Losing someone we love can be really hard. It’s even more difficult when we have to pay for their medical and funeral costs. It becomes even more painful if their death happened because someone else was careless or didn’t do their job properly.
It can be hard and confusing to file a wrongful death claim. But if you have a wrongful death attorney who specializes in wrongful death cases, they can help you. They will explain your rights to you and take care of your claim. This way, you can spend more time with your family and not worry too much during this difficult time.
Compensation Available in Wrongful Death Claims
Depending on what happened, you might be able to get money for different things in a wrongful death claim. This can include:
- Money to pay for medical bills related to the person’s injuries.
- Money to pay for the funeral and burial costs.
- Money to make up for the financial help the person would have given to their family.
- Money to make up for the emotional support and companionship the person would have provided.
- Money to make up for the retirement or insurance benefits the person would have received.
If you want to know how much money you can get in a wrongful death claim, you can talk to the Oklahoma City wrongful death lawyers at our law firm. They will listen to your story and talk about your case with you. They can look at your situation and explain what you can do legally.
General Causes of Wrongful Death:
- Medical malpractice
- Automobile accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Truck accidents
- Boating accidents
- Jobsite accidents
- Defective drugs or medication
- Defective products
Eligibility to File a Wrongful Death Claim
In Oklahoma law, if someone dies and their family wants to file a wrongful death claim, they need to have a person represent them. This person is usually the spouse, child, parent, or another family member who is still alive. If the person who died didn’t choose a representative in their will, the court can choose one for them.
Don’t wait to call a wrongful death attorney. In Oklahoma, you only have a certain amount of time to ask for money. You have two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit. If you act quickly, you can find out exactly why your loved one died and make sure the people who caused it are punished.
Types of Financial Compensation and Damages
- Medical bills
- Loss of income
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of benefits
- Funeral costs
You can also make the person who caused the accident take responsibility for the problems they caused your family. Even though no amount of money can bring back your loved one, these claims can help your family deal with the money problems that come with losing someone.
The Role of Negligence in Wrongful Death Claims
Wrongful death cases are like personal injury cases because they both need to show that someone was careless or did something wrong. In a wrongful death case, you have to prove that the person’s death happened because someone else was not careful, did something dangerous, or did something on purpose.
To win a wrongful death lawsuit in Oklahoma, you will need to show these things:
Duty of Care: Need to prove that the person who caused the accident had a responsibility to take care of the person who died. This responsibility can change depending on what happens. For example, drivers have a responsibility to follow the rules of the road and drive safely to avoid hurting others.
Breach of Duty: Need to show that the person who caused the accident didn’t do what they were supposed to do or did something they weren’t supposed to do. This can happen in different ways. For example, a driver could go through a red light, a company could sell something they know is broken, or a property owner could ignore a dangerous problem on their property.
Causation: We need to show that what the person who caused the accident did wrong directly led to the death. This means proving that the person wouldn’t have died if the person who caused the accident had been careful.
Damages: Ultimately, the assertion must outline the negative consequences of the individual’s death. These may include the money spent on healthcare until their death, funeral expenses, and burial costs. Also, the income the deceased would have earned if they were alive. And, the love and help lost with them, and the grief from this loss.
The Process of Investigating Wrongful Death Claims
Investigating a wrongful death claim is a careful process where experienced wrongful death attorneys who handle these cases collect different kinds of evidence, Including:
Accident Reports: Getting reports from the police and any other official papers about what happened is really important. These papers tell us the basic information about what led to the person’s death.
Medical Records: Looking at the person’s medical history, including any existing health problems and the type of injuries that caused their death, helps us understand when things happened and what directly caused the person to die.
Scene Investigation: Sometimes, depending on what happened (like a car crash or an accident at work), the attorney might ask to go to the place where it happened to get more proof or ask an expert to recreate the scene of the accident.
Witness Interviews: Talking to anyone who saw what happened or talked to the person who died just before they died can give us important information about what really happened.
In addition to collecting evidence at first, wrongful death attorneys might also bring in experts who specialize in certain things to make the case stronger.
Accident Reconstruction Experts: These experts can look at information about where the accident happened, how the vehicles were damaged (in car accidents), and what people who saw it said. They use this information to understand what happened and who is responsible for the accident.
Medical Experts: The reason the person died is something like a mistake made by a doctor, (for example, medical malpractice) other medical professionals can give their expert opinion on what kind of care should have been given.
Economic Experts: When someone dies and their family makes a wrongful death claim, they might get money for the income the person would have earned in the future and for the money problems the family now has. Experts in money matters can figure out how much money the family has lost.
It’s important to start looking into a wrongful death case as soon as possible because that gives us a better chance of finding important proof. People’s memories can get worse over time, and things like objects or documents can get damaged or disappear. A skilled wrongful death attorney who knows about wrongful death cases understands that we need to act quickly to find all the proof we need and make sure we win in court.
Do You Need an Experienced Oklahoma City Wrongful Death Attorney?
If you think your loved one died because someone else was careless, contact an Oklahoma City wrongful death attorney at our law firm today. Our Lawyers in Oklahoma City, can look at what happened and figure out if you can make a wrongful death claim. We know this is a hard time for you, and we will help you through everything. It won’t cost you anything to talk to us for the first time, and you don’t have to hire us if you don’t want to. We have offices in Oklahoma City, Edmond, and Tulsa. Call us now +1 332 282 9557 to set up a time to talk about your case for free.