One of your loved ones died in an unfortunately tragic way. You know your loved one could have led a productive and meaningful life for many years to come had they not died in this fashion.
Now, you’re not sure if you have a wrongful death case on your hands that you can take to court. Though a settlement won’t bring back the deceased, it could help you with paying for medical and funeral expenses, covering income they would have made if they were alive and your expenses for talk therapy you’ve gone through to process what happened, among many other costs.
By knowing what a wrongful death in Georgia entails, you can determine whether or not you should hire a personal injury attorney to assist you in taking legal action.
A wrongful death claim is one that is brought against an individual who could be held responsible for a deceased person’s death. The plaintiff would be from the estate of the deceased person. The defendant would either be found liable through an intentional action or negligence. This would not apply in a work setting in Georgia – worker’s compensation would cover that.
Wrongful death would apply to a case in a variety of instances where personal injury occurs. However, some of the most common cases where wrongful death applies would be:
1. When a person dies because of medical malpractice
2. When a person dies in a car accident involving negligence
3. When someone intentionally kills another person
Medical malpractice occurs when a doctor is careless with how they treat a patient; for example, they may not have been paying attention when they performed surgery or did not properly conduct an ultrasound or X-ray. It can also happen when a doctor fails to diagnose a certain condition. In both cases, the patient would have died as a result of this negligence.
If someone is in a car accident and then dies because of the injuries sustained from the accident, then there might be a wrongful death claim. And when someone is intentionally killed, that would also qualify for wrongful death.
Proving a wrongful death claim in Georgia can be quite difficult, as there is a burden of proof that you need to fulfill. To prove negligence, for example, you have to show that the defendant was supposed to provide the deceased with a duty of care, that the defendant did not follow through with this obligation, this action resulted in the death of the deceased and that led to the amount of the damages that the plaintiff is suing for and hoping to recuperate from what they already paid out/gain.
Damages that may be brought into a wrongful death claim are:
To calculate just how steep the damages will be, the court will look at how old the deceased person was and how many years they could have worked, their ability to earn raises, how they could have gotten promotions and advance in their career, inflation over the course of the years they would have kept working, their skills and educational background and how much assistance they would have received from the government upon retirement.
Keep in mind that medical malpractice is often hard to prove. You’ll need an expert witness who can assist in proving wrongful death occurred because of the doctor’s actions. Typically, the law favors doctors since it does not want to encourage people to file medical malpractice and wrongful death suits all the time.
Again, this scenario could be hard to prove. You always have to consider reasonable care. If the pothole had formed that day and barely any drivers had gone down that road that day – therefore nobody reported the pothole – then the county might not be held liable because it doesn’t fall under reasonable care. If, however, the road had potholes for months or even years, and numerous citizens complained about it, then the county is more likely to be held liable.
A wrongful death claim must be filed within two years of the person dying, typically. However, if it’s the government’s fault, you may need to file within six months or a year. The wrongful death claim can be brought from the estate of the deceased, like a spouse, child or parent or guardian.
If your loved one may have died because of a wrongful death situation, then you should contact a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. After taking the time to mourn and get together all the bills you paid, medical records and evidence surrounding the case, then you need to meet with a lawyer. If you wait too long, you may not be able to file a claim at all, meaning you’d have to cover any expenses and would not be eligible for tangible or intangible damages.
If you have a wrongful death case you want to pursue, find out how a personal injury attorney can help you by contacting an Atlanta personal injury lawyer at the W. Winston Briggs Law Firm today.
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An Indiana native (Hoosier Boy), but now a true Atlanta Falcons and Braves fan, W. Winston Briggs is a personal injury lawyer Atlanta who has over 30 years of experience and tried more than 150 jury trials. Attorney Winston Briggs has successfully tried a wide variety of cases over the years including ones involving car accidents, trucking accidents, brain injuries, motorcycle accidents, wrongful death, medical malpractice, Reactive Airways Dysfunction Syndrome (RADS) and many more. Winston works closely with his clients, meeting them at the beginning and throughout each case. His approach to the law is to prepare every case as if it is actually going to go to trial. Helping his clients acquire the full and maximum compensation they deserve is a rewarding experience for this attorney.... View full business profile here: Winston Briggs
