When you feel like the four walls are closing in, when you close your eyes and your memories are of a person or people who are not with you anymore, it can be hard. It's harder when you open your eyes and your reality is that your life is forever changed, and it isn't off-color to have an overwhelming desire to make anyone remotely responsible pay. Many untimely deaths and serious injuries are the direct result of negligence on the part of another person or a company. It is only right to hold responsible those guilty of detrimental disregard. It isn't only justice. In doing so, you set a precedent that such negligence is not okay and that they, or others guilty of persistent laxity, will face serious consequences because of it. When you have been hurt on the job or off by a person or by a company and…

There is no hurt more painful in this world than the loss of a loved one. The struggle can be difficult even when the person died of natural causes at an old age. But when a person is taken from your life rapidly and unexpectedly, your own pain can be debilitating. Seeking financial retribution and justice may not be the first priority you have, but your situation may necessitate it. In addition to the emotional devastation, you are likely to face a financial fallout in a contagion-like domino effect. The vehicle is likely gone or in need of costly repairs. There is a loss of income, medical bills, extremely costly funeral expenses, counseling and even your inability to return to the mundane tasks of life. Plus, your own job can add to your stress and your need for financial options. Financial concerns should not be your largest challenge at this…

If you have watched the news lately, you may have heard of a few recent pedestrian deaths. In fact, the statistics across the nation show that Georgia has become a front-runner for pedestrian-related accidents. From 2014 to 2015 the rest of the nation's incidence of pedestrian death increased by 10 percent. However, in Georgia, the death rate related to pedestrian accidents skyrocketed to 21 percent. This increase has committee members concerned as they met to discuss action during the monthly Macon-Bibb Pedestrian Fatality Review Board. One member, who directed Governor Purdue's Governor's Office of Highway Safety said that this information demonstrates that many more people are walking. He believes the blame must be taken off of the victim and focus should be put on road improvement, primarily through better engineering. Proper education regarding road rules and enforcement of laws and medical capabilities of emergency services should also be included. These…

Fatal accidents are always tragic, leaving families without their treasured loved ones. Unfortunately, fatal accidents often leave families with more than emotional damages; they leave them with financial uncertainties. If your family has suffered a loss because of another person's negligence, you may find relief from your unexpected financial burdens in the form of wrongful death compensation. Families who lose a loved one to an accident face unexpected end-of-life expenses. Between a loved one's medical bills and funeral expenses, many families find themselves totally unprepared financially. Unfortunately, even when families can pay these expenses, the financial losses tied to the death of a loved one are not over. Many families suffer financially for years from the loss of a loved one. In many cases, this suffering is due to lost income, especially when the deceased victim was the breadwinner. In these cases, wrongful death compensation can be extremely important as…

It goes without saying, and yet we have to acknowledge, there is no true compensation for the loss of a loved one. This is especially true in the event of a wrongful death, an untimely fatal accident that happened because of the negligence or recklessness of another person, persons or company. While there is no compensation you would trade for the chance to have your loved one back, there are numerous expenses that simultaneously occur as a result of a wrongful death. These are expenses you should not be left with. When someone dies, there is often a loss of income. If that person worked and was a contributor to the family, an unexpected stop in that income can cause a domino effect of hardships. Add to that the expenses incurred from the accident, whether they are vehicle repairs or replacement, medical expenses, care flight or ambulance bills, counseling or therapy…

Personal injury lawsuits arising from incidents like car, truck or motorcycle accidents can sometimes result in injuries of such severity that the person harmed can die as a result. In other posts we have covered the topic of how the immediate family members of a person so deceased can still pursue a money damages remedy against the defendant through a wrongful death action. But what if, instead of your loved one who was involved in an injury-producing accident, it is the other driver who dies? Does that mean that you can no longer file, or maintain a lawsuit against that person? The answer to that question, fortunately, is “No.” Georgia law holds as a matter of public policy that a person cannot escape liability for an act of negligence or wrongdoing by dying. There is a specific statute governing the survival of causes of action against estates of people who had they…

The family of an Atlanta man who died during a sleep study was recently awarded over $20.5 million of damages in a wrongful death lawsuit. The man, who was only 25 years old at the time, agreed to take part in a sleep study at Emory Healthcare. He died of sudden cardiac arrest while he was at the clinic. The hospital claimed that it attended to the man with appropriate care., but the man’s family believed otherwise. The victim’s mother filed a wrongful death lawsuit on his behalf. She claimed that the hospital was negligent in responding to her son, who tried to get the attention of the staff. The case went all the way to trial, and a jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. The jury awarded over $10 million to the man’s estate for his pain and suffering and $10.5 million for the value of…

In actions for wrongful death, causation is not always so simple that a single person or legal entity can be identified as the sole defendant responsible for the decedent's death. For example, if a person dies in a car accident, it may be partly because of the fault of another driver and partly due to a mechanical defect on one of the vehicles that may be the responsibility of the auto manufacturer. A lawsuit would name both of these as defendants. Assuming that the plaintiff prevails, how are the damages to be divided among them? Until 2005, Georgia followed a doctrine known as joint and several liability, under which all defendants were liable for all of the damages even if none of them was 100% at fault. In the example above, if the other deceased was not negligent, the other driver was 70 percent at fault and the auto maker…

Georgia law allows for two types of lawsuits to be initiated following the death of an individual.One of them is known as a survival action, and the other is an action for wrongful death. Both of these may be evident in a recent case if legal pleadings that have allegedly surfaced in connection with the death of Bobbi Kristina Brown, daughter of the late Whitney Houston, prove to be authentic. A survival action is one in which the successor in interest of a person, who is often the personal representative of that person's estate, either initiates or continues a lawsuit that the deceased would have had against the defendant had he or she survived. According to the alleged complaint against the former boyfriend of Ms. Brown, the allegations against him include theft and abuse. As neither of these would ordinarily be thought of as causing the death of an individual, it would appear that the…

The value of human life is in many ways a subjective question. In wrongful death lawsuits, Georgia courts and juries consider two basic criteria to arrive at a dollar figure to measure the cost of a life that has been truncated by the wrongful act of another person: economic and non-economic damages. Economic damages measure more tangible losses connected with the loss of a loved one,  such as lost income expectancy and costs associated with medical expenses preceding the death as well as funeral and burial expenses. Non-economic damages are ones associated with what many people consider to be "pain and suffering" injuries, and these can be much harder to calculate with certainty. Occasionally the jury's decision on how much to award in damages can itself be the subject of a dispute between the plaintiffs and the defendant's. This is what has happened in a Georgia wrongful death lawsuit that…