When a loved one dies as a result of someone else’s negligence or carelessness, it is devastating for the whole family. Often the person may be the primary breadwinner for the household, leaving a spouse and children with little or no income and huge medical debts. This is unfair to the innocent families that are forced to pick up and move on without that person.
If you’ve lost a close relative due to someone else’s careless actions, you may deserve to be compensated for your loss. Our Dothan wrongful death lawyer can help.
At Gartlan Injury Law, our Dothan personal injury attorneys are devoted to helping Alabama families recover maximum compensation for the wrongful death of their loved ones. If you’re in Dothan AL or elsewhere in Alabama, contact us today to schedule a private one-on-one consultation with our Dothan wrongful death lawyers to learn more about your rights.
Damages in Alabama Wrongful Death Cases
Wrongful death cases in Alabama don’t work like wrongful death cases do in other states. Unlike in other states, the deceased person’s family members cannot seek compensatory damages for medical bills, lost income, pain and suffering, which is similar to the compensation in personal injury cases. In an Alabama wrongful death lawsuit, families can recover only punitive damages.
Courts award compensatory damages to compensate victims for losses they incur as a result of the incident, such as medical expenses and funeral and burial expenses. Punitive damages do not compensate victims for their losses. Instead, they serve to punish the at-fault party for their actions.
To maximize your compensation in a wrongful death settlement, your lawyer must show that the at-fault party’s actions were hazardous, with a significant risk of injury or death to others. They may show this fact by demonstrating that the at-fault party knew their actions had a considerable risk of causing harm, or that they should have known about that risk.
Suppose a loved one passed away after suffering injuries in a crash that an intoxicated driver caused. Your wrongful death lawyer may bring up the driver’s history of drunk driving, including any prior DWIs, and point out that everyone should recognize that drunk driving is dangerous.
What Are the Wrongful Death Laws in Alabama?
Alabama has several laws relating to wrongful death claims, including laws that address when a party may file a wrongful death lawsuit and the amount of compensation available. An experienced wrongful death attorney at Gartlan Injury Law can help you better understand how these laws apply to your case.
What Are the Circumstances Where Someone May File a Wrongful Death Claim?
Under Alabama law, only the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate can bring a wrongful death lawsuit. Alabama Code § 6-5-410 outlines when the deceased individual’s personal representative can seek compensation. Under this statute, a wrongful death occurs and gives rise to a wrongful death lawsuit when any of the following causes a death:
- Wrongful acts – Including criminal acts, such as homicide, physical assault, robbery, and domestic violence.
- Omissions – When someone has a legal or ethical duty toward another person, such as doctors. For instance, a doctor may fail to timely diagnose a health problem, leading to a medical malpractice claim.
- Negligence – A negligent act occurs when someone does something that a reasonable person in a similar situation wouldn’t have done, resulting in harm to another person.
Understanding the type of incident that caused your loved one’s death is a crucial step in holding the at-fault party liable for the harm they caused.
Does Alabama Have Any Caps on Wrongful Death Damages?
In most cases, Alabama caps the amount of punitive damages a victim can recover. For example, Ala. Code § 6-11-21(a) states that punitive damages typically cannot exceed three times the compensatory damages or $500,000, whichever is greater.
However, wrongful death compensation is different. Under Alabama wrongful death law, or Ala. Code § 6-11-21(j), there is no cap on punitive damages. This law is essential for surviving family members who stand to recover damages in a wrongful death suit. Punitive damages can be significant, sometimes in the millions of dollars, for cases where the at-fault party acted intentionally or with a reckless disregard for the harm they caused.
How To Prove Wrongful Death in Alabama
Our firm can help build your case and fight for the compensation you deserve, including:
A comprehensive investigation
Each case starts with a free consultation and a careful fact investigation. This often includes:
- Gathering photographs and videos
- Taking witness statements
- Obtaining medical evidence
- Obtaining government reports and other data
Careful review of medical evidence
Since a wrongful death case necessarily involves a fatal injury, our firm will work to gather the relevant medical records needed to prove your case. Our wrongful death attorneys in Dothan will take care of this process.
