Fatal Injury Compensation Claims - Wrongful Death Lawyers
A wrongful death occurs when an individual is killed because of negligent, reckless or unlawful behaviour by another person or corporate body. A wrongful death compensation claim can be brought by the representatives of the deceased’s estate usually for the benefit of spouses, children, parents or siblings. Most wrongful death claims relate to fatal injuries sustained in accidents at work, in motor vehicle collisions, slips & trips due to defective property or as a result of unlawful violence.
Dependants Claim
A fatal injury compensation claim arising out of a wrongful death usually includes several elements being pain & suffering of the deceased, expenses and losses relating to the death and subsequent legal action and claims for support for any relevant dependents. Legal action in a fatal injury compensation claim consists of two distinct parts that may be described as the action that the deceased would have been entitled to take had they lived which includes damages for pain and suffering and direct financial losses and a separate action for the dependants which includes expenses relating to the funeral etc.
Liability & Negligence
A fatal injury compensation claim is usually brought by a wrongful death lawyers in the case of negligence however the more culpable form of negligence encompassing recklessness also qualifies for compensation as does deliberate violent behaviour including assault that results in death which includes both manslaughter and murder. Most fatal injury compensation claims arising out of a wrongful death arise from falls from height whilst at work and motor vehicle collisions. In both cases there is usually an element of negligence and even if the deceased was partly to blame for causing the accident, a fatal injury accident compensation claim can still be brought against a third party who may have shared responsibility for blame. In these circumstances the doctrine of ‘contributory negligence’ is applied and damages awarded to the estate of the deceased or to dependants will be reduced by the percentage of blame attributed to the deceased. Negligence is variously described in legal text books and there are many definitions, the most basic of which refers to a failure to take reasonable care. The classic definition is as follows :-
“Negligence is the omission to do something
which a reasonable man, guided upon those
considerations which ordinarily regulate the
conduct of human affairs, would do, or doing
something which a prudent and reasonable man
would not do.”
Legal Charges
In order to bring a claim there must be proof that someone was negligent and the death must have been caused by that negligence (or by deliberate conduct) which must have caused financial loss. Our wrongful death lawyers will deal with a fatal injury compensation claim and will not charge any up-front fees – our legal costs are payable upon receipt of financial compensation. Our specialist lawyers make fatal accident claims totally risk free and its worth noting that we don’t get paid until you get paid.