Wrongful Death
Have you experienced a wrongful death?
Areas of Practice
Professional & Experienced Wrongful Death Lawyer
There is no easy way to face your loved ones’ death in a truck accident, catastrophic injury, cord injury, boating accident, brain injury, birth injury, fatal accident, motorcycle accident, car accident, or death by a defective product.
The grief that you feel with a wrongful death case can be devastating under any circumstances, but what is often highly troubling in a wrongful death case is when your loved one’s death or the death of the wrongful death victim is preventable.If your loved one is a wrongful death victim, it can impact surviving families in many different ways. The grief of death after a truck accident, catastrophic injury, cord injury, boating accident, brain injury, birth injury, fatal accident, motorcycle accident, car accident, or death by a defective product is challenging emotionally and financially.
Yes, a wrongful death case can also cause the deceased person’s family to undergo financial chaos. Dealing with a loved one’s wrongful death damages can be difficult, especially for people that rely on the deceased person. They could see themselves unexpectedly in dire financial straits.
Thankfully, each state provides for legal action for the wrongful death act called a wrongful death lawsuit.
A wrongful death lawsuit is a civil lawsuit, giving the surviving family the power to pursue compensation from the party that caused negligence resulting in a wrongful death act.
What Is A Wrongful Death Claim?
Understanding what a wrongful death claim really means begins with understanding what it is not. A wrongful death claim is not and will never be a criminal prosecution. A wrongful death claim also will not result in fines with a conviction or prison time. The district attorney carries no part in bringing wrongful death claims’ causes of action.
Wrongful death claims are civil lawsuits. If the wrongful death claims are successful, it will lead to financial compensation from the at-fault party. Wrongful death claims can result from any death which is caused by the negligence of the other party. Wrongful death claims can also result from different acts of negligence or wrongful act. Some wrongful act includes truck accident, catastrophic injury, cord injury, boating accident, brain injury, birth injury, fatal accident, motorcycle accident, car accident, or death by a defective product.
Most of the time, these claims will result in a wrongful death lawsuit. A wrongful death lawsuit is filed on behalf of the victim’s surviving family against the at-fault party. The insurance company for the defendant of the wrongful act will have a keen interest if a policy was in place that could cover the death.
What Comprises a Wrongful Death?
Any negligence or illegal act that results in wrongful death action or the death of another person could comprise a wrongful death claim. Our professional and experienced wrongful death lawyer states that these claims derive from negligence, irresponsible, or wanton actions that result in wrongful death damages or fatal consequences.
A wrongful death claim carries with it the potential for financial compensation, economic damages, punitive damage, product liability, and premises liability recovery from the at-fault party. Wrongful death claims can generally serve two roles. The first role is that they serve as a kind of personal injury claim for the victim. The second kind of wrongful death claim implicates the effect the loss has on the surviving family. These families of the deceased could be entitled to wrongful death compensation for their loss of companionship and financial compensation.
Who Has the Right to File Wrongful Death Lawsuits?
Wrongful death lawsuit filing varies across state lines. If you want to file wrongful death lawsuits, you may contact our professional and experienced wrongful death attorney since we have excellent wrongful death lawyers and wrongful death attorneys in our law group with a lot of experience in taking care of wrongful death lawsuits. Here is who may file:
In Arizona, a wrongful death claim may be brought by the surviving spouse, a child, a parent or guardian, or the personal representative of the estate. It is one case for the whole family, brought on behalf of all of the people the law allows to recover.
What Is The Process For Filing A Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
Before filing a death lawsuit, you must contact a wrongful death lawyer or wrongful death attorneys. The filing of a wrongful death lawsuit differs in every jurisdiction. For example, some courts require a physical copy of the lawsuit to be hand-delivered to the courthouse. While other jurisdictions are paperless, this means that all the filings are electronic and can be done online.
The act of filing a claim for the wrongful death statute is the easy part. Before you and your wrongful death lawyer or wrongful death attorneys can pursue a Wrongful death statute, you need to determine first if you have all the right to file suit at all. Accident Law Group is here to guide you and help you review your situation. Even if you don’t hold the right to file a wrongful death lawsuit, you can still be entitled to the proceeds of a successful wrongful death claim. We can also advise you on everything you need in filing a wrongful death claim.
How Long Does It Take to Resolve Wrongful Death Claims?
There is no standard length of time for a wrongful death case to resolve. However, the number of time it takes to resolve a wrongful death claim can vary on a number of factors. For example, the partakers of these claims could accomplish compensation even before a lawsuit is ever filed.
The second example is that a wrongful death claim can be resolved in a few short months. These cases happen where liability is not in dispute, the settlement generally centers on the amount of settlement that is fair. While cases where liability is in dispute typically take much longer to settle.
How Can You Win A Wrongful Death Lawsuit?
Winning any lawsuit is possible with Accident Law Group. But how do you actually win a wrongful death lawsuit? Well, it follows the same process as winning a personal injury claim. You need to prove that the at-fault party acted negligently. In establishing negligence, you should know four elements: the duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and injuries.
Being the plaintiff, you need to establish all of the four we mentioned. If you fail to prove even one of the said elements, then your entire claim becomes fatal.
What is a Wrongful Death?
The devastating event of a loved ones death can bring about not only immense emotional pain but also a plethora of legal challenges. Surviving family members, in their grief, often find it tough to navigate the complicated legal landscape that such an event might entail. If this tragic event has occurred due to a fall, the expertise of a fall lawyer is essential. Similarly, fatalities that are the result of mishaps at building sites necessitate the skills of a construction accident lawyer. Both of these professionals operate within the domain of personal injury law, but each has specialized knowledge that makes them uniquely qualified for their respective scenarios.
