What is a "wrongful death" action?

A wrongful death lawsuit can arise for several different types of cases whenever a loved one is an unfortunate victim of a third party’s negligence. For example, the negligent and culpable third party might be the operator of a motor vehicle, a physician, a hospital and its staff, and/or the owner or possessor of real property premises where the injury leading to death occurred. Therefore, wrongful death actions may be exist in cases of medical malpractice, hospital negligence, automobile and truck accidents, and in premise liability cases as well.

Who can sue in a wrongful death action?

In a wrongful death case, it is normally the blood relative heirs who maintain the cause of action for the death of their loved one. The person whose death is the subject of the action is called the “wrongful death decedent”. All of the heirs must be joined as parties in the case, either as plaintiffs or as defendants. For example, if a parent with four adult children dies as a result of someone’s negligence, the attorney taking the case would want to have all four adult children as his or her clients and they would all be designated as plaintiffs in the case. However, if one of those four adult children does not want to join in as a plaintiff in the action, or if he or she cannot now be located, that other surviving adult child would be brought into the action by the other three adult children as a named defendant.

Do some wrongful death actions have more value than others?

Yes. Attorneys handling wrongful death actions generally want those cases where the “wrongful death decedent” earned an income and also provided financially for the remaining heirs who will ordinarily become the plaintiffs in the case. One can imagine a situation where a 40-year-old father of seven (7) minor children unexpectedly dies as a result of a third party’s culpable negligence, and he earns over $100,000 annually. The surviving wife and the children would be plaintiffs in the case and would be suing the culpable third party for loss of income and lost future earning capacity monetary damages as well as for the monetary value of the loss of the society, companionship, and comfort of their husband and father.

The above does not mean, however, that an attorney will automatically reject any wrongful death action where the decedent is a father or mother of an adult child, or, for that matter, where the decedent is an adult child of surviving parents who is still being financially supported by those surviving parents. These cases still have value because every juror can understand the concept that it is natural in the course of life for a child to survive after the death of his or her parents. When a child, whether an adult or still a minor, dies before his or her time, the grief and anguish visited upon the parents is immense and very understandable to judges and juries who will be monitoring the case.