When to Employ a Oklahoma Wrongful Death Lawyer

Losing someone that we love is the worst thing that we can imagine. What could make it even worse is if it happened unnecessarily. For these purposes, examples would include the loss of a loved one due to somebody else’s negligence. In these cases, you might consider hiring a wrongful death lawyer.

Wrongful death lawsuits are similar to personal injury claims, the main difference being that in a wrongful death case, it is a family member seeking damages for the loss of a loved one, as opposed to an individual seeking compensation for something that happened to them. In this article, we will go over some critical points about why and when to employ a wrongful death lawyer.

Why Hire a Wrongful Death Attorney

Hiring a wrongful death attorney is appropriate when you think that negligence was directly related to the cause of death of your loved one. In the world of law, negligence is defined as a failure to behave with the level of care that someone of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the same circumstances.

If you are going to seek damages for wrongful death, you need to be able to prove that the negligent actions of someone else caused the death. The best way to achieve this is by hiring an experienced attorney for wrongful death.

Having someone on your side, that knows the ins and outs of how wrongful death cases work is crucial to your success in the case. An attorney for wrongful death will be able to steer you in the right direction. They will have a realistic idea of how much you can sue for and your chances of winning. Not only that, but these cases are not easy, and they are not quick. An attorney for wrongful death knows the procedure, the timing, and the documents you will need for such a case.

When To Hire a Wrongful Death Attorney

If you think negligence was a factor in losing a loved one, that is when you would want to hire a lawyer for wrongful death. But it might be hard to know if your case qualifies. Here, we will review some scenarios where negligence may have led to wrongful death.

Car Crash

This would be a typical instance of wrongful death, especially if the driver of the other car were driving under the influence or driving distracted (texting, etc.) Of course, it might not have been the fault of another driver.

It could have been an accident due to poor road conditions (in this case, if there was not proper signage warning of the conditions, the Department of Transportation might be at fault for negligence.)

Or, it could have had something to do with the vehicle being driven. A malfunction could be seen as negligence and could be cause for a wrongful death lawsuit.  

Homicide

One of the things we don’t think about when we hear about homicides and the trials that follow is that often the victim’s family will sue the perpetrator for damages. These trials generally happen after sentencing and are held in civil trials.

Homicide is an exception when discussing wrongful death because it is implausible that negligence was the cause.

Accidents In the Workplace

We all want to feel safe at work, but unfortunately, even at work, accidents happen. It might be more challenging for some jobs to prove that the accident shouldn’t have happened because the line of work is inherently dangerous. Think of any line of work that involves hard manual labor, or work in the emergency services. For example, a police officer who dies in the line of duty is unlikely to have a case for wrongful death. Still, an officer who was killed because of equipment malfunction or negligence on the part of a coworker could have a case for a wrongful death lawsuit.

Medical Error/Pharmaceutical Error

This is the most common entry on the list. We all expect to be able to trust our doctors and our pharmacists, but accidents happen. Accidents can have much direr consequences when dealing with medicine and surgical procedures.

It should be noted that not every surgery gone wrong is grounds for negligence. This is another reason it is a great idea to have a wrongful death lawyer, as they will know what constitutes negligence and how good of a shot at winning you have.

If you seek wrongful death law firms, please contact us at Jeff Martin Law.