The amount of damage that can be sued for in the untimely cause of any wrongful death can vary greatly. This is where a wrongful death lawyer can help you and make you aware of any caps there might be for your particular scenario.
The different types of damage that can be filed for to survivors in a wrongful death claim include economic, punitive or non-economic.
Economic damages include any value of any financial outgoings that a victim may have made to survivors if the person had not died. These can include the following:
- Medical or funeral expenses.
- Loss of earnings or benefits.
- Loss of inheritance.
- Value of services and goods lost.
Non-economic damages include psychological damages such as pain, suffering and a loss of care, protection or nurturing from the deceased person.
Punitive damages include punishing a defendant for bad conduct in any given situation, a wrongful death lawyer can help highlight these types of situations for you. This can vary between states among many other factors that have to be considered.
Each state has its own time limits for claims in suing for wrongful death—this is called the statute of limitations. A general rule of thumb in these cases must be brought up or filed within two years of the date when the event happened when the victim died. In some states, the date of discovery is when the clock begins to tick, this would be in case of a misdiagnosis of disease. A wrongful death lawyer can assist you in cases that cause a lot of stress and angst as long as it falls within the statute of limitations.
Wrongful deaths are tragic cases, but they do happen. If you have been afflicted by someone losing his or her life in your family, then please get in touch with us. You don’t have to go through this alone.