At Cartee & Lloyd Personal Injury Lawyers, our wrongful death lawyer helps families after losing a loved one. When you're sad and hurting, you shouldn't have to worry about money, too. Who pays for a wrongful death? Often, the at-fault party's insurance company pays the wrongful death settlement. Sometimes, the person who caused the death may be held personally responsible for the damages.
Table Of Contents
Money can't bring back your loved one. However, a wrongful death claim can help with bills and bring some justice. Our experienced wrongful death attorney works hard to help surviving family members get fair payment.
If a loved one's death is caused by another individual's actions, families have legal avenues to explore. A wrongful death lawsuit gives you a way to seek financial compensation. Let's look at what these claims involve and who can file them.
Under Alabama state laws, a wrongful death happens when someone dies because of another person's wrongful act. Unlike other states, Alabama treats these cases as punitive – meant to punish the wrongdoer.
When a drunk driver is responsible for a deadly car accident, it constitutes a wrongful death case. In such instances, the estate of the deceased individual has the right to file a claim against the driver responsible. If a doctor's mistake leads to a patient's death, this could be medical malpractice and a wrongful death suit.
To win your case, your personal injury lawyer must show the defendant's actions directly caused your loved one's death through negligence or wrongful acts.
Many wrongful death cases come from:
Car accidents and motor vehicle accidents
Medical malpractice when doctors make serious mistakes
Workplace accidents that lead to fatal injuries
Dangerous property conditions
Alabama handles wrongful death claims differently than most states. Only the personal representative of the deceased person's estate can file a wrongful death action here.
This representative might be named in the will or picked by the court. Though the representative files the claim, any money goes to the heirs – usually the surviving spouse, surviving children, or surviving parents if there's no spouse or children.
The estate's personal representative must file within two years after the accident occurred. This makes it vital to contact an accomplished attorney quickly to protect your right to recover compensation.
Different accidents lead to different kinds of wrongful death cases. Here are the main types we handle.
Alabama roads see many fatal accidents each year. When a car accident causes death, several parties might be responsible. The driver who was texting, speeding, or driving drunk usually bears most blame, and their liability insurance often pays.
Other responsible parties might include:
Car makers, if defective parts caused the fatal accident
Government agencies, if bad roads played a role
Employers, if the driver was working at the time
Truck or bus accidents often involve both the driver and their company in a wrongful death lawsuit, especially if the company ignores safety rules.
When doctors make big mistakes, patients can die. To prove medical malpractice, we must show the doctor failed to provide proper care, directly causing your loved one's death.
These cases need detailed medical records and expert opinions. Common examples include surgical errors, medication mistakes, missed diagnoses, and birth injuries.
Medical malpractice claims have strict rules in Alabama. Your wrongful death attorney must follow these complex steps while building a case against the responsible party.
Workers in dangerous jobs face risks every day. When safety problems cause fatal accidents, families have options beyond basic workers' comp.
While workers' comp usually blocks suing employers directly, you might file claims against equipment makers, contractors, or property owners. These claims often bring larger settlements than workers' comp alone.
Property owners who ignore known dangers can be held liable when these hazards cause fatal injuries to visitors.
When faulty products cause death, manufacturers and sellers may be responsible. These cases involve items like defective vehicles, dangerous drugs, or faulty household products.
Product liability claims focus on design flaws, manufacturing defects, or poor warnings that made the product dangerous. You often don't need to prove the company was careless – just that the product was defective and caused the death.
Our firm works with qualified experts to show how the product failed and caused the fatal accident.
Losing a loved one brings both emotional pain and money problems. Alabama law allows for various types of damages, such as wrongful death.
Economic damages cover the real money losses from your loved one's death:
Medical bills from care before death
Funeral costs and burial expenses
Lost wages and benefits the person would have earned
When the deceased was the main provider, these damages helped family members who were financially dependent on them. Your wrongful death attorney works with experts to calculate these losses.
Non-economic damages address the emotional impact of losing a family member. Alabama focuses on punishing wrongdoers rather than just paying for grief.
These damages may include pain before death, mental anguish, and loss of companionship. For a surviving spouse, this includes the loss of their special relationship. Alabama doesn't cap how much you can get for non-economic damages in most wrongful death cases.
Alabama treats all wrongful death damages as punitive – meant to punish the wrongdoer. This can lead to large awards in cases of serious negligence.
The focus on punishment means the defendant's blame level matters when deciding the amount. Cases involving drunk driving or extreme carelessness often get higher damages.
Courts look at how bad the conduct was and the defendant's money situation when setting these awards. A seasoned wrongful death attorney knows how to present these factors to get you the most compensation.
Finding who's legally responsible is key to getting justice and payment for your loss. Often, more than one party played a role in the death.
