Wrongful Death Lawsuits: 7 Of The Most Common Types Of Cases

Wrongful death lawsuits occur when someone is killed due to negligence on behalf of another person or party. If you want to find out more details about representation and your rights, contact Lamber Goodnow Injury Lawyers or a legal expert in your area.

The most challenging aspect of wrongful death lawsuits is determining and proving the individual's guilt. One has to be able to prove that gross or criminal negligence is to blame. There must be a direct link between the fatality and the actions and reactions of the defendant. Suffice it to say; a wrongful death court case can be an arduous affair without competent legal representation. Then there is the matter of personal and emotional turmoil. Losing a loved one is one of the worst experiences a person can face.

The emotions associated with loss and grief can be aggravated and stunted by the anger and frustration when a third party is directly to blame for the loss. There is no doubt that professional help is invaluable if you are experiencing such a loss. Another critical aspect of dealing with a wrongful death is understanding the circumstances and what they entail. A capable legal representation will handle the case, and a mental health professional can assist you in coping, but there are some questions for which one will need an answer for yourself.

What are the circumstances that surround common wrongful death incidence? How do they vary, and how do different cases get handled regarding legal proceedings and precedence? In this article, we delve into the most common wrongful death cases.

Road Accidents; Speeding

Each year over 300,000 people die in car accidents. Most car accidents are preventable, and many results from negligence by one or more of those involved. Many reckless behaviors constitute negligence on car accident fatalities. One of the most common is speeding. While many people do not consider speeding a severe offense, with little to no social pressure for people to stop, the laws surrounding speeding exist with good reason.

Speeding not only increases the likelihood of an accident occurring but can significantly worsen the severity of an accident and decrease the probability of survival. If someone was speeding when an accident occurred, they are likely culpable and guilty of inflicting wrongful death by careless negligence.

Road Accidents; Distracted Driving

This is an increasingly common cause of road accidents. Distracted driving may refer to several circumstances in which the driver of a vehicle actively engages in activities that may distract their attention from driving responsibly. The most common distraction in recent years is that of mobile phone use. Claimed by many organizations to be more dangerous than driving under the influence of alcohol, distracted driving is responsible for thousands of road fatalities.

The legal challenge with a case of suspected distracted driving is proving that the guilty party was willfully distracted at the time of the accident. This is not always possible, hence the importance of preventive awareness campaigns and the severe fines and consequences for those caught committing an act of willful distracted driving.

Road Accidents; Road And Vehicle Defects

Not all accidents are the fault of those involved in the accident. For example, road and vehicle defects can cause equally devastating accidents, with no blame on those directly involved. Hazardous roads, particularly those that do not offer an adequate warning, may mean guilt on behalf of the appropriate government body responsible. Most countries have a fund that pays out claims in such cases.

There is also the matter of vehicle defects. This is a profoundly frustrating incident for those dealing with the consequence of a fatality caused in this way. Unfortunately, the manufacturer is aware of potential defects all too often but plays the cost of liability payouts against total recall costs.

Road Accidents; Drunk Driving/Driving Under The Influence Of Narcotics

This is the most frequently reported cause of willful negligence that results in the death of victims of road accidents. Drunk driving is usually severely punished, and in cases where someone dies, it becomes a criminal offense that results in some degree of trial for manslaughter. The matter of driving under the influence of narcotics is a bit less defined. While illegal drugs constitute a criminal investigation, the outcome is not always as concise as that of cases involving drunk driving.

Worse still are cases where the guilty party was driving under the influence of prescription or over-the-counter medication. Again, it is difficult to prove that a person was partaking in willful negligence, mainly if a doctor prescribed it. The warning labels on medication do offer some degree of information to persons regarding the dangers. Still, some prescriptions are such that a person will be at least somewhat under the influence of the medication at all times, which makes it challenging to define times at which the person should not be behind the wheel.

Road Accidents; Pedestrians, Cyclists, and Motorcyclists

These make up a distinct category of road accident fatalities as some laws differ for each. While the statistics for fatality are somewhat balanced by the lower number of pedestrians and cyclists, motorcyclists are at extremely high risk compared to any other road user. Motorcycle accidents are rarely without serious injury, and the mortality rate is 26 times higher than for those in other road vehicles.

Medical Malpractice

Medical malpractice is usually quite challenging to determine. While some cases are straightforward, such as when a patient undergoes the wrong operation or surgical instruments are left inside patients after a process, there is a spectrum of far more subtle situations in which malpractice is not clear-cut. It is malpractice if a doctor provides the wrong diagnosis and the patient dies. But is it malpractice if a doctor provides the correct diagnosis, but the treatment they recommend didn't work, and the patient dies because it is ineffective?

What if other treatments might have worked better and might have saved the patient's life? Well, no. That is not necessarily malpractice. You must consult a legal practitioner specializing in medical malpractice matters because the lines get very blurry about what constitutes wrongful death by negligence in these cases.

Workplace and Public Accidents

We all know stories of people who take advantage of the legal system to make frivolous claims for minor injuries in the hopes of striking it rich. Unfortunately, in a case where someone has fallen victim to an injury and died, it is not quite as readily disposable. Your workplace is obliged to take all necessary precautions to ensure your health and safety, and that of all people who make use of their premises. So too, does every business and public space have to provide their employees' safety and those who enter or make use of the premises.

There are rare cases of genuine ‘freak' accidents where something will cause a fatality in such a way as could not reasonably be foreseen. In this context, however, ‘reasonably' is extending to its maximum possible limit. If an eagle flies through a window and crashes through a chandelier that falls on a table that harpoons a spoon into someone's skull and kills them, that could ‘not reasonably be foreseen.'

Had the chandelier fallen and harpooned the same spoon, there may be the reason to expect that the situation could be avoided by due diligence, and the owner of the property may find themselves in court facing a wrongful death lawsuit.