Accident Law Group offers services in these specialized areas to assist families in getting the justice and compensation they rightly deserve. When an individual’s demise is the consequence of a workplace accident, the case can become even more intricate, requiring a thorough understanding of both workplace safety regulations and personal injury law. A wrongful death attorney works diligently to ensure that the bereaved get an appropriate wrongful death settlement. Such a settlement can include compensatory damages for loss and suffering, and in cases where the negligence was particularly egregious, punitive damages may be awarded. It’s essential to note the distinction between a general personal injury lawyer and a wrongful death attorney: while the former handles cases of injury, the latter is dedicated to cases where the injury has led to a fatality. In such painful times, the right legal representation becomes a beacon of hope and support for the bereaved.
Wrongful Death FAQ
If you have lost someone you love, these answers explain in plain terms how Arizona wrongful death claims work, so you can read them at whatever pace feels right.
Arizona law allows a surviving spouse, a child, a parent or guardian, or the personal representative of the estate to bring the case, and either parent may bring it for the death of a child. Whoever files acts on behalf of all of the surviving spouse, children, and parents, or on behalf of the estate if none of them survive. Arizona courts treat this as one action with one plaintiff and one judgment, so family members do not each file their own case, and a settlement that could affect the others needs their consent. The statute does not list siblings or grandparents as beneficiaries.
No amount of money can measure a life, and Arizona law does not set a formula. The statute asks the jury to award damages it finds “fair and just” for the survivors’ loss, and it may also weigh any aggravating or mitigating circumstances of the wrongful act. Arizona’s recommended jury instructions describe losses such as love, affection, companionship, care, protection, and guidance; grief and emotional suffering; income and services the family has lost; reasonable funeral and burial expenses; and reasonable medical expenses for the injury that led to the death. Every family’s loss is different, and each is considered on its own facts.
In most cases, Arizona allows two years to file a wrongful death lawsuit, and the two years generally run from the date of death rather than the date of the accident. Some situations follow different rules. Claims involving a government agency have much shorter deadlines, and a criminal case can change the timing in certain cases. Grief does not keep a schedule, and you do not need to make decisions before you are ready, but it can help to have someone look at the dates early so your family’s options stay open. If you would like us to look at them with you, you can reach us at (602) 333-3333.
Claims against an Arizona public entity, public school, or public employee have their own rules. A written notice of claim generally must be filed within 180 days after the claim accrues, with the person authorized to accept service for that agency. The notice must explain the basis for the claim and state a specific amount for which it could be settled, with facts supporting that amount. A lawsuit generally must then be filed within one year. Because these requirements are strict, if a road condition, a government vehicle, or a public employee may have played a part, it is worth talking with a lawyer early.
Arizona follows comparative fault. If a jury finds that the person who died was partly responsible, the family’s claim is generally not barred, but the damages are reduced by the share of fault assigned to your loved one. Fault is a question for the jury to decide from the evidence. Insurance adjusters sometimes raise it early, before the facts are fully known, and it is okay not to accept an adjuster’s view of what happened before you have had a chance to understand the evidence, such as police reports, photos, and witness accounts. A lawyer can help you review those facts calmly.
Yes. A wrongful death claim compensates the surviving family for their own loss. Separately, under Arizona’s survival statute, most claims your loved one could have brought had they lived continue after death and may be pursued by the personal representative of the estate, for example for medical bills or lost earnings before death. One important limit is that the estate cannot recover for the pain and suffering your loved one experienced before death. Because the two claims can overlap, they are often handled together, and opening a probate estate to appoint a personal representative may be part of the process.
Under Arizona law, money recovered for the surviving spouse, children, or parents is divided among them in proportion to each person’s own loss, rather than by a will or by fixed shares. If the claim is brought for the estate because no spouse, child, or parent survives, the recovery becomes an asset of the estate. A recovery for family members is not subject to the debts of the person who died, but a recovery for the estate can be. These conversations can be tender within a family, and a lawyer can help explain the options, including extra steps that may apply when a child is a beneficiary.
A criminal case and a wrongful death claim are separate. The state brings the criminal case to decide guilt and punishment, while your family’s civil claim seeks compensation and uses a lower standard of proof. A conviction can help, because Arizona law prevents a convicted defendant from later denying the essential facts of the crime in a civil case. A criminal court may also order restitution, which does not prevent a separate civil claim for losses beyond what restitution actually pays. For certain serious charges, Arizona extends the civil deadline, but not in every case, so it is wise not to wait for the criminal case to end.
Related practice areas & guides
- Car accident attorneys — when a loved one was killed in a crash
- When a child is killed in a car accident — a guide for grieving parents
- Motorcycle accident lawyers — fatal motorcycle crashes
- Semi-truck accidents — when a commercial truck is involved
- Pedestrian accident lawyers — when someone on foot was struck
- Bicycle accident lawyer — fatal bicycle crashes
- Medical malpractice — when a death followed medical care
- Slip and fall lawyers — deaths after a fall on someone else’s property
- Filing a wrongful death claim against the government — claims involving a government agency
- Workplace wrongful death in Arizona — deaths caused by a workplace accident
- Frequently asked questions — general questions about injury claims
- Meet our attorneys — the Accident Law Group team
- Visit or contact us — offices in Arizona and New Mexico