In many cases, the negligent party is a person whose careless actions directly caused the death – like a distracted driver, a doctor who made a big mistake, or a property owner who ignored dangers. Employers may also be liable for their employees' negligence.
Companies often bear blame in product liability cases. Government agencies sometimes face liability for accidents caused by bad roads, though special rules apply to claims against them.
Alabama follows a strict rule called contributory negligence. This means if the deceased person was even slightly at fault, you might get nothing. It makes good legal help especially important in our state.
Our attorneys gather evidence from the scene, witness statements, and records to build a strong case against all liable parties responsible.
When you file a wrongful death claim, you'll usually deal with an insurance company. These companies try to pay as little as possible.
Insurance companies often offer quick, low settlements after a wrongful death. They hope you'll take less money because you need cash right away. If you accept their offer, you give up your right to ask for more later, even if you find new expenses.
Insurance adjusters use many tricks to lower your claim's value:
Questioning who was really at fault
Suggesting your loved one was partly to blame
Disputing the cause of death
Challenging how much money you should get
Having an experienced attorney helps even the odds. We handle all talks with the insurance company and counter low offers with solid evidence. Most importantly, we're ready to go to court if they won't offer fair payment.
When settling a wrongful death case, you'll need to decide how to receive your money.
Getting the entire settlement amount at once gives you full control. A lump sum lets you pay off medical expenses, funeral costs, and other debts right away.
With smart investment, a lump sum might grow more than other options. This gives you the freedom to adapt to changing family needs. You can buy a home, pay for college, or make other big investments.
The main risk is poor money management. Many people spend large settlements too fast. Without careful planning, the money meant to provide long-term support might not last. While wrongful death settlements aren't usually taxable, income from investing the money might be.
A structured settlement gives you regular payments over time. This provides steady income for years, ensuring long-term financial support for immediate family members.
For families worried about managing money, structured settlements remove the temptation to spend too quickly. This works well when the settlement includes money for lost income that would have supported the family for many years.
Structured settlements also offer tax benefits. Are wrongful death settlements taxable? Usually not, but interest earnings might be. Structured payments can reduce overall tax liability.
Some families choose a mix – taking part as a lump sum for now while structuring the rest for later.
Handling a wrongful death lawsuit while grieving is too much for most families. Our reliable wrongful death attorneys take on this burden, offering both legal skills and caring support.
We start gathering vital evidence right away:
Police reports
Medical records
Photos from where the accident occurred
Video Footage
Witness statements
We work with experts who can explain what happened and who was at fault. When disputes arise about damages, we bring in financial experts to calculate figures for lost support.
Our negotiation skills often secure good settlements without trial. We present strong evidence that pushes insurance companies to offer fair compensation. When settlement offers fall short, our trial experience becomes your edge.
We work on a contingency fee basis – you pay nothing unless we win. This means no attorney-client relationship costs unless we get money for you.
Time matters in wrongful death cases. Alabama gives you just two years to file. Evidence can disappear, and witness memories fade as time passes.
We offer free consultations to discuss your case. During this meeting, we'll listen to your story, answer questions, and give an honest review of your case. Our firm covers all case expenses upfront. You pay nothing unless we get compensation for you. This setup ensures our interests align with yours – we succeed only when you do.
Call Cartee & Lloyd Personal Injury Lawyers today for your free consultation. Let us help your family pursue compensation after losing someone you love to someone else's negligence.
We listen to your story and understand your struggles. We handle the insurance companies and hire the experts and do the things necessary to win your case while you focus on going to the doctor and recovering from your injuries.
Through over 77 years of combined litigation experience, we have learned that the best way to make an insurance company pay you fairly for your damages is to be well prepared, fully investigate every detail, hire experts and prepare your case for trial even if most cases will settle without trial.
We know the law and have decades of experience in the courtroom and dealing with insurance companies. We use all of our resources to hire the experts necessary for trial, fully investigate, and pay for your medical records and litigation expenses so that you do not have to come out of pocket yourself while you are struggling to recover. We fight the big insurance companies for you and only get paid for our time and expenses if we recover for you.
Don’t fall for lawyer ads telling you Ai will tell you the value of your car wreck case or believe flashing dollars on a lawyer tv commercial. The real value of your case is what a judge or jury decides is the value of your case after hearing all of the law and evidence. An experienced personal injury lawyer will know the issues that affect the value of your case. We have over 77 years of combined litigation experience and we stand ready to take your case to trial if an insurance company refuses to fairly compensate you for your injuries and damages.
Your success matters to us. Since 1992, we have helped over 11,000 clients in Alabama and recovered millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for our clients. We measure our success by helping you receive the justice and fairness that you deserve.
"*" indicates required fields
