San Diego Wrongful Death Lawyer

San Diego Wrongful Death Attorney

When someone dies, others are left to deal with the shock. But surviving loved ones may have more than sadness to live with after a wrongful death victim is accidentally or intentionally killed.

No matter what causes the wrongful death, the consequences for family members can be financially and emotionally disastrous. Who will pay the mortgage when the family breadwinner is killed in a car crash on the San Diego Freeway? Who will take care of the home that the wrongful death victim so lovingly ran like clockwork so her family could concentrate on school and work? Who will raise the baby left motherless by a botched surgical birthing in a San Diego hospital?

If you have lost a family member through someone else's fault, you may be entitled to recover wrongful death damages. But do not delay in finding the help you need, or you may lose your right to sue the wrongdoer. Get help from an experienced San Diego wrongful death lawyer who can tell you if you have a valid wrongful death claim and can get the claim process going.

California Wrongful Death Claims

California's wrongful death law sets out a hierarchy of the people who may seek damages for the wrongful death of a loved one. The living spouse and children of the deceased are among the first who may make a claim for wrongful death. So can the wrongful death victim's parents or certain unrelated minors, if the victim was supporting them at the time of the wrongful death.

If none of the people in this first category exist, relatives less closely related to the victim may be able to seek wrongful death damages. A good San Diego wrongful death attorney will be able to tell a stepchild, aunt or sibling of the wrongful death victim whether or not they may have a valid claim for wrongful death damages.

California Wrongful Death Damages

If you find, after consulting a San Diego wrongful death lawyer, that you have a well-founded claim for wrongful death damages, what kinds of damages can you expect to recover?

Each wrongful death case is different, and so are the damages that may be recovered. The personal losses of the claimant are paramount, as a wrongful death claim seeks to compensate the claimant only for his or her personal losses. What does that mean? Well, if the claimant is the deceased's husband, he can ask only to recover for those things he personally lost when his wife died. These might include:

• The value of the wife's services in the home, such as cooking and cleaning;

• The financial support the wife would have contributed to the husband;

• The expenses the husband paid for his wife's funeral; and

• The value of the wife's lost love and companionship.

If the wrongful death victim was a single adult who supported nobody but herself, her parents might be entitled to recover wrongful death damages. However, unlike the husband in our previous example, they could not recover money for financial support, because their daughter did not support them when she was alive. Each wrongful death claimant may recover only what has been personally lost, and the parents in this example did not lose their daughter's financial support.

Survivor's Actions

Instead of, or in addition to, a wrongful death claim, the decedent's estate may also be entitled to seek damages in what is called a "survivor's action." A survivor's action seeks to recover the types of damages the wrongful death victim could have sought if she had lived. If the wrongdoer whose actions killed the wrongful death victim pays a survivor's claim, the money goes into the decedent's estate. It is then distributed according to the terms of the decedent's will. If there is no will, damages will be distributed according to California's laws of intestate succession.

When should a survivor's claim be made? The wrongful death victim must have survived long enough after the accident that caused her eventual death to have suffered damages. For instance, if a woman was negligently injured during an operation at a San Diego hospital, and she lived for two months following the accidental injury, her estate might make a survivor's claim. The estate could seek recovery for the wrongful death victim's lost wages during her two months of confinement to bed. It might also sue for medical expenses and for the pain and suffering the decedent experienced during those two months.

Finding the Best San Diego Wrongful Death Lawyer

You want your wrongful death claim properly handled, so you need to get the right San Diego wrongful death attorney on your case. The right lawyer will be part of a San Diego attorney firm with extensive experience in wrongful death claims. That firm must also have the financial and support resources necessary to see these complicated cases through to successful settlement or judgment.

The Reeves Law Group handles nothing but personal injury claims, many of them wrongful death claims. We are ready to put our firm's considerable resources and talents to work on your wrongful death case, to get you the compensation you and your loved ones need to carry on. Our lawyers, who can meet you at our San Diego offices, understand the devastating effects of a wrongful death on surviving family members, and they are here to help. For a free consultation about your wrongful death case, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or e-mail us.