subject: About Wrongful Death Lawsuits - General Legal Information To Before Finding A Lawyer [print this page] To those left behind after the loss of a loved one, every death is wrongful. In legal terms, however, a wrongful death is any death that is caused by the negligent actions--or inactions--of someone else. It may be useful to think of a wrongful death as an avoidable death; that is, a death that would not have occurred if the responsible person had behaved as a "reasonable" person would have behaved in similar circumstances.
Wrongful death lawsuits can be filed by an attorney in response to any fatal accident that was caused by someone else's negligence. Common causes of wrongful death actions include medical malpractice, auto accidents (including car, truck, and motorcycle accidents), slip and fall accidents, accidents caused by defective products, and construction and other worksite accidents. The same elements that must be proven in any personal injury case must also be proven in wrongful death cases, namely:
-That the defendant owed the deceased plaintiff a duty of care
- That the defendant breached this duty of care by behaving negligently (that is, by failing to act as a "reasonable" person would under similar circumstances)
- That the defendant's negligent act resulted in the death of the plaintiff
- That the plaintiff's family is faced with losses and expenses directly resulting from the death
Wrongful death cases are unique in that the decedent's family can seek not only current losses and expenses, such as funeral costs and medical bills, but also those losses and expenses that can reasonably be projected into the future. These future losses and expenses may include lost future wages and benefits, loss of support and companionship, and loss of consortium. Families of wrongful death victims are also often able to collect compensation for mental anguish, as well as punitive damages, depending on how egregious the negligent actions of the defendant were.
