Wrongful Death Lawyers in Long Beach
Losing a loved one is never easy, and wrongful death circumstances can amplify the pain even more. Sadly, California has the highest accident mortality out of all 50 states.
If you are looking for an experienced wrongful death lawyer in Long Beach, Peck Law Corp is here to help families gain justice when an outsider's actions intentionally or unintentionally lead to an innocent person's death. It is vital to hold responsible parties accountable by recovering compensation for suffering families.
Pursuing legal aid under these circumstances can feel overwhelming. Peck Law Corp has the experience and expertise to take some financial burdens off your family's shoulders during these challenging times.
What is Wrongful Death Defined As?
Wrongful deaths include fatal accidents that result from the carelessness or recklessness of an individual or corporation and intentional action that leads to a fatality.
Criminal behavior, like intentionally murdering someone, is wrongful death. Action where harm was the original intent but death was not and still occurs, like shooting someone in the shoulder who later dies from losing blood, is wrongful death.
Accidental and preventable fatalities are the most common wrongful deaths. These include instances where reasonable care was not taken, like hosting a children's birthday party and neglecting to lock safety gates surrounding a pool and a victim subsequently drowning.
Types of Wrongful Death Cases
A variety of fatal circumstances can merit a wrongful death claim. Here are the most common cases that survivors pursue with the help of a wrongful death lawyer in Long Beach.
Pedestrian Accidents
Pedestrians, motorcyclists, and bicyclists are vulnerable to fatal injuries from drivers. Traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries routinely claim the lives of innocent Long Beach residents because of reckless and careless drivers.
Vehicular Accidents
Car accidents resulting in drivers or passengers dying because of risky drivers are the most common wrongful death cases. A lot of people kill others by engaging in dangerous driving behaviors like driving under the influence, speeding, engaging with distractions, and road rage.
These accidents can also happen due to road defects or construction complications where the state can be culpable. Fatal truck accidents occur from mechanical failures, ignoring maintenance needs, or over-loading cargo.
Wrongful Death in Nursing Homes
In nursing homes, wrongful deaths can occur for a variety of reasons. In nursing homes, common causes of wrongful death include neglect, abuse, and medical misconduct. When staff members fail to offer enough care and attention to residents, neglect may result in serious injury or death. Abuse may occur when staff personnel or other residents hurt a resident physically or emotionally.
Medical malpractice may occur when nursing home personnel or medical experts fail to provide appropriate medical care or make errors that result in the death of a resident. Inadequate living circumstances, such as poor living conditions, inadequate nourishment, or a lack of safety precautions may also lead to wrongful deaths. It is essential to be aware of these causes and to take the necessary precautions to safeguard your loved ones.
Medical Malpractice
Healthcare providers often perform fatal errors by ignoring safety procedures or failing to uphold professional responsibility to provide care. Nurses, doctors, and hospitals can be culpable for wrongful death.
Medical malpractice happens when things like misdiagnosis, lack of informed consent, birth injuries, surgical faults, wrong or delayed treatment, pharmaceutical errors, and defective equipment can all lead to wrongful death.
Defective Products
Manufacturers are responsible for delivering safe products to the masses. Similarly to healthcare, there are meticulous protocols and industry regulations to avoid releasing defective products. Failure to abide by safety procedures resulting in fatal accidents leaves manufacturers liable.
Some examples include defective or dangerous baby or children's products, vehicles with mechanical faults, toxic food or food containers, and flawed pharmaceuticals.
Premises Liability
Property owners are responsible for warning visitors of potential threats on the premises, and failing to do so can carry liability. This includes hazards like broken steps, unenclosed swimming pools, and faulty electrical fencing.
Plane Crashes
Commercial and private flight companies and pilots can be found culpable in deaths resulting from mechanical failures and pilot or flight crew errors causing a plane crash.
Murder
Sometimes, an individual is acquitted of murder in criminal court, and family members and survivors pursue another avenue for justice by filing a wrongful death claim against that person.
Proving a matter in criminal court is much more difficult than proving the same matter in civil court, which is how someone can be acquitted of a crime in criminal court and still be found legally responsible for the same crime through a wrongful death claim.
Suicide
An individual can be liable for someone else's suicide in a wrongful death case. A civil court can determine that someone intentionally inflicting emotional, physical, or psychological distress played a significant role in a person's suicide.
How to Prove a Wrongful Death Case
California requires four legal components to win a wrongful death lawsuit. The four elements are proof of negligence or recklessness, breach of duty, causation, and damages.
Police reports, final medical records, witness testimony, crash or crime scene photos, employer records, and death certificates are potential pieces of evidence for supporting a wrongful death claim.
Beyond the actions resulting in the victim's demise, a plaintiff needs to also prove the death causes calculable financial losses. Some quantifiable losses include funeral and burial expenses, medical and hospitalization bills, income loss, investments, and potential future earnings.
Plaintiffs can also include child support payments and reasonable value of household services the victim would provide, like maintenance and lawn care, in a wrongful death claim.
Duty of Care
The notion of duty of care is fundamental to any claim for wrongful death. This is the legal responsibility a person has to avert foreseeable damage to others by exercising reasonable care. To establish a person's liability for a death, it must be shown that they broke this duty of care and that this violation caused the victim's death.
