There are many reasons to consider a wrongful death lawsuit after the death of a family member. Here we've outlined some of the most common so that you can begin to understand whether this may or may not be a good step for your family.
Let us focus for a minute on the propriety of bringing a wrongful death lawsuit in the first place. There are some who think it's wrong to accept money because someone died. We understand this argument. We understand that accepting money due to the death of a loved one can seem wrong. It's an emotional argument, and in some circumstances it makes some emotional sense. But it’s an emotional argument that crumbles when given some serious thought.
The problem with the argument is that, when someone says, “You can’t put a dollar figure on a person’s death,” they are, in fact, putting a dollar figure on that death. The dollar figure they’re putting on it is zero ($0.00).
The lawyers for a company or person that caused a death will sometimes make this very argument: “It’s tragic,” they’ll say, “but we can’t measure the value of a life in money.” But by using this argument, the lawyers are hoping to convince people that the law should value the life at nothing, or $0. Most people assume that they mean the life is worth MORE than money - which it is - or an infinite amount - which is also true. But sadly, the result of a jury deciding that “we simply cannot put a value on a human life” would be that the life is worth NO money ($0.00). And the truth is, while it’s impossible to accurately put a value on a human life, we do know that the value is not “nothing.”
There are as many reasons for bringing a wrongful death lawsuit as there are people who bring the cases. Each person must make his or her own decision about it, but here are some common reasons:
Closure
Some people are motivated by a search for closure. Not closure for the death; there will never be closure about an unnecessary death. But closure regarding the injustice of the death.
Justice
When discussing justice, we should be careful to distinguish a criminal trial from a civil trial. They are very different. In a criminal trial, if someone is found guilty, he or she can go to jail. In order to find someone guilty, a jury has to be convinced “beyond a reasonable doubt.” On the other hand, if someone is found to be responsible (we don’t use the word “guilty” here) in a civil trial, then he or she will not go to jail, but will have to pay enough money to compensate for the loss he or she caused. That money is often paid by an insurance company.
Legacy
Some people want to create a legacy for their loved one. This can be a beautiful and satisfying use of proceeds from a wrongful death claim. If a tiny bit of good can come from a horrible act, doing that little bit of good can really help. If a parent has died, one of the losses to the children is that the parent won’t be there for their child’s wedding or first day of college, or the day their child buys a first home or starts a business. One use of the proceeds from a wrongful death case can be setting up a fund to pay for that wedding, college education, first house, or new business.
Financial Security
The loss of the breadwinner in a family can send the family into financial distress, even bankruptcy. Sometimes a wrongful death suit is the only way to get a family back onto stable footing. Sometimes it is simply necessary – and there is nothing wrong or immoral about taking care of your family.
It’s Your Decision, But Talking to a Lawyer Can Help
We hope it’s been helpful to discuss some of the more common reasons people decide to bring a lawsuit. If you are trying to decide whether or not to bring a wrongful death lawsuit, we hope this book will help you. It may also be helpful to talk with some wrongful death lawyers, making clear that you are not intending to sign up with them, but only want to better understand your options.
Any lawyer specializing in wrongful death cases will be willing to talk to you in detail without putting any pressure on you at all to hire them. It can also be helpful to talk to others who have been through this before. Be wary of advice from well-meaning friends who have never gone through something like this, though. While they are trying to be helpful out of love for you, their advice can be misleading if they do not understand the legal implications – which they will not, unless they have gone through this themselves.
