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Different Circumstances that Give Rise to Wrongful Death Lawsuits
Any circumstance that can result in a personal injury can also potentially lead to a wrongful death. The tort that leads to these claims can be identical; if one party’s reckless, negligent or malicious actions lead to the injury and death of another, the at-fault party can be held liable.
One of the key differences between personal injury and wrongful death is scope. People and families can often recover and move on and lead normal lives after a personal injury. The victim of a wrongful death and their families don’t have that opportunity. As such, the recovery must scale with the long-term ramifications for surviving family members.
If a household’s primary wage earner is killed in an auto accident, they should be entitled to receive full and fair compensation not just for the pain and suffering they experience in the immediate aftermath but also for potentially decades of lost wages and benefits, plus compensation for end-of-life expenses they incurred.
Common Causes of Wrongful Death
Virtually any personal injury scenario can become a wrongful death case. Whether a person suffers fatal injuries depends on the severity of the accident or incident and the ability of first responders or doctors to save the person who was injured.
Deadly Crashes
When a driver is careless or knowingly reckless – such as by drunk driving, texting or speeding – and someone dies in an auto accident caused by their actions, the surviving family members can pursue a wrongful death claim.
According to GDOT data, there were 4,002 deaths in the state attributed to fatal auto accidents between 2021 and 2022. Each death caused by a negligent driver on Georgia roads should entitle surviving family members to compensation.
Faulty Products
The products consumers purchase and use every day can be deadly if they’re designed or manufactured improperly or if warnings and instructions aren’t included. Dangerous products can range from a car part that doesn’t work to a household item that’s more dangerous than it should be. If these things cause a death, the companies responsible for manufacturing them, retailers who sell them and even distributors who transport them could be held responsible.
When Healthcare Goes Wrong
Doctors and nurses play a vital role in our society, but sometimes they make serious mistakes. Healthcare is complex, and there are many people and touchpoints involved in the treatment of each patient. Mistakes made at any point in a patient’s treatment journey could have fatal consequences that expose hospitals, pharmacies or medical practices to liability.
Causes of medical malpractice or negligence claims can include things like not diagnosing a major health issue early enough to provide life-saving treatment, messing up a surgery or prescribing the wrong meds. If a medical professional’s breach of duty leads to someone dying, the family might have grounds for a wrongful death claim.
What About Deaths That Occur in the Workplace?
Deaths on the job are complicated. They are unique from other types of accidents due to the presence of workers’ comp coverage and liability laws that shield both employers and workers. Essentially, if an injury or death falls under the purview of workers’ compensation, families typically won’t be able to pursue a traditional wrongful death claim against the employer.
A workers’ comp claim for a death on the job should include partial wage replacement (two-thirds of their income up to the maximum of $675/week) for dependents. How long the wage replacement lasts depends on a variety of factors, like whether the worker had a spouse, a spouse with children or children with no spouse.
For example, if the deceased worker only has dependent children and no spouse, the children may be entitled to the two-thirds wage benefit until they turn 18 (or 22 if they are a full-time student). Alternatively, the spouse may receive the wage benefit until they remarry or cohabitate with someone else.
Workers’ comp may also cover the cost of attempted life-saving care and other end-of-life expenses like funeral costs.
These death benefits are far from nothing, but working through the workers’ comp system can potentially limit recovery. On the other hand, it’s not necessary to prove negligence in a workers’ comp claim, which can make pursuing compensation easier in some circumstances.
There are scenarios in which the family of someone who suffers a fatal injury on the job can still pursue a traditional wrongful death claim.
This can include situations in which a third party was responsible for the death (such as the manufacturer of faulty equipment or another driver who struck a fleet vehicle the worker was driving) or deaths caused by intentional or reckless actions of an employer. An employer might also be exposed to a wrongful death lawsuit if they didn’t carry workers’ comp insurance.
Get Help Pursuing Compensation for a Wrongful Death in Your Family
The death of a family member, whether a spouse, parent or child, can have far-reaching emotional, psychological and financial consequences. Pursuing wrongful death claims against all responsible parties and maximizing compensation can be complex – and success is not a foregone conclusion.
The team at the Law Office of Rickard, Drew & Nix is committed to fighting for Atlanta families who have lost loved ones due to the negligent, reckless or malicious actions of others. Contact us today at (404) 588-1001 for a free, no-obligation case evaluation.
