In most cases, the economic losses a family suffered right after a tragic accident would be totaled to determine part of a suitable settlement check amount. This can include the cost of a burial and the victim’s lost paychecks, which families can no longer support themselves with.
The settlement check should also include money for non-economic damages. This can include the family’s emotional trauma and loss of companionship. These hardships are more difficult to put a price on, but there are formulas to help arrive at a reasonable figure.
To find out what your family should demand after a deadly accident in Bakersfield, you can take advantage of a free case consultation with Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield. Our Bakersfield Wrongful Death Lawyers want to sit down with families to make sure they understand their rights and the best options for getting justice after a tragedy.
When Your Family Needs a Wrongful Death Lawyer
Families may file a wrongful death claim on their own, and one person, usually a spouse or an adult child of the victim, would file on behalf of all eligible family members.
A skilled attorney can also file on behalf of the family or an individual and can often earn more for clients through such a difficult time.
Insurers for someone who contributed to a fatal accident will often focus on escaping blame for what happened instead of providing prompt and complete support. A skilled attorney can back a case with powerful evidence gained from a full investigation into what happened. This keeps insurers from trying to shift the blame to an innocent victim or from trying to discount what a family receives.
A skilled attorney handles this frustrating back and forth with unhelpful insurance adjusters, while providing as little disruption to the family as possible.
Families Should Take Advantage of a Free Case Consultation
Grieving family members may still wonder if they have a case or not, and if legal action is worth it.
To get answers, families can set up a free, no-obligation wrongful death case consultation. This case review is always confidential, and it’s available to all family members after a Bakersfield accident. We can help family members seek assistance no matter where they live.
The Factors that Determine the Size of a Wrongful Death Settlement Check
Families can receive word of a tragic death due to many different and common accidents around Bakersfield.
The at-fault party may be a reckless driver on Chester Avenue or a city department that allowed a tragic drowning at a public pool.
Your family’s attorney will first make sure there’s enough evidence against someone who caused your loved one’s death, so that their insurance providers can’t find ways to escape blame.
Then the matter of how much a family should receive must be resolved. No one can put a price on a human life, but families can be left on the brink of bankruptcy after a fatal accident. They’ll need help with many hardships to stay afloat and to ensure their protection in the years ahead.
All cases are different, so it’s hard to provide an estimate on what a wrongful death claim may earn before a lawyer has heard the details of your case and had time to investigate.
However, these factors often play the largest role in what families are able to successfully demand in a wrongful death case.
Economic damages: This includes anything that comes with a bill, such as the medical care and ambulance transport the victim may have needed before a heartbreaking death. The funeral costs must also be factored in. The income the victim may have provided to support the family each month must be replaced. These expenses would be totaled and requested in a wrongful death claim submitted to the appropriate insurer.
Non-economic damages: These are damages that can’t be totaled from receipts. They include mental trauma, such as the loss of care and guidance families must cope with. The devastating loss of a child should earn “loss of companionship” for parents. The sad absence of victims at major life events like birthday parties, holiday gatherings, and weddings must also be factored in.
Determining the Value of Emotional Damages in a Wrongful Death Case
Non-economic damages can be input into a calculator to see a clear total. Emotional pain can be hard to put into a dollar figure. But that pain is a very real consequence of an accident that families must cope with. It must be included in any wrongful death settlement or judgment awarded in court.
To arrive at a dollar figure for families in mourning, there are a few ways lawyers can utilize.
The Multiplier Method: This method would usually start with the totals of all economic damages and then multiply the figure by a scale of 1.5 through 5. The number selected would be based on the tragic nature of the case and the circumstances the family faced afterward.
The Per Diem Method: In some cases, a “per day” multiplier is relied upon. This is more commonly used when victims didn’t pass on immediately and may have been treated for days or weeks in a hospital before death. A skilled lawyer would determine a daily monetary amount for the victim’s difficult time before death. The determined dollar value would be multiplied by how many days the victim survived. Then a lawyer would demand this amount in any settlement negotiations. This would be in addition to any economic damages included.
Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers fights on behalf of families to secure the most possible for them. This will always include additional support awarded for the family’s emotional devastation and continuing grief.
Contact a Wrongful Death Lawyer in Bakersfield
If you have lost a family member and an individual or business was to blame, contact us to schedule a free consultation. It’s a confidential, no-obligation review of your case with a real, local attorney.
We never want to see Bakersfield families forced to agonize over financial issues simply because an insurer for an at-fault party wants to save money. Let us make sure you receive everything needed for your family to rebuild their lives.
Families in mourning don’t need to worry about how they’ll pay a lawyer. Maison Law Accident & Injury Lawyers of Bakersfield only gets paid if we win the case for your family. Your family isn’t charged if the case fails. After a successful case, our attorney’s fee comes out of the settlement check that an insurer must write for loved ones.