The laws allow surviving family members to be compensated when they suffer financial and non-economic losses due to the death of someone they love. A wrongful death case makes it possible for family members to receive monetary damages from those responsible for the death. A wrongful death lawyer in Charlotte is there for you after a death due to negligence or wrongdoing.
While money might not be the first thing on your mind after the loss of a loved one, recovering compensation can be critical for moving forward, especially if the deceased was the primary earner for your household. Contact the experienced Charlotte personal injury lawyers at Auger & Auger to schedule a free consultation today.
Charlotte, Nc, Wrongful Death Laws
Following the death of a loved one, it is important to understand your rights to pursue compensation in Charlotte, NC. Under North Carolina law, only the personal representative or executor of the estate of the deceased can file a wrongful death lawsuit. This person is generally named in the will of the deceased.
If they died without a will, the probate court will appoint a personal representative, usually a close relative like a surviving spouse, an adult child, a parent, or a sibling.
Although only the personal representative can file a claim, they do so on behalf of the estate‘s heirs. According to North Carolina estate law, any damages will be divided among the heirs after any applicable legal fees and court costs are paid.
Opening An Estate
It’s important to understand that an estate must be opened for the deceased before anyone can file a wrongful death claim. Under state law, you have two years to open an estate following the decedent’s passing. In most cases, this is not an issue.
However, delays in opening the estate can significantly reduce the time available to file a wrongful death claim. If the estate is not opened promptly, the legal team may not have enough time to gather evidence and prepare the case before the statute of limitations expires.
Occasionally, someone passes without any significant assets, and their surviving family members do not see the point in opening an estate, or it may not be necessary. In North Carolina, if the estate is worth less than $20,000, the surviving spouse can file an affidavit and inherit everything.
Time Limits For Filing A Wrongful Death Claim
After the death of a loved one in North Carolina, you have two years to file a wrongful death claim, and it can take a few weeks or months to get an estate opened, depending on how busy the courts are.
If you believe you might want to pursue legal action, you’ll have to think about how long it’s been since your loved one passed, how long it might take to open an estate, and then how much time your attorney might need to prepare to file a wrongful death suit.
For this reason, it’s a good idea to talk to a wrongful death lawyer as soon as you can. There is no obligation to move forward after speaking with a Charlotte wrongful death attorney, but they can explain the process and answer your questions.
What Are The Next Steps To Seeking Damages For A Wrongful Death?
The personal representative of a deceased victim may pursue a wrongful death claim to recover compensation for spouses, children, and other close relatives or dependents of someone who is killed.
However, North Carolina follows a strict contributory negligence rule. If the deceased was even 1% at fault, the estate cannot recover damages. Because of this, proving liability is crucial in a wrongful death case.
A case can be made against individuals responsible for causing death or against companies and even government agencies. These claims can arise due to deaths resulting from a variety of incidents.
Car, Motorcycle, And Truck Crashes
Motor vehicle accidents are a very common reason for wrongful death cases. It will be necessary to prove that the at-fault party failed in their duty to drive safely, leading to an accident that ultimately caused the deceased person’s death.
This can happen for many reasons, including drunk driving, distracted driving, failing to follow the speed limit, ignoring red lights or other traffic laws, etc. Your attorney will go over the highway patrol accident report with you and ask questions to clarify what happened.
Medical Negligence
This can describe any situation where a doctor, nurse, or other healthcare worker acted in a negligent way that led to a person’s death. Of course, the mere fact that someone was receiving medical care at the time of their death does not mean the care was negligent.
It will be essential to show that the healthcare provider acted in a way that was not consistent with a generally accepted “standard of care” in their profession and that this negligence caused the death.
Nursing Home Abuse And Negligence
No one wants to think about an elderly relative experiencing abuse or neglect in a nursing home, but unfortunately, these situations happen more often than you might realize.
Nursing home residents suffer abuse at a high rate because they are viewed as easy targets by abusers. Many residents face a variety of challenges, including physical and cognitive issues.
Memory loss can make elderly residents particularly vulnerable. Additionally, residents who have few visitors are more likely to suffer abuse than those with a strong support system.
Property Owner Negligence
This can occur in public places or private residences that the victim entered legally, including situations where a dangerous condition was not apparent, such as a sharp drop that could lead to a fatal fall, and there was no warning sign. There are also cases where something heavy fell on the victim, or a dangerous piece of equipment was left unattended, and a person died.
Negligent security is another possibility – if your loved one was killed in a violent attack and the property owner did not provide adequate security to prevent such a situation, the owner may have been negligent. It will be necessary to show that the property owner or manager failed to take “reasonable care” in keeping the property safe for visitors.
Construction Site Accidents
A list of the top 25 most dangerous jobs in America, compiled by an insurance analysis firm, reveals that nearly half of the deadliest jobs in America are in the construction industry. Self-employed or contract workers are more than three times more likely to die on the job in construction work, but a tragic accident can happen to anyone.
If a person who died on the job was an employee, their family might be eligible to file a worker’s compensation claim. However, even if this claim is approved, the family will only receive two–thirds of the decedent‘s regular weekly salary for 500 weeks. (If benefits are designated for minor children, weekly payments will continue until they’re 18.)
The amount received is often insufficient to support the family’s living expenses.
In North Carolina, wrongful death claims against an employer are generally barred under workers’ compensation laws. However, if a third party—such as a subcontractor, equipment manufacturer, or negligent property owner—was responsible for the accident, a wrongful death claim may be possible.
Speak with a wrongful death attorney in Charlotte, before filing a worker’s comp claim, to better understand your options and make an informed decision.
