Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers handles wrongful death cases in Tulare, CA and Tulare County.
If you have lost a loved one due to negligence, we are sorry for your loss and, unfortunately, financial compensation isn’t able to bring back a deceased person. However, we help surviving family members recover financial compensation which helps prevent them from going through financial hardship due to the loss of their loved one.
We will handle your wrongful death case on a contingency fee basis, which means that we won’t charge you any fee until and unless we recover compensation on your behalf – our only fee is a percentage of any financial recovery obtained. This means we don’t charge a fee unless we win your case – no upfront fees or out-of-pocket fees are charged.
Our Tulare wrongful death lawyers have been handling cases like yours since 1990, and have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for clients. Our vast experience in handling cases like yours means we can recover the most compensation possible for you.
Call a compassionate, experienced wrongful death attorney at Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation, text us from this page or fill out this page’s free case evaluation form if you lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence.
Compensation Available in a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Numerous separate categories of damages exist which one can claim in a wrongful death suit. The damages you’ll be able to claim will depend upon your individual case’s facts.
Wrongful death compensation is typically handed out in accordance with if their purpose is to compensate the estate of the decedent for wrongful death-associated losses (this is known as a survivorship claim), or if the damages’ purpose is to compensate loved ones or family members for the personal losses they suffered due to their loved one’s death. Damages which may be associated with estate losses include:
- Burial costs
- Funeral expenses
- Ambulance fees
- Medical bills which directly relate to the death
- Income lost which relate to the death, such as income lost during hospitalization, or potential income the deceased person might have earned at a future date if they had lived
It is not a surprise that medical care comes at a high cost. However, burying loved ones can cost more than a lot of people might think. Funeral services, on average, cost thousands of dollars.
Damages which may be associated with family members’ personal losses include:
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium, which includes loss of guidance, training, sexual relations, moral support, affection, community, love, and additional losses which relate to the death of the family member
- Lost financial support
California technically doesn’t award punitive damages when a wrongful death occurs with a single exception: when it is able to be proven that a defendant committed a felony murder. The purpose of punitive damages is to punish wrongdoers rather than compensate decedents’ families or estates.
How We Can Help With Wrongful Death Lawsuits
Negligence can lead to severe consequences. Wrongful death, however, is the most severe of all consequences that negligence can lead to. At Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers, we don’t think families should need to accept the wrongful death of their loved one without fighting it.
You and your family deserve closure, answers, justice and compensation if your loved one’s death was caused by someone else’s negligence, medical malpractice or recklessness. Hiring a Tulare wrongful death lawyer with experience handling cases like yours can provide you with the ability to fight against any and all defendants after fatal accidents. Your attorney can handle every aspect of your case, including the complicated, time-consuming ones, while your family grieves as well as attempts to heal:
- Investigating your loved one’s accident
- Gathering proof or evidence of negligence
- Identifying all defendants
- Obtaining the medical records of the decedent
- Dealing with claim documents, which may be confusing
- Proving your losses and the victim’s losses
- Putting together a strong case against any and all defendants
- Demanding that insurance companies provide maximum compensation in the form of a wrongful death settlement
- If necessary, we will file a wrongful death lawsuit and take your case to court
Our attorneys understand all of the legal processes in terms of bringing claims like yours in the State of California. Your attorney can assist you in successfully navigating these processes in your difficult time of need. Your attorney will be aware of your wrongful death case’s true value. They can obtain far more to compensate you for your crushing loss than you could recover alone from any insurance company. In addition to financial and moral support, our law firm can provide you with much-needed emotional and personal support. Ultimately, by hiring a lawyer, you can save your family money, time and a lot of stress.
Who Can File Wrongful Death Claims?
In terms of California law, wrongful death claims can only be filed by victims’ surviving spouses. When victims are unmarried, then their legal heirs – usually siblings, parents or children, can file wrongful death claims. The restrictions California sets on those who can file claims exist in order to make sure that only the most immediate members of the victim’s family have the exclusive right to recover financial compensation.
Sometimes, California law will allow individuals who aren’t legally married to victims to file wrongful death claims when they believe that they were actually married to the victims. This principle of law is called the putative spouse doctrine. You may be wondering, how does a scenario like this occur?
In some cases, people enter into second marriages without finalizing annulments or divorces from a first marriage. In terms of the law, someone can’t be married without being single first, meaning, in this case, the second marriage will be considered to be legally defective – it will be as if the second marriage never happened. When one spouse ends up dying and a surviving “spouse” looks to file a claim for wrongful death, the putative spouse doctrine will allow this claim to proceed even though it wasn’t a legally valid marriage.
