If you have lost someone you love as a result of the misconduct of another person, your life is suddenly emptier emotionally. That part of you that belonged to your beloved can never be restored to you. No amount of money can bring that person back to life, and no amount of money can make your life the way it was before.
Even though money cannot make your life whole again, these are the two main reasons why people seek compensation through a wrongful death lawsuit: to help ease financial burdens caused by the loss, and to punish those responsible.
As a result of this death, your life has suddenly become more complicated. If the person you lost was also the primary wage earner in your family, you are suddenly without an income. If they cared for your children, then you suddenly need day care. And every task that you once divided is now solely your responsibility, from washing dishes to paying bills to stringing Christmas lights. In some cases, money can ease these burdens.
Also, you most likely feel a perfectly natural desire to punish those responsible for your loss, and although a civil case cannot mete out the same measure of punishment as the criminal courts, it can at least make sure that the wrongdoer cannot reap financial benefit from your loss.
Defining "Wrongful Death"
Wrongful death is when someone dies as a result of the negligence, reckless action, or deliberate misconduct of another. Common causes of wrongful death include medical malpractice , auto accidents , truck accidents, and defective products, including defective drugs . State laws about the eligible causes for lawsuits vary. For clarity, this article uses the laws of Pennsylvania as a reference.
Proving Wrongful Death
Pennsylvania follows a modified comparative negligence system. This means that you can only recover damages for your loved one's loss if the court determines others are 50 % or more responsible for the death.
Consider a death resulting from a game of chicken in which a husband drove head-on into another car of the same make and model. A jury might decide that although both drivers were equally responsible for the accident, your husband was 51 % or more responsible for his own death because people are more responsible for their own lives than others are responsible for avoiding causing injury to others.
Consider what is known as a premises liability lawsuit, in which a wife was killed in a late-night ATM robbery. Although the jury might decide the wife was partly responsible for her own death by not paying sufficient attention, it would decide that the majority of responsibility fell on the robber, and some of it fell on the shoulders of the property owner responsible for providing secure access to the ATM.
Dividing Wrongful Death Compensation
Pennsylvania follows a rule of joint and several liability. This means that, once comparative negligence has been satisfied, every party that is partly responsible for the wrongful death is responsible for part of the compensation, and any party that is found to be 61 % or more responsible for the injury is responsible for the full amount of compensation, less the percentage of fault the victim shared. In the ATM robbery example above, a court might find the wife 10 % at fault, the robber 70 % at fault, and the property owner 20 % at fault. In this case, both the robber and the property owner would have to pay. If the property owner were unable to pay, the robber would be responsible for the property owner's share, but the property owner would not be responsible for the robber's share if he were unable to pay.
A type of wrongful death lawsuit in which fault is commonly shared is deaths as a result of medical malpractice. In the case of a death as a result of an anesthesia error during surgery, many parties may be held liable, including the supervising surgeon, the anesthesiologist, the hospital, even the manufacturer of the anesthesia equipment. Although the share of responsibility by some parties may be small, all those that contributed to your loss should be held responsible.
What Wrongful Death Compensation Can Include
One of the most complicated parts of a wrongful death lawsuit is determining the amount of compensation due. As we mentioned above, no amount of money can compensate you for your actual loss, but the law does provide for some measure of compensation for many different aspects of your loss, including:
· Actual losses, in terms of money and property lost during the accident
· Lost wages that the person would have earned
· Medical expenses incurred between the person's injury and resultant death
· Additional expenses you now incur, including daycare and other costs incurred as a result of domestic labor lost
· Pain and suffering of your loved one before his or her death
· Your emotional pain and suffering, including loss of consortium (your loss of companionship)
One of the most important things your lawyer does in the wrongful death lawsuit is to take all the different elements of the possible compensation and put them together to make a reasonable figure for compensation that is both compensable in the eyes of a jury and somewhat satisfactory for your loss. Compensation is supplemented with any punitive damages. Of course, the final award is determined by the jury and may be modified by the judge.
How to Begin a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Although you can technically file a wrongful death lawsuit on your own behalf, the first step in filing a wrongful death lawsuit should be consulting with a personal injury lawyer. With the experience to handle your case, they represent your best chance to receive compensation that reflects both parts of your rationale for filing.
