Has a family member of yours died due to the negligence or incompetence of another person? There are steps you need to take if you are seeking damages. You can also get legal funding for a wrongful death lawsuit. Read on to learn how.
What Is A Wrongful Death Suit?
A wrongful death claim can be filed when an entity or a person causes someone’s family member’s death. The death can be accidental or on purpose. The lawsuit aims to compensate the late person’s family members if those members relied on the deceased for financial support.
Getting Funding for a Loved One’s Wrongful Death
It is hard enough losing someone you love, mainly when one’s income depended on that person. Before dying, the late loved one might have incurred high medical bills too.
Building a case to receive damages takes time. Fortunately, you can apply for a loan to help you power through a wrongful death lawsuit or settlement negotiations. You will only get charged a piece of the award if you win the lawsuit.
Most lenders are willing to loan or advance 5 to 20% of the future value. Make sure to consider the length of the loan since interest rates can make the final amount owed higher.
This makes it an excellent way to get some money now. It can help cover overdue bills and help you make ends meet. But these loans can have high interest. One should use this type of legal funding for essential bills.
The Amount a Case May Be Worth
The final value of a wrongful death claim depends on several factors, including:
- The deceased’s savings
- How financially dependent the family was on the deceased
- Economic damages
- Mental anguish
- Pain and suffering before death.
- Savings and Dependency on the Deceased
Your loved one’s savings will impact the so-called consumption rate. The consumption rate is how much the family member consumed their earnings. This amount often ranges from five to forty percent.
Courts subtract the consumption rate from the loss of earnings damages. The reason the court does this is that these expenses are no longer needed to support the family.
Sometimes money spent on items like luxury items is not seen as consumed. Jewelry and antiques are more like investments since they hold their value over time. Other examples are real estate and stocks.
Taxes, retirement accounts, and other paycheck deductions don’t count as consumption either. The rule is that you can’t consume what was never taken home.
Another critical factor is how dependent your family was on the deceased’s income. Losing the breadwinner of the family will bring more damages.
- Economic Damages
This is when a family has to pay funeral expenses and medical bills. You can also sue for the lost earning power of the family member. This means if they were making $100,000 a year, that amount will be taken into consideration for both the past and future.
- Mental Anguish
There are also emotional damages that courts may recognize in a wrongful death case. Prematurely losing your partner or spouse is a horrific life event no one should go through. Children of the deceased can sue for loss of parental care, too.
Loss of consortium means loss of love and companionship from the spouse or partner. Depression is another example of mental anguish. Anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder are other standard forms.
- Pain and Suffering
The pain and suffering of the deceased is another type of damage. If they experienced intense mental anguish and physical pain before they passed away, the family could get compensation. Pain and suffering are harder to quantify.
What are Some Common Examples of Wrongful Death?
Here are a few examples:
- Automobile accidents
- Medical error
- Drunk drivers
- Animal attacks
- Violence
- Various forms of negligence
- Intentional homicide.
Many wrongful death lawsuits stem from the carelessness of another person or business. Another typical example is an animal attack if someone’s pet harms another person.
Other times the case stems from more serious events like murder. The standards for proving wrongful death by a convicted murderer are lower. A civil court only needs 51% belief to admit a case. Many call this a preponderance of the evidence. A criminal case needs 100% or beyond a reasonable doubt.
Final Thoughts
Losing someone you depended on can cause unspeakable grief. Lawsuit loans make it easier to make ends meet when a wrongful death lawsuit is pending as they allow you to survive while your case works through the courts.
With a law degree under his belt and years of experience, Mark Scott set off to make the law more accessible to all. He decided to help people lost in the maze of legal terminology to find their way. Mark writes clear and concise pieces and gives simple advice that is easy to follow. On account of positive feedback from readers, he decided to dedicate more of his time to this goal and became a legal columnist. In his writings, Mark covers a wide array of topics, like how to seek legal counsel, or how to deal with different procedures. Furthermore, he directs his readers toward other trustworthy resources for more in-depth information.
