Filing a Wrongful Death Claim in Ohio: What Grieving Family Members Need to Know

Filing a wrongful death claim provides an opportunity to seek justice for a loved one’s untimely passing. It also provides an opportunity for eligible family members to seek the financial resources they will need for the future. Hiring a Columbus wrongful death lawyer is the first step in the process, and it does not cost family members anything out of pocket to seek experienced legal representation.

While filing a wrongful death claim is a complex process, there is a clear path to follow. An experienced Columbus wrongful death lawyer will know what it takes to assert your family’s legal rights effectively—and will be able to fight for justice (and just compensation) on your family’s behalf. If you need to know more about asserting your family’s legal rights in Ohio, here is an introduction to what you can expect as you move forward:

The First Step is to Determine (and Prove) Your Loved One’s Cause of Death

After a fatal accident, one of the first steps toward filing a wrongful death claim is to determine the cause of your loved one’s death. When conducting an investigation, it is also critical to preserve the available evidence in a manner that ensures it remains admissible in court. Regardless of the circumstances, your family (or your family’s lawyer) will need to be able to prove why the accident happened, and even if seeking just compensation involves dealing with the at-fault party’s insurance company, it will be important to have clear evidence that could be presented at trial if necessary.

The steps involved in proving the cause of death in a fatal accident will vary from case to case. With this in mind, the steps that your family’s lawyer may need to take in order to prove your family’s legal rights include:

• Conducting a Forensic Investigation – Gathering evidence and data from the scene of the fatal accident. Ideally, this investigation will take place as soon after the fatal accident as possible.
• Seeking to Obtain Traffic or Surveillance Camera Footage – If your loved one’s fatal accident was captured on video by a traffic or surveillance camera, your family’s lawyer may be able to obtain the footage to use as evidence in your family’s wrongful death case.
• Talking to Eyewitnesses – Eyewitness testimony can also play a key role in wrongful death cases. If any eyewitnesses are available, your family’s lawyer can seek to obtain their written statements, and your family’s lawyer can subpoena them to testify at trial if necessary.
• Engaging Expert Witnesses – Expert witnesses can explain the technical and scientific issues involved in fatal accidents. For example, if your loved one was tragically killed in an accident involving a defective product, expert testimony could be critical for explaining why the product was defective and how the defect caused your loved one’s death.
• Obtaining Evidence Through the Discovery Process – From distracted drivers’ cell phone records to companies’ internal communications, various other forms of evidence may be available—and this evidence could be key to proving your family’s legal rights. If necessary, your family’s lawyer can seek to obtain this evidence from the at-fault party (or a third party) through the discovery process.

In many cases, hiring an accident reconstructionist will be a key step as well. Accident reconstructionists use available evidence and data to piece together the events leading up to a fatal incident. Today’s accident reconstruction technology is extremely sophisticated, and accident reconstruction can be used both during insurance settlement negotiations and at trial.

Your Family’s Lawyer Will Assist with Calculating (and Proving) the Damages Your Family is Entitled to Recover

After gathering the evidence needed to prove the cause of your loved one’s untimely death, your family’s lawyer will shift his or her focus to proving the damages your family is entitled to recover. But, before we can talk about the damages your family is entitled to recover, we first need to talk about the distinction between wrongful death claims and survival claims.

Wrongful Death Claims vs. Survival Claims

In cases involving fatal accidents, eligible family members will often be able to file two separate claims for damages: wrongful death claims and survival claims. A wrongful death claim seeks damages for eligible family members’ losses resulting from their loved one’s untimely passing, while a survival claim seeks damages for their loved one’s losses prior to death.  

Since a survival claim seeks damages for the victim’s losses prior to death, filing a survival claim requires evidence that the victim survived for a period of time (even if only a very short period of time) after the accident. This means that grieving families will not have survival claims in all cases. After investigating and consulting with experts as necessary, your family’s lawyer will be able to determine which claim (or claims) he or she can pursue on your family’s behalf.

Economic Damages

Economic damages provide compensation for the financial costs resulting from a fatal accident. The types of economic damages that are generally available in wrongful death claims include:

• Funeral and burial (or cremation) expenses
• Other out-of-pocket costs
• Loss of the victim’s lifetime earnings

Families that have survival actions can also seek compensation for the victim’s medical expenses, lost earnings, and other financial losses prior to death. While damages awarded in wrongful death claims are paid directly to eligible family members, damages awarded in survival claims are distributed through the victim’s estate.

Non-Economic Damages

Non-economic damages provide compensation for the other consequences of a fatal accident. Common non-economic damages in wrongful death claims include:

• Emotional distress
• Loss of care and protection
• Loss of consortium

Common non-economic damages in survival claims include physical pain and suffering, emotional trauma, and post-traumatic stress. In both wrongful death claims and survival claims, non-economic damages can be substantial, and recovering these damages can be essential for managing the effects of a fatal accident long-term.

Punitive Damages

Families that have survival claims can also seek punitive damages in appropriate cases. Punitive damages are intended to punish wrongdoers rather than compensate victims (or their families); and, as a result, they are only available in cases involving particularly egregious forms of negligence or intentional misconduct. Here too, your family’s Columbus wrongful death lawyer can assess your family’s legal rights and advise you on the options available to you.

It Is Important to Take Action Promptly

If your family has a wrongful death claim, it will be important for you to take action promptly. The statute of limitations for wrongful death claims in Ohio is two years from the date of the fatal accident—so this isn’t a pressing concern in most cases.

But there are other important reasons to speak with a lawyer as soon as possible. Most importantly, as we discussed above, it is critical to conduct an investigation and preserve the available evidence before it disappears. If the evidence needed to prove liability is no longer available when you hire a lawyer to represent your family, there may be nothing the lawyer can do to help you.

You Can (and Should) Rely on Your Family’s Lawyer to Seek Accountability

While the prospect of taking legal action can seem overwhelming, you can (and should) rely on your family’s lawyer to seek accountability on your behalf. From proving liability to proving the damages your family is entitled to recover, every step in the process requires relevant experience and an in-depth understanding of Ohio’s wrongful death laws.

Your family’s lawyer can deal with the insurance companies for you while you focus on being with your loved ones. Using his or her knowledge and experience, your family’s lawyer will fight for justice on your behalf while making sure that the insurance companies do not take advantage of your family’s tragic situation.

Your Family’s Lawyer Will Need You to Remain Involved Along the Way

As your family’s lawyer navigates the legal process, it will be important for you to remain available as needed. Your family’s lawyer will need your input at various steps along the way. With that said, an experienced wrongful death lawyer will be sensitive to your family’s situation and will seek your involvement accordingly.

Most importantly, if the at-fault party’s insurance company makes a settlement offer, it will be up to you to decide whether to accept the offer or keep fighting for more. This is not a decision that your family’s lawyer can (or should) make on your behalf. If a settlement offer is on the table, your family’s lawyer will provide the advice you need to make an informed and confident decision about what is best for your family.

Schedule a Free Consultation with a Columbus Wrongful Death Lawyer at Malek & Malek Law Firm

If you need to know more about filing a wrongful death claim in Ohio, we strongly encourage you to get in touch. To schedule a free consultation with a Columbus wrongful death lawyer at Malek & Malek Law Firm, please call 888-444-7440 or contact us online today.