Wrongful Death Lawyers
We Will Help You Seek Justice After The Loss Of A Loved One
Given time and treatment, most personal injury victims heal, at least for the most part. Even serious spine injury victims are often able to carry on with their lives. But wrongful death is different. Frequently, such losses have a half life. Over time, the pain of loss fades, but it never entirely goes away. In other words, there is always an empty place at the table. No amount of money can fully compensate for a loss like that.
Unfortunately, no judge or jury has the power to turn back the clock and change the past. However, the compensation available assuages the survivors’ grief and gives them justice, which is what the decedent would have wanted.
Therefore, the diligent Los Angeles wrongful death attorneys at the Law Offices of Eslamboly Hakim work hard for survivors. We quickly evaluate your case and explain your legal options in words you can understand. Then, we collect evidence to support your claim. Finally, we never stop fighting for you, both at the negotiating table and in the courtroom.
Negligence and Wrongful Death
So-called accidental deaths claim tens of thousands of lives every year. Yet for the most part, there is nothing “accidental” about these incidents. Consider the following:
- Motor Vehicle Collisions: Generally, car crashes are the leading cause of injury-related death. Driver error causes over 90 percent of these incidents. That driver error is often impairment, such as alcohol, fatigue, or drug use.
- Poisoning: The number of unintentional poisoning deaths, mostly prescription drug overdoses, have increased significantly in the twenty-first century. A crisis like this one usually has several different causes. For example, some doctors give powerful painkillers to patients who do not need them. Furthermore, many transportation companies shipped drugs to retailers and did not ask questions.
- Falls: Older adults are especially susceptible to fall injuries. Falls are one of the leading causes of injury-related death for people over 65, and they are the leading cause of injury-related death for folks over 85.
- Medical Mistakes: Misdiagnosis affects thousands of people every year, and cancer is a good illustration. This disease is often survivable, assuming the patient is quickly and properly diagnosed. But many doctors see cancer as strictly a lifestyle or genetic disease. So, the cancer misdiagnosis rate may be as high as 40 percent.
Full compensation is usually available in these situations, even if the victim had a pre-existing condition which contributed to the death. The eggshell skull rule basically states that tortfeasors (negligent actors) take victims as they find them. It does not matter if the victim had an eggshell skull or another physical weakness. The wrongful death hurts the survivors just as much. Generally, an attorney must simply prove that the negligence exacerbated the pre-existing condition, and not the other way around.
Compensation Available
Since it includes items like future income and future financial support, fair compensation in wrongful death cases is often difficult to calculate. That’s especially true if a swimming pool drowning killed a small child.
Lost future income is a component of economic damages in a California wrongful death actions. This category also includes things like funeral and burial costs.
Noneconomic damages are available as well, because as mentioned, economic losses are only part of the picture. In California, noneconomic wrongful death damages include losses like:
- Moral guidance,
- Affection,
- Training, and
- Consortium (companionship).
By law, punitive damages are normally not available in California wrongful death actions. However, they are available in survivor claims, as outlined below.
Survivor Actions in California
In addition to wrongful death actions, the California Code of Civil Procedure also authorizes survival actions. Unlike wrongful death claims, survivorship actions do not compensate the decedent’s family members for the aforementioned losses. Instead, a survivorship action compensates the estate for the losses the decedent sustained prior to death. These losses include:
- Medical bills related to the decedent’s final illness or injury,
- Personal property damage, and
- Lost wages.
These types of claims are especially common in medical negligence, toxic exposure, and other types of prolonged death. Survivor actions are not usually possible following things like a car crash that instantly killed the decedent.
Generally, our Wrongful Death Lawyers in Los Angeles combine these two claims into a single legal action in the same court. However, the claims themselves are separate. For example, the statute of limitations could be much shorter in a survivorship action. Therefore, in order to obtain maximum compensation, it’s important to speak with an attorney straightaway.
Contact Wrongful Death Lawyers at the Law Offices Of Eslamboly Hakim for a Free Consultation
The untimely death of a loved one is often a crushing one, but a Los Angeles Wrongful Death Lawyer can soften the blow. For a free consultation with an experienced Los Angeles wrongful death attorney, contact the Law Offices of Eslamboly Hakim. We do not charge upfront legal fees in injury matters
Sharona Eslamboly Hakim is the principal of the firm.
