorney will put together your claim and attempt to settle to retrieve the compensation you deserve. If your claim is not settled out of court, your lawyer will be there to go to trial for you. Trusting the process to an experienced wrongful death attorney will give you peace of mind that your claim is being handled well, so you can focus on mourning during this time of loss.
Jonathan M. Kashani is the founder of Kash Legal Group, specializing in personal injury law with a commitment to providing personalized client services and high-quality legal representation. He holds a Juris Doctorate with honors from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law and is admitted to practice in all state courts of California and the United States District Court for the Central District of California.
The anguish you experience when a loved one passes away because of someone else’s carelessness is unimaginable. We understand that monetary compensation won’t make up for losing your loved one. However, if the accident that claimed the life of your beloved one resulted in significant expenses or lost earnings, monetary compensation may help you recover financially, so you can grieve your loss in peace.
At Kash Legal, our wrongful death attorneys are ready to support you all the way. We will look into the accident, deal with the insurance claim, and, if required, represent you in court. Reach out to us at (888) 527-4128 or fill out our contact form to book your free initial consultation.
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