Dangerous Products, Including Defective Vehicles, Dangerous Drugs, And Defective Medical Devices
In these cases, it’s important to show that the product was defective somehow, that this defect caused the death, that the dangerous item was used per the manufacturer’s instructions, and that there was no warning that the product could cause a dangerous condition.
In these and many other situations, you need to determine who was responsible for causing the death, and you must be able to prove that the liable party did something wrong or breached some legal obligation.
The Charlotte wrongful death lawyers at Auger & Auger will help identify who can be held financially responsible and can work hard to make a case against them. We can also answer any questions you have and help you better understand the process.
Pursuing Damages After The Death Of A Loved One
“Damages” are the financial consequences a person or entity has to pay the victim’s heirs if the wrongful death case is successful. It can be hard to think of your losses being summed up in a dollar amount, but this is the only way a court can compensate a family for their loss.
Sometimes, people express that they don’t see the use of pursuing a claim because the money can’t compensate them for a lost loved one. That’s true. However, the financial damages paid in a wrongful death case can help support the decedent’s spouse and children, relieving any financial difficulties they might be facing.
The grieving process is difficult enough without worrying about how to make rent or afford to buy food. Additionally, if your loved one had minor children, they might have wanted to help them pay for college or begin their lives as adults. Damages recovered can help ensure this happens, even if they didn’t have the chance to build a savings account for the children before they died.
What Kind Of Damages Are Available In A Charlotte Wrongful Death Case?
Here are some of the potential damages you and your attorney may discuss seeking in a wrongful death case:
- Medical bills related to the injury or illness that ultimately resulted in your loved one‘s death: Medical expenses can be quite staggering, even if the deceased was only in the hospital for a day or less before they passed.
- The decedent‘s pain and suffering that occurred prior to their passing: If the actions of the at-fault party caused your loved one to suffer before they died, they should be held accountable.
- Funeral and burial expenses: These costs can eat up all or most of the coverage provided by an inexpensive life insurance policy.
- Loss of income: These compensatory damages are particularly important if the deceased was the family’s main financial provider. Your attorney can estimate how much income the deceased may have earned if they had lived.
- Loss of consortium or companionship: This refers to the emotional loss of no longer having a loved one’s support, care, guidance, comfort, advice, companionship, etc.
- Punitive damages: These don’t apply in most cases. However, in some situations where the responsible party is found to have caused the death through “malice or willful or wanton conduct,” a jury may award additional “punitive” damages to punish the defendant further.
What If There Was No Criminal Conviction? Can I Still File A Wrongful Death Claim On Behalf Of The Estate?
Yes. While filing a wrongful death claim against someone found criminally culpable is helpful, a conviction is not necessary. Criminal law requires a finding of “guilty beyond a reasonable doubt” to convict, so the burden of proof is very high. Often, a person is not found guilty in criminal court simply because the evidence against them does not meet this standard.
Contrary to popular belief, the jury is not tasked with deciding if a person is guilty or innocent, only if the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
For this reason, there are also many situations where a prosecutor will decide not to pursue charges in the first place because they recognize that there isn’t enough evidence to prove it in court.
These situations can be extremely frustrating for the deceased person’s loved ones. You may want some measure of justice for your loved one’s death, only to find out you can’t get it through the criminal justice system.
However, you may still be able to seek some consequences for the person or entity responsible through a wrongful death case. Here’s why:
- A wrongful death case is a civil suit or tort. A defendant who loses a civil case will receive a judgment they have to pay in damages, but they will not go to prison.
- In these cases, the jury only has to find that the defendant was more likely to be guilty than not based on a “preponderance of evidence.”
- This is a much lower burden of proof than in a criminal case. It simply means that the jury believes it’s more likely than not that the defendant caused the death. As a result, you may get a verdict in a civil case that would not have been possible in a criminal one.
An example of this is the wrongful death suit against football player and actor O. J. Simpson. Most people recall his heavily publicized trial for murder, which ended in 1995 with an acquittal.
Not long after that, family members of the two murder victims sued Simpson in civil court and eventually won a $33.5 million judgment against him.
Simpson refused to pay it, and in subsequent years the amount grew to around $70 million. An attorney for Fred Goldman, whose son was one of the murder victims, seized some of Simpson’s assets, including proceeds from a video game and royalties on a book called If I Did It, a theoretical account of how someone might have committed the murders.
Compensation For Charlotte Families And Victims
Compensation can be obtained from a negligent party through a negotiated settlement or may be awarded by a jury. The money should cover financial losses, such as the loss of wages that the deceased is no longer able to provide to the family and the loss of value on the services the deceased was providing to their loved ones.
If there were medical bills incurred before death, those should be covered, as should burial and funeral expenses.
A death does not just cause financial damage. Financial compensation should also provide for the loss of the deceased’s love, companionship, guidance, and care. Proving the value of these intangible damages can be difficult, but a Charlotte wrongful death attorney can help you demonstrate the extent of the loss.
Getting Help From A Charlotte Wrongful Death Lawyer
Those who cause a death need to be held accountable and should provide total and fair compensation so families of the deceased are not left coping with financial hardship in addition to their grief. Auger & Auger will work hard to help get the money that families need to move on, even though their lives will never be the same.
Our North Carolina lawyers have extensive experience in wrongful death claims and have been recognized by clients and peers as dedicated advocates for injured victims and their surviving family members. We will bring more than 50 years of combined legal experience to help you get maximum compensation for your losses.
Our top AVVO client rating, our membership in the Million Dollar Advocates Forum, and the many other awards and accolades we have received all show that our firm is committed to providing top-notch legal representation to those who have been harmed.
Contact our law firm today to learn how a wrongful death attorney in Charlotte can help during a free consultation.
