Practice Areas

Wrongful Death

A wrongful death case is one brought about by the family of an individual who was killed due to the negligence of another individual.  The Administrator of the Estate of the person who was killed must bring about the wrongful death case in Virginia.  This is most often a family member; however, it does not have to be a family member.

There are two parts to a wrongful death case.  The first part is liability, or who caused the injury or wrongful death, and the second part is what was lost as a result of the injury or wrongful death.

Liability

To be successful in a wrongful death case, you must prove negligence on the part of the other individual involved.  Negligence is "failure to use ordinary care."  That basically means that the person who was at fault for the accident acted in a way that was different from the way an ordinary person would act.  If could also mean that the person who caused the wrongful death did not act when they had a responsibility to do so, and their lack of action caused death.

For example, in a car accident case, you might prove that the other driver was at fault because he or she did not follow the rules of the road, ran a red light, and veered into your lane.

Additionally, you must be able to prove that the person who died did not in any way contribute to the cause of the accident due to the rule of Contributory Negligence.  Virginia is one of only three states that has this strict rule.  If the deceased individual is found to have contributed to the cause of the accident to the slighest degree, his or her estate is not eligable to make a recovery.  For example, if another personal pulled out in front of the decedent, but the decedent was driving 25 miles over the speed limit, the decedent's action may be considered contributorily negligent and the beneficiaries would be barred from making a recovery.

Damages

If liability is able to be proven, the beneficiaries may be entitled compensation for the following damages:

- Sorrow, mental anguish, and loss of solace
- Reasonably expected loss of income from the decedent
- Reasonably expected loss of services, protection, care, and assistance the decedent provided to the beneficiaries
- Any expenses for care, treatment, and hospitalization of the decedent from the injuries resulting in his death
- Reasonable funeral expenses

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