It is terrible to lose a loved one because of someone else’s carelessness or wrongdoing. The law gives living family members a way to get compensation for this loss.
A wrongful death claim lets the family get different kinds of compensation to help with the financial and mental problems that the untimely death caused. Damages that can be awarded in wrongful death cases are meant to help the family of the deceased and make sure that some justice is done.
Damages a Wrongful Death Settlement Covers
When a person dies because of someone else’s fault, their family is entitled to damages. The losses a wrongful death settlement covers include both economic and non-economic damages. Each type of damage covers a different type of loss. Let’s go through these damages in detail.
Medical Expenses
Families often have to pay a lot of money for medical bills when a loved one dies because of an illness or injury caused by someone else. This includes the cost of trips to the emergency room, the cost of hospital rooms, surgeries, and life support if the person who died got medical care before they died. Families don’t have to pay for costs that happened because of someone else’s careless actions when they get these medical bills reimbursed.
Funeral and Burial Costs
Usually, funeral and burial costs can be recovered in cases of wrongful death. These costs include planning the funeral, the casket, the cremation, the headstone, and other costs connected to the memorial. This kind of financial support is very important because these costs can be unexpectedly high and make the family’s sadness even worse during a tough time.
Loss of Financial Support
Loss of financial support that the person who died would have given is a big part of the economic damages in a wrongful death case. This includes the wages and other income that the person who died probably made over the course of their life, taking inflation into account. This kind of compensation helps the family members who are still alive keep up their standard of living, especially if they depend on the deceased’s income a lot.
Loss of Inheritance
Family members who have died may also be able to sue for damages for lost inheritance opportunities as well as lost wages. This is based on how much money the person who died was likely to have saved and given to their family if they had lived. This part of the law makes sure that family members get the money they would have inherited.
Loss of Consortium and Companionship
When a parent or spouse dies suddenly, it can cause a lot of mental pain. Loss of consortium or companionship is often covered by wrongful death claims. The goal of this damage is to make up for the loss of the deceased’s love, care, companionship, and guidance to close family members, especially children and spouses. For people who have lost a spouse, this loss can help with the mental pain of losing their partner and their support.
Pain and Suffering
The family might also be able to get compensation for non-economic losses like pain and suffering they went through between the time of injury and death. Pain and suffering compensation takes into account the physical and mental pain they went through because of the accident or incident. Even though it is relative, it is very important to understand how much pain the people involved were in.
