A worker’s comp due to wrongful death statute is a law that shows the requirements, penalties, limitations and all other legal aspects of wrongful death actions. It depends on the area and state for where the laws change slightly, but a lawyer in your area can surely determine the specifics for the area that you are in.
The details of the statute will include the ways that a worker’s comp due to wrongful death can be recognized and determined. It also includes determining who the person is that can bring the action against someone else. Wrongful death is a term in civil law (not to be confused with common law). Criminal murder and homicide cases are much different.
This type of case allows the family of the deceased (usually spouse or kin) to pursue legal action against the guilty for damages. There are a standard two types of damages: loss to the estate and loss to the survivors. The loss to the state means money that is lost or cut off due to the death of the provider. This can include their potential earnings had they still been alive, burial expenses and other costs. A wrongful death statute will award the living with a flat amount or will calculate how the estate losses can be compensated for.
Tom with Hinden Law says, “Damages that are based on the loss for the survivors are estimated by the financial support and assistance that the person would have continued making if he or she had still been living.” This can include things even such as gifts that would have been offered by the victim, wages owed to the employees of the deceased and household financial contributions that the person would have made if he or she had not been killed. There is such a thing as punitive damages which can be given to the living in some situations.
In the US, wrongful death actions aren’t the same as criminal cases. They are dealt with completely differently. In criminal cases, guilt must be proven, while in civil matters, liability is proven through a “preponderance of the evidence.” In a wrongful death situation, the liable person only has to be declared responsible by more than 50 percent of proof which allows them to be criminally not guilty but is still civilly liable.
Your attorney has been many cases like this and can help you come to justice through their knowledge and experience in the field. They want you to win and will do whatever it takes to get you what you deserve.
