Tennessee Injury Lawyer Blog

Wrongful death is a claim in common law jurisdictions against a person who can be held liable for a death. Wrongful death attorneys at Baker Associates are experienced and willing to provide the legal advice that you deserve. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. Under common law, a dead person cannot bring a suit, and this created a legal hole in which activities that resulted in a person's injury would result in civil sanction but activities that resulted in a person's death would not.

The standard of proof in the United States is typically preponderance of the evidence as opposed to clear and convincing or beyond a reasonable doubt. In Australia and the United Kingdom, it is 'on the balance of probabilities'. For this reason, it is often easier for a family to seek retribution against someone who kills a family member through tort than a criminal prosecution. It should be noted, however, that the two actions are not mutually exclusive; a person may be prosecuted criminally for causing a person's death (whether in the form of murder, manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide, or some other theory) and that person can also be sued civilly in a wrongful death action (as in the O.J. Simpson cases).

In most, if not all common law jurisdictions, there was no common law right to recover civil damages for the wrongful death of a person. However, many jurisdictions have now enacted statutes to create a right to such recovery. The issue of liability will be determined by the tort law of a given state.

The death must have been caused, in whole or in part, by the defendant's conduct, even though there was no direct intention to kill the victim. The defendant must have been deemed negligent or strictly liable for the victim's death. Also the deceased has dependent party such as family members who have suffered from emotional and monetary damages as a result of the death.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrongful_death_claim"

The wrongful death claim, generally, will have two main features in order to succeed.

1) The accident must have been caused by someone else (driver of deceased car, another vehicle etc) who acted negligently usually through bad driving, in some claims this will mean the auto maker who designed a vehicle poorly, such as an SUV with a defective design.

2) There must be adequate insurance or assets to provide the basis of a recoverable legal claim. Many, many fatal car accidents that are the result of bad driving remain uncompensated because there is no money to compensate the victim's family. Many cars are under insured with small policies ranging from $10,000 to $30,000. An attorney will know how and where to look for available insurance or assets using investigators and asset searches. Often times trucking insurance, homeowner’s policies, business insurance may be available to compensate the family millions of dollars.

Experienced wrongful death attorneys understand the complex legal issues and emotional trauma involved in handling these claims. A lawyer can help survivors by providing representation to the estate of the deceased, dealing with insurance recovery and any potential lawsuits.

Attorneys at Baker Associates are dedicated litigators who believe in getting you and your loved ones the compensation they deserve. Call us or visit www.joebakerlaw.com today to schedule an appointment for a free consultation.