How to Prove a Wrongful Death Claim
In order to secure financial compensation in a wrongful death lawsuit in California, you as well as your family will have to be able to prove that the actions of the at-fault party are responsible for the death of your loved one. You will have to be able to demonstrate that negligence was committed by the at-fault party which led to your loved one’s final injury or illness. Negligence is failing to act with reasonable care for the purpose of preventing harm from happening.
Four elements of negligence exist in wrongful death claims in California:
Duty of Care
A duty of care was owed to your loved one by the at-fault party. This duty depends on your loved one’s death’s cause. As an example, in terms of car accidents, at-fault drivers have a duty to follow the traffic laws in California and drive their vehicle safely.
Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers
Tulare, CA 93274
(559) 772-1212
Breach of Duty
The duty of care was breached by the at-fault party. As an example, when drivers run red lights and cause accidents, they breach their duty of care by failing to stop at intersections.
Causation
The breach of duty by the at-fault party was the cause of the death of your loved one. Numerous pieces of evidence may exist which you can utilize in order to prove causation, including expert statements, witness testimony, medical records and surveillance footage.
Damages
Your loved one and your family sustained damages because of the actions of the at-fault party. Because of this, you’re eligible to recover financial compensation for the losses via a settlement. Numerous pieces of evidence can be used to establish damages, such as journal entries, paystubs, correspondence, invoices and medical bills.
Negotiating Settlements After Fatal Accidents
Even during terrible moments like after the deaths of loved ones, insurance companies as well as other parties will always do whatever they can to settle claims for as low of an amount of money as they can. The last thing they want is a lawyer getting involved when fatal accidents occur.
Insurance companies typically make lowball offers when families are at their most vulnerable, hoping they settle as quickly as possible before they think about the full value of their claims.
However, your Tulare wrongful death attorney will make sure that the voice of your family is heard. We will handle all interactions with insurance companies for you, negotiating as well as handling all communications so you end up being free to concentrate on grieving.
We will also perform an investigation into any circumstances which surround your loved one’s death. Collecting witness testimony and evidence is the most effective when done as soon as possible after a wrongful death.
After a loved one unexpectedly dies, we often end up coping by thinking in terms of minutes and hours. It is unfortunate that California mandates that wrongful death claims be filed before a time limit expires – within two years of the death of a loved one. Hiring an attorney will make sure you don’t miss out on your opportunity to recover the justice and compensation you deserve.
Wrongful Death Lawsuit Legal Process
In the State of California, wrongful deaths are defined as deaths which result from the misconduct or negligence of someone else, another entity or another company. The legal process in terms of pursuing wrongful death claims in the State of California typically includes many steps:
Consulting with an attorney: The initial step is to have a consultation with a qualified lawyer who handles wrongful death cases. A lawyer can evaluate any circumstances surrounding your loved one’s death and make a determination as to if grounds exist for a legitimate wrongful death claim.
Filing a wrongful death lawsuit: If the lawyer believes a viable case exists, they will end up filing a lawsuit on behalf of the surviving family members or the estate of the deceased person. This lawsuit needs to be filed within two years of the death of the loved one.
Discovery: The process of discovery is gone through after any lawsuit gets filed. This process involves taking witness depositions, exchanging info and collecting evidence.
Settlement negotiation or mediation: Often, parties might try to resolve disputes through settlement negotiations or mediation. This can help to avoid the expense and time of a trial.
Trial: When settlements can’t be reached, cases proceed to trial. When trials occur, each sides presents arguments and evidence to a jury or judge, who ends up determining if the defendant ends up being liable for a wrongful death and the amount of damages which will be awarded if the defendant is found liable.
Appeal: When either party ends up being dissatisfied with the trial’s outcome, they might be able to appeal the trial decision, bringing it to a higher court.
During the legal process, the plaintiff (they party who brings the lawsuit) has the burden of proof regarding demonstrating that the cause of the wrongful death was misconduct or negligence on behalf of the defendant. When successful, damages which are awarded in wrongful death cases in the State of California might include financial compensation for burial and funeral costs, medical expenses, loss of companionship, lost benefits and income, pain and suffering which is experienced by the decedent’s family members.
Call Us Today for a Free Consultation
It is heartbreaking to lose a loved one and preventable deaths are tragic. We usually meet clients after they just had the worst experiences in their entire lives, so we’re aware of the severe emotional toll that is caused by losing a loved one, in addition to the financial hardship which often results.
We know that money won’t be able to bring back your loved one. However, wrongful death lawsuits can provide families with financial assistance and security moving forward. Perhaps even more importantly, wrongful death lawsuits can compel change and try to prevent others from going through what your loved one did.
We’ve been handling cases like yours for over three decades, having built a strong reputation for success and being fierce advocates. Call us today for a free consultation if you lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence in Tulare. Remember – we won’t charge you any fee to handle your wrongful death case until and unless we recover compensation.
