Your wrongful death claim is worth the value of the injury resulting from the death to the beneficiaries. The worth of a wrongful death claim is valued from the perspective of the survivors and what they have suffered in losing their family member. The value of the claim may include both the severe economic and personal loss that comes with losing a family member to a personal injury accident.
What Constitutes a Wrongful Death Claim?
A wrongful death claim is a personal injury claim where the victim suffers fatal injury. If a person would have been able to bring a legal claim if death had not occurred, surviving family members can bring a claim for wrongful death.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim in South Carolina?
The person who files the wrongful death claim is the person’s estate executor or administrator. However, the claim isn’t always for their benefit. The executor or administrator files the case and controls it. However, as determined by law, the close family members receive the proceeds of the claim.
In South Carolina, some surviving family members can always be beneficiaries of a wrongful death claim:
- Spouse – husband or wife
- Children – including adopted and children born out of wedlock
What if there is no spouse or child?
If there is no surviving spouse or child, then the victim’s parents may file a wrongful death claim. Then, if there are no parents, the victim’s other heirs may bring a claim.
Key Factors That Determine the Value of a Claim
Factors that determine the value of a wrongful death claim include:
Economic losses
Losing a family member is an economic loss. A surviving spouse and children may have relied on the person for the income they provided. A parent may support a child, and a child may support their parent. Lost wages, medical bills, and funeral expenses are some of the economic losses that may be included in your wrongful death claim’s worth.
Non-economic losses
It is difficult to measure the personal loss of a wrongful death claim. A family member is a source of companionship and care. Losing them causes pain and emotional anguish. The amount of loss depends on the nature of the relationship between the victim and survivors. It is a question of how much time they spent together, the relationship between them and how the victims have been affected.
Comparative negligence
Comparative negligence is the victim’s own negligence. Shared fault applies in all personal injury claims, including ones that result in the victim’s death.
Legal issues that may complicate the case
There may be complex legal issues that arise. If there are questions of whether the defendant was negligent, or an issue affecting admission of evidence, it can create questions about the case. As the litigant, you must identify potential issues in the case, respond to them, and determine what your wrongful death claim may be worth.
Family members that may share in distribution
South Carolina law divides the proceeds of a wrongful death claim as through the victim had died intestate. Their assets are still divided according to their will, if they had one. But for wrongful death proceeds, it’s as if the will doesn’t exist. The others who are beneficiaries of a claim may affect your final share of the proceeds.
The Role of Negligence in Calculating Compensation
There are two ways that negligence may play a role in calculating what a wrongful death claim is worth. First, the plaintiff in the wrongful death claim must prove that the defendant acted negligently. Second, they must respond to allegations of comparative negligence. Strong evidence of the defendant’s negligence may raise the value of a wrongful death claim. Questions of comparative negligence may lower it.
How the Relationship to the Deceased Affects the Claim
Compensation for a wrongful death claim is, in part, proportional to the closeness of the relationship that the beneficiaries had with the deceased. The case will look at the situation of each person and how they are affected by what occurred.
Types of Damages in Wrongful Death Cases
Damages in wrongful death cases include both economic losses – direct financial losses, and non-economic losses – the personal pain and loss from your family member’s death.
Calculating Economic Damages
Economic damages may include:
- Lost wages, lost earning capacity
- Funeral expenses
- Medical bills
- Cost of personal services, like household chores and child rearing
A person’s age, education, career, and contributions to the household can all factor into the economic loss calculation of a wrongful death claim.
Assessing Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages are intangible. You can’t calculate them precisely like you can with medical bills. Of course, any loss of life is tragic and a severe loss – that is why wrongful death claims tend to be for large amounts.
The survivors may speak to the emotional loss of their loved one and the pain and suffering they have endured. They may talk about how their life is different. Counselors, psychologists, family members, friends, and others who know those involved can talk about their observations.
How Insurance Policies Impact Claim Values
An insurance policy may impact the value of a wrongful death claim. Collecting compensation is an important part of a claim. Insurance can make it possible to receive compensation that you are due under the law. Wrongful death representation should involve an investigation into available insurance policies to assist the victim in collecting compensation.
Working with a Wrongful Death Attorney
Over the years, there have been a number of successful wrongful death verdicts in South Carolina:
- $5 million verdict against Regional Medical Center in Orangeburg: The verdict was reached in the case of Ms. Adrianne Branton, a 69-year-old woman with schizophrenia, who died after a preventable incident at the hospital.
- $21 million verdict against South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE&G): The verdict was reached in the case of a landscaper who died after being shocked by an SCE&G power line while trimming a palm tree.
- $20.73 million verdict in Horry County: This was the largest verdict in the county’s history for a wrongful death case involving drowning injuries.
- $3.006 million verdict for a military veteran’s family: The verdict was reached after the Veterans Administration failed to provide required follow-up colonoscopies for the veteran.
A wrongful death attorney can give you a personal evaluation of what a wrongful death claim may be worth. It’s unique to each case and each beneficiary. A wrongful death lawyer understands the factors involved in calculating the potential value of the claim.
You must aggressively assert your right to compensation. When you know the range of your case value and things that may impact the claim, you can pursue the case effectively.
Contact
Attorney Bobby Jones of Bobby Jones Law is a wrongful death lawyer. We can evaluate how much your wrongful death claim is worth. Contact us now.