Consultations with industry and medical experts
In many situations, our firm will consult with leading experts from around the country who can help to develop your case. In cases involving auto accidents, this may mean consulting with forensic engineers and crash reconstruction experts. In other cases, it may mean hiring medical experts who can help a jury better understand why and how an injury resulted in death.
Skilled settlement negotiations
With the resources and skills of an experienced attorney on your side, you can count on us to take over the negotiations. Often having an experienced attorney handling the negotiations can make all the difference in leveraging a just and fair settlement.
Experienced trial litigation
If the case cannot be settled, your attorney will help to build and prepare your case for trial. With years of experience, our wrongful death lawyer in Dothan knows what it takes to win.
Resolving liens and collections
It’s not always just about getting compensation. It’s also important to have an attorney who can help to minimize the impact of healthcare bills, debts, and other liens. This means putting more money in your pocket at the end of the case.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Alabama?
A wrongful death claim is a civil lawsuit brought against a negligent person or company, which claims that the defendant caused the death of a loved one.
Section 6-5-410 of the Alabama Revised Statutes outlines your rights under the Wrongful Death Act. According to Alabama law, the decedent’s personal representative is allowed to file the action.
In many states, family members can directly bring a lawsuit and recover compensation. In those states, this is regarded as a separate claim from the estate’s claim. In Alabama, however, the estate must bring an action for wrongful death. Therefore, whoever is named the personal representative under a will is the appropriate person to bring the lawsuit. If there is no will, then a probate estate will need to be opened and a relative named as representative. We have some of the best Dothan wrongful death attorneys to help.
What Compensation Is Available for a Wrongful Death in Dothan?
Some people get confused about why there would be compensation in a wrongful death case. After all, a deceased person cannot be helped. No amount of money can help the family bring back a loved one. As many clients have said over the years, “what’s done is done.”
But this is shortsighted. It ignores the realities that families suffer after an unexpected loss.
For instance, here are just some of the ways that families may suffer after losing a loved one:
- High Medical Bills. When a person is involved in a fatal crash or suffers a deadly fall or workplace injury, there will most likely be medical bills. People rarely “die on impact.” In most cases, there is a serious injury that allows the person to suffer for days or weeks, racking up enormous bills before death. Hospital bills, surgeries, ambulance bills, and other costs can be so high they leave a spouse to consider bankruptcy. This is simply wrong.
- Funeral and Burial Costs. Anyone who has had to bury a loved one knows just how expensive funerals are. Between grave openings and closings, a funeral service, and even a modest casket, a burial service can end up costing tens of thousands.
- Lost Support and Income. If the decedent is the breadwinner, just imagine losing a family’s entire income all at once without warning. Even if the spouse and children are well educated, have solid savings, and are living below their means, unexpected death can result in a life-changing situation. A spouse who used to stay at home with young children may be forced to scramble to find work, pay for daycare, and struggle to pay bills. If the decedent was a homemaker, it can mean the surviving spouse being forced to hire housekeepers, nannies, daycares, and other services to make up for the loss of the help.
- Loss of Emotional Support. Of course, there’s also the intangible fact that you just lost someone you may have shared much of your life with. If it is a child, parent, spouse, or some other close member of the family, the loss will change you forever.
- Other Unanticipated Consequences. Finally, there are countless other losses. For example, the decedent may have carried the family’s health insurance, which means health costs may skyrocket for the surviving family. The decedent may have been receiving disability income or veteran’s compensation or a pension. These may be drastically reduced or go away entirely when the person dies. The decedent may have been the one to prepare regular meals or may have been skilled at maintaining and repairing vehicles. Now the family must face these day-to-day events without the help of the decedent.
Ultimately, wrongful death is a generational loss of wisdom, love, and affection. It strips an entire family of a legacy. While no amount of money can replace the person, a financial award in a wrongful death case can help to replace the lost income and cover many of the unfair and unexpected costs.
Whether your loved one died in a crash, at work, or from an injury on someone’s property, we want to help. At Gartlan Injury Law, you are more than just a client. You are the very reason we do what we do. We consider it an honor to represent people who have suffered the most serious and catastrophic of injuries.
