If you recently lost your loved one, you might be feeling overwhelmed with grief, but also afraid for the future, particularly if you depended on the financial contributions or lifestyle obligations of your deceased loved one. If you suspect that someone else’s actions led to your loved one’s untimely death, you might be eligible to pursue a wrongful death civil lawsuit for financial compensation.
Your hometown legal team at The Downer Law Firm has extensive experience determining negligence in Charlotte wrongful death claims and pursuing justice and fair compensation. Reach out to us for help from our skilled wrongful death attorneys today.
Wrongful death legal claims are a type of civil lawsuit that falls under personal injury law. Essentially, if another person or entity does something that causes someone to lose their life, the deceased person’s surviving family members might be able to sue that wrongdoer for financial compensation. According to North Carolina General Statutes § 28A-18-2, only the personal representative of a deceased person’s estate can bring a wrongful death suit.
Wrongful death claims are civil suits, which are separate and different from the criminal justice system. Your family could be eligible to pursue a civil wrongful death lawsuit even if a criminal court found the defendant not guilty for the same actions because the burden of proof is less. To prevail in a civil wrongful death case in Charlotte, you must only establish the negligence or intentional wrongdoing of the defendant by a preponderance of the evidence instead of beyond a reasonable doubt.
If the lawsuit is successful, the defendant would need to pay damages to the decedent’s estate, which would be distributed according to North Carolina’s intestate succession laws. Trying to understand the complexities of pursuing a wrongful death claim under North Carolina law can be confusing, which is why working with a seasoned and trustworthy local attorney from The Downer Law Firm is critical.
To succeed in a wrongful death claim, an attorney representing the surviving family members of the deceased person must establish the liability of the person or entity responsible for the preventable death. Most wrongful death claims involve negligent, as opposed to intentional, actions. You must establish the elements of negligence to prevail in a wrongful death claim, which include the following.
Your attorney must show that the defendant had a duty of care towards the deceased. For instance, if you lost your loved one in an automobile crash caused by a distracted driver, we could show that every driver has a duty of care towards others sharing the roads with them.
We then have to establish that the defendant breached that duty of care by checking their texts while driving.
The next step is to establish that the breach of the duty of care caused your loved one’s death by proving that it was a foreseeable result that occurred from the defendant’s actions. When someone looks at their phone instead of the road, hitting another car is a foreseeable consequence.
Lastly, we could use evidence to show that the deceased person’s estate suffered actual losses as a result of the untimely death. For instance, you could pursue recovery of funeral and burial expenses, lost wages that the decedent would have earned over their lifetime, and loss of companionship and comfort.
Our experienced Charlotte attorneys know how to build strong claims for compensation in wrongful death suits and could help you every step of the process in determining negligence.
The preventable loss of your loved one’s life is a tragedy, and you deserve the chance to seek justice and compensation. Our compassionate attorneys have had success in investigating and determining negligence in Charlotte wrongful death claims. We also help lessen your financial burden by collecting no up-front fees and only taking payment if we win your case. Contact The Downer Law Firm for a free consultation today.
