Filing a Wrongful Death Claim After a Car Wreck

Filing a wrongful death claim after a car wreck might be the last thing on your mind when you’re dealing with the loss of a loved one. However, it might be necessary to ensure you can cover the costs arising from the accident and get on with your life.

In this post, we’ll cover the basics of a wrongful death claim after a car accident and what you can expect throughout the process.

The Wrongful Death Lawsuit Process After a Fatal Car Crash

According to IIHS-HLDI statistics, over 42,000 people died in U.S. road accidents in 2022. Sadly, many of these crashes came about due to careless driving by one or more of those involved.

When negligent behavior causes a fatal car accident, the family members of the deceased person may have the right to file a wrongful death claim. This civil action seeks compensation on behalf of the deceased’s estate and surviving family members.

Who Can File a Wrongful Death Claim?

Pennsylvania law states that only the deceased’s personal representative (usually the executor of the will) may file a wrongful death claim on behalf of eligible family members. If the personal representative does not file the claim within six months of the death, any of the beneficiaries entitled to recover damages can file the claim.

The claim can be filed on behalf of the spouse, children, or parents of the deceased person. These are generally the only family members who can benefit from wrongful death claims.

Key Elements of a Wrongful Death Claim

Negligence is a factor in almost all wrongful death cases related to road accidents (cases involving deliberate acts by defendants are the only exception to this). Four essential elements must be proven in your case in order for negligence to exist, namely:

• Duty of care: The at-fault party must have owed a duty of care to the deceased person. This is typically easy to prove in road accident cases, as drivers generally owe a duty of care to all other road users.
• Breach of duty: The responsible party must have failed to meet this duty in some way. In a road accident case, this might involve reckless driving, failing to follow road signs, or drunk driving.
• Causation: The breach of duty must have been the direct cause of the car accident, and of your family member’s death. This is the requirement that causes many wrongful death cases to fail; even if the defendant in your case clearly behaved recklessly, they will not face liability unless they actually caused an accident.
• Damages: You must suffer actual damages in order to qualify for a wrongful death settlement. This might include funeral expenses, lost income, and other monetary and emotional hardships.

What Damages Are Available in a Wrongful Death Claim?

Damages in a wrongful death claim fall into three broad categories. We discuss each one in detail here.

Economic Damages

These cover quantifiable losses such as medical bills, funeral costs, and lost income. You might also be entitled to economic damages covering lost benefits and inheritance, depending on your deceased family member’s contributions to your household finances.

Noneconomic Damages

Noneconomic damages are designed to cover all losses that are not directly quantifiable in monetary terms. Examples include pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and emotional distress.

Punitive Damages

Economic and noneconomic damages are collectively known as “compensatory” damages, as they compensate your losses as a plaintiff. Punitive damages, on the other hand, do not directly compensate a loss, but instead punish the egregious behavior of defendants and aim to discourage similar conduct by others in future.

For this reason, they are not normally awarded; only conduct that is extremely reckless or malicious is sufficient for an award of punitive damages.

However, some auto accident cases do satisfy this standard, particularly if they involve impaired driving. If you’re wondering whether you might be entitled to punitive damages, you should discuss the situation with an experienced car accident attorney.

How Much Is My Wrongful Death Claim Worth?

The value of a wrongful death claim in Pennsylvania will vary significantly based on the unique circumstances of each case. The most relevant factors include:

• Lost income and benefits: If your deceased spouse earned a lot of money, this is likely to make up the biggest portion of your settlement. Any amount agreed to cover this should include potential raises, benefits, bonuses, and retirement contributions. There can be a lot of uncertainty around these calculations, so you should try to hire an attorney with a strong track record of delivering big settlements in these situations.
• Medical expenses: Any medical costs incurred before death, such as emergency treatment, hospital stays, or surgeries related to the accident, are usually recoverable in a wrongful death claim. If your family member survived for an extended period after their accident, these damages can be significant.
• Funeral and burial costs: These can include funeral services, transportation, and burial or cremation costs. There may be limits to what a defendant will be compelled to pay here.
• Pain and suffering: If your loved one experienced significant pain and suffering before passing away, this can add substantially to the claim’s value via noneconomic damages.
• Age and health of the deceased: The deceased’s age and general health will impact your claim’s value, especially in terms of expected lifespan and future earning potential. A younger, healthy individual may have had a longer life expectancy and therefore a larger potential earning capacity, affecting the damages calculation.

Statute of Limitations for Wrongful Death Claims

According to Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations, you have two years from the date of a deceased person’s passing to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit. It’s important to notice that the clock starts to run from the date of death, not the date of the accident. If you allow this deadline to pass, you will generally forfeit your right to pursue wrongful death compensation.  

However, it’s important to realize that the statute of limitations isn’t the only reason you should move quickly when it comes to wrongful death claims. The sooner you start the process, the easier it will be for your car accident attorney to build a winning case on your behalf. This is because it gets more difficult to gather strong evidence as time passes; memories fade, and it gets harder to track down relevant records and pieces of footage.

If you want to inquire about a potential wrongful death claim related to a Philadelphia road accident, contact us today to schedule a free initial consultation.

Proving Negligence in an Auto Accident Wrongful Death Claim

If you want to prove negligence in a wrongful death claim related to a car accident, there are a number of different types of evidence that may be helpful. These include:

• Police reports: These documents often contain details about how the accident happened and who may have been at fault. Police reports on car accidents should become available for request from the Pennsylvania State Police website after 15 days.
• Witness statements: Eyewitness accounts can help establish how the accident occurred. During the case-building process, your attorney will track down anyone who may have seen the accident and seek their version of events. Your lawyer may ask these individuals to provide sworn testimony, either during a deposition or in court.
• Expert testimony: Accident reconstruction experts may be brought in to explain the circumstances surrounding the crash. Advanced reconstruction methods are often particularly useful in complex accidents involving multiple vehicles.
• Camera footage: Traffic cameras, dashcams, and surveillance cameras can all provide useful footage in road accident cases.

Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyers Who Get Results in Wrongful Death Claims

Losing a loved one in an accident is highly traumatic; when the accident is the result of some other party’s avoidable carelessness on the road, it’s even more upsetting. Filing a wrongful death lawsuit against the at-fault driver may help you to recover the damages you need to cover costs and start rebuilding your life. Contact the Cochran Firm in Philadelphia today to schedule a free initial consultation about your case. You can reach us via our online contact form, or you can call 800-969-4400.