Personal Injury Defense

Wrongful Death Lawyers in Chapel Hill, North Carolina | Personal Injury Accidents

Wrongful Death lawsuits stem from lawsuits where a loved one becomes deceased from the actions of another. Our Chapel Hill law firm has wrongful death lawyers in North Carolina to help.  The actions may have been negligent or intentional. North Carolina does not recognize a unique cause of action called wrongful death. Rather it is a series of other actions that are brought because of the death of a person. A wrongful death may result from a number of things including: auto accidents, truck accidents, medical malpractice, nursing home abuse, defective products liability, motorcycle accidents, and some intentional torts.

Auto accident cases generally involve bad car wrecks. For example, a drunk driver drives 100 mph while intoxicated down the freeway and plows into a car driven by somebody, fatally injuring them. Aside from the criminal penalties he would be facing from the prosecutor's office, the decedent's family will most likely also sue the drunk driver for civil damages.

An example of a truck accident case would be a tractor trailer driver is speeding down the freeway while talking on his cell phone, he isn't paying any attention to the traffic up ahead and he runs into a compact car in front of him, killing the driver. The decedent's family can likely file a wrongful death suit against both the truck driver and his company for their negligence that resulted in the death of their family member.

Lots of wrongful death related suits are actually medical malpractice suits in North Carolina. For example, a doctor is supposed to be watching a patient who is seriously injured. Even though any competent doctor would have recommended a certain treatment and immediate surgery, this doctor does not. As a result of the bad medical decisions, the patient dies. The victim's family can have a med malpractice suit involving wrongful death during this time of pain and suffering.

In terms of defective products liability, automobiles come to mind. For instance, XYZ Motor company designs a truck poorly and the fuel tank will explode upon minor impacts in car accidents. One day, a man is driving down the road when he gets hit in the rear. His truck explodes and he is tragically killed. As a result of the grossly dangerous and defective truck, the man's family will likely have a cause of action against XYZ manufacturer.
In general, the surviving members of the decedent's family will file a lawsuit asking for compensation. In a wrongful death suit, recovery may include medical expenses, funeral expenses, loss of future earnings, punitive damages, loss of other benefits, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of companionship.

Medical expenses would include doctor's treatments preceding the decedent's death. These can be treatments, medicines, surgery expenses, diagnosis etc. Funeral expenses would be the expenses paid for the decedent's funeral.
Loss of future earnings are the probable amounts of income the person would have been able to make during his lifetime had the wrongful death not occurred. For example, if John runs over Sam with a Mack Truck and Sam was a software engineer who made $85,000 a year. Sam's family can sue for the wages that Sam would have made had he been alive.

Punitive damages are damages out there to deter further misconduct by liable parties. Intentional torts generally warrant punitive damages. Richard intentionally strikes Chris's legs with a baseball bat. Chris bleeds to death as a result of his injuries. Richard somehow gets acquitted of murder. However, Chris's family sues Richard for battery on Chris and asks for many of the wrongful death damages. Punitive damages would be likely awarded in the suit. Punitive damages are designed to sufficiently hurt the defendant so that future misconduct will not occur again. Chris's pain and suffering before he died would also warrant additional damages from Richard. Since Chris was a family man and a working father, his wife and children can also file suit and ask for damages for loss of companionship.

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The attorneys and lawyers at Everett Law Firm, P.A. understand the issues surrounding wrongful death in North Carolina.  Please feel free to email us or call our Chapel Hill law office, conveniently located in Chapel Hill, to discuss your wrongful death case. Our toll free phone number is (800) 942-8048.