It is never easy to lose a family member, but the loss is much more painful when the death of a loved one could have been prevented if someone had only acted responsibly. When another person’s failure to act responsibly causes injuries or death, that person or the company they work for can be held legally liable and required to pay compensation.
A victim hurt in an accident, such as a car accident, or due to a cause such as medical malpractice, can file a personal injury lawsuit to seek compensation for their suffering and other losses. When an irresponsible action by others causes an untimely death, family members can file a wrongful death claim to recover damages for their losses. But what happens when an accident victim files a personal injury claim, but they pass away before the case is finished?
Can a personal injury claim be converted to a wrongful death case? Or does the family have to start over from the beginning? Every case is different, so it is impossible to provide a complete answer without considering the particular facts of the case. Below are some of the issues involved in this type of situation.
Differences Between Personal Injury and Wrongful Death Claims
An experienced Tallahassee personal injury lawyer understands how to file wrongful death claims as well as personal injury claims. But there are some key differences between wrongful death claims and personal injury cases, and it is essential to understand those differences.
An attorney files a personal injury claim on behalf of someone who was injured by the negligence or deliberate wrongdoing of others. Through this claim, the attorney works to recover compensation for the harm suffered by the injury victim. This includes compensation for both economic losses, such as medical bills and lost wages, and non-economic losses, including pain, suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment of life.
When a personal injury lawyer in Tallahassee files a wrongful death claim, by contrast, the case is filed on behalf of the personal representative of the deceased person’s estate for the benefit of family members of the person who was hurt by the negligence or wrongdoing of others. The focus is on the family’s losses.
Their economic losses would include the loss of income that the deceased person would have provided and the costs of replacing services that they would have provided, such as mowing the lawn or caring for the house. Their noneconomic losses might include loss of guidance, support, care, and consortium that can no longer be provided by the deceased person.
There are also other differences between these two types of claims, such as the date from which the statute of limitations is calculated. For a personal injury case, the lawsuit must be prepared and filed within two years of the date of the injury. For a wrongful death case, the lawsuit filing deadline is calculated from the date of death, not from the time of the injury.
Wrongful Death Claims Have Important Similarities to Personal Injury Claims
While the focus of recovery differs in wrongful death and personal injury cases, there are other features that are similar, and these features are critical. In both types of cases, it is necessary to prove that the negligence or other wrongful conduct of another person caused the injuries. The evidence and arguments used to establish liability for the injuries or death can be the same in both cases. The legal elements necessary to recover compensation are virtually identical.
Most personal injury claims and wrongful death cases are not founded on accusations that someone deliberately tried to cause harm but are instead based on the concept of negligence. This legal theory imposes liability when someone fails to act the way a reasonable, responsible person would under the circumstances. For instance, in a truck accident case, the trucking company might have delayed too long in scheduling a safety check on the truck’s brakes. The trucking company didn’t want anyone to get hurt, but they failed to live up to their responsibility to others on the roads.
In either a personal injury case or wrongful death lawsuit based on that truck accident, attorneys for both the plaintiffs seeking compensation and the defendants who want to deny liability will be working to show what caused the accident. The personal injury lawyers representing the accident victims will argue that the trucking company had a duty to inspect its vehicles at reasonable intervals before putting them on the road to ensure the safety of others on the road. They’ll present evidence to establish what the reasonable standard should have been, demonstrate how the company violated that standard, and work to prove that the failure to meet the reasonable standard is what caused the accident and the resulting injuries. These issues need to be established in both personal injury and wrongful death cases.
The Potential to Convert a Personal Injury Case to a Wrongful Death Claim
Even though a personal injury claim is brought on behalf of the accident victim and the wrongful death claim is filed for the benefit of family members, the wrongful death claim is technically brought by the estate of the accident victim. Moreover, the facts that make someone liable are essentially the same. Therefore, for these reasons, the law in Florida generally allows a personal injury claim to be converted into a wrongful death case, provided that the attorney takes all the necessary actions to preserve the family’s recovery rights.
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