Wrongful Death Lawsuits

When someone dies as a result of the fault of another person or entity, the survivor may be able to bring about a wrongful death action against the person or entity that caused the death. In such lawsuits the relief sought by survivors is compensation for the survivor’s loss such as; lost wages for the deceased, loss of companionship and funeral expenses.

Generally a wrongful death claim is possible when a person dies because of the legal fault of another person. Initially Common Law did not allow such an action to be taken however, the state and federal courts created the right to bring a wrongful death action against another person or entity. This change occurred in the last decade so the concept of wrongful death action is a fairly new one. Each state has their own kind of wrongful death laws in place.

In most cases, wrongful death claims involve any type of fatal accidents from train accidents which require train accident attorneys to medical malpractice claims, which have a more complex approach, and product liability claims.

The legal fault that falls under wrongful death is acting negligently. Negligence is defined as “a failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the circumstances. The behavior usually consists of actions, but can also consist of omissions when there is some duty to act.” Put simply negligence is acting or failing to act as one would reasonably act in a given situation. Therefore, wrongful death covers almost every aspect of death where one is legally at fault; for example:

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