There are several ways in which a duty of care might be broken, but prominent examples include irresponsibly driving a vehicle, neglecting to maintain unsafe facilities, and making and selling faulty items. If it can be shown that the defendant's conduct (or inaction) caused the victim's death, the defendant may be held accountable in a wrongful death lawsuit.
Breach of Duty
There are several ways a duty of care might be violated. The most prevalent method is neglect. This occurs when someone fails to take reasonable efforts to avert foreseeable damage.
For instance, if a doctor fails to correctly diagnose a patient's sickness and the patient dies as a consequence, this might be called carelessness. In addition to deliberate conduct, such as murder, carelessness, such as driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol, may constitute a violation of duty of care.
Causation
To establish causation, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant's acts directly caused the decedent's death. This indicates that the death would not have happened if not for the conduct of the defendant. Additionally, the plaintiff must demonstrate that the defendant's activities were the direct cause of the decedent's death.
This indicates that the death was a predictable consequence of the defendant's activities. To determine whether you have a case, it is essential to contact with an experienced wrongful death attorney about the question of causation.
Damages
Damages are essential in a wrongful death lawsuit in order to collect compensation for the loss of a loved one. This covers both economic and non-economic losses, such as pain and suffering and the loss of companionship.
In some instances, punitive damages may be given to penalize the person responsible for a fatality. Depending on the specifics of the case, the amount of damages that may be recovered will vary.
Steps To Take To File a Claim
The following steps should be followed to submit a wrongful death claim.
1. Contact Peck Law Corp: First, get in touch with our team here at Peck Law Corp in order to book a consultation with an attorney. During this consultation, the attorney will evaluate your case to decide whether or not it has merit.
2. Gather Evidence: Once the attorney accepts the case, the next step is to collect all of the required proof. This may contain medical records, police reports, statements from witnesses, and other pertinent documents.
3. File a Complaint: The attorney will thereafter file a complaint with the appropriate court. This complaint will describe the case's facts and the damages sought.
4. Discovery: During the phase of discovery, each party will collect evidence and information from the other. Additionally, the attorney will gather evidence from the defendant and any other relevant parties.
5. Negotiations: After the completion of the discovery phase, our team will seek to negotiate a settlement with the defendant and their insurance carrier. In the absence of a settlement, the matter will continue to trial.
6. Trial: If the matter proceeds to trial, the lawyer will present evidence and argue the case before a judge or jury.
7. Resolution: If the lawsuit is resolved or won at trial, the attorney will guarantee that the clients receive the amount to which he or she is due.
It is essential to remember that each case is unique, and that the processes and timeline may vary based on the specifics of the case. It is recommended that you follow your attorney's advice and provide them with all the information they need to establish a good case.
Contact a Wrongful Death Lawyer in Orange County
If you or a loved one has lost a family member due to the carelessness or wrongdoing of a third party, you must act quickly since the statute of limitations for wrongful death claims is limited.
A wrongful death claim is a complex legal process that requires the assistance of an experienced attorney. Here at Peck Law Corporation, we have a team of skilled attorneys who specialize in wrongful death cases and are standing by ready to help you navigate the legal system and fight for the compensation you and your family deserve. Our firm will help you gather evidence, file a complaint, negotiate with the other party, and take the case to trial if necessary. We will fight relentlessly to ensure that you obtain the justice and recompense to which you are entitled.
Financial restitution cannot replace the loss of a loved one, but it can ease some of the pressure and difficulty you are facing during this time. Contact Peck Law Corp today and connect with a Long Beach wrongful death lawyer if you require legal assistance for a wrongful death case.
FAQs
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In California, damages for wrongful death may include economic damages such as lost wages and loss of future earnings, as well as noneconomic damages such as pain and suffering and loss of companionship. Punitive damages may also be available in cases where the defendant's actions were particularly egregious. If you have lost a loved one due to someone else's negligence, it is important to consult with an experienced wrongful death attorney to discuss your legal options.
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In a wrongful death claim, the person or entity (insurance company) who is found to be responsible for the death of the victim will be required to pay damages to the victim's family. This could include money for medical and funeral expenses, as well as lost wages and other damages. If the person or entity responsible for the death is found to be at fault, they may also be required to pay punitive damages.
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The highest wrongful death settlement on record occurred in May of 2017 and was awarded to the family of a woman who died from complications after routine gallbladder surgery. The settlement totaled $229 million. This is the largest amount ever awarded in a medical malpractice case in the United States.
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There are a few key pieces of evidence that are crucial in determining whether or not a death was wrongful.
First, it is important to obtain the deceased person's medical records. This will help to establish what the cause of death was and whether or not there were any preexisting medical conditions that may have contributed.
Next, it is important to speak to witnesses who saw what happened leading up to the death. These eyewitness accounts can help to piece together what happened and whether or not there was any negligence on the part of another party.
Finally, it is important to collect any physical evidence that may be relevant, such as clothing or weapons. This evidence can help to corroborate the accounts of witnesses and establish a clear picture of what happened.