Monroe Death Claims Attorney

Monroe Death Claims

A wrongful death occurs whenever one party’s negligence or intentional misconduct results in a person’s death. Losing a loved one is never easy, but when a death occurs because of another party’s actions, this can add a layer of frustration on top of an already emotionally stressful situation. The attorneys at Ayers, Whitlow & Dressler have a great deal of professional experience handling wrongful death cases for clients in the Monroe, NC, area. We understand the challenges wrongful death claims present in terms of their procedural requirements and their effects on surviving family members.

Representing Clients in Monroe, NC, Wrongful Death Claims

Our firm can offer the compassionate legal representation you need after losing a loved one due to another party’s negligence. We take time to learn as much as we can about every client we represent, developing an individually tailored legal strategy for our clients before we guide them through the civil court proceedings their case entails. Therefore, it’s understandable to have many questions about what to expect in your upcoming wrongful death case. If you are unsure whether you need to speak with a Monroe wrongful death attorney, it’s vital to know what the right lawyer could potentially offer to your case.

Benefits of Legal Representation in a North Carolina Wrongful Death Case

Attempting to navigate any civil claim without representation is very risky. The average person with minimal experience in the civil court system would be vulnerable to mistakes that can delay claim proceedings or even jeopardize a case. Instead of attempting to manage your case’s court filings and other deadlines while grieving the loss of your loved one, an experienced wrongful death lawyer from Monroe can handle your case proceedings on your behalf.

Reliable legal counsel means your family can have some respite from worry in a difficult time since they will know their case is in capable hands. Additionally, experienced legal representatives can help their clients determine the full range of compensation they can seek in their claims. It’s often difficult for the average person to calculate the total financial impact of a recent wrongful death. Ultimately, you will likely win a wrongful death claim when you have an experienced attorney representing your case, but you are also more likely to receive a better final case award for you and your family.

Ayers, Whitlow & Dressler leverage our extensive professional experience to help wrongful death plaintiffs in Monroe, NC, understand the legal mechanisms in play in their cases. Many people hold misconceptions about how a wrongful death claim works, the similarities between wrongful death cases and personal injury claims, and the damages available in a wrongful death case. We can clarify the unique aspects of your claim and help you understand your wrongful death claim in greater detail.

Important North Carolina Wrongful Death Statutes

If you intend to file a wrongful death claim in Monroe, NC, it’s important to know the statutory aspects of this type of case and the rules for filing your claim. First, North Carolina imposes a two-year statute of limitations on wrongful death cases. This means that you have two years from your loved one’s death date to file your wrongful death action. However, if the cause of your loved one’s death couldn’t be immediately determined, you may have discovered the wrongful nature of the death much later. In this situation, the statute of limitations would “toll” or pause until the claimant discovered the cause of the death. The statute of limitations would also toll if the at-fault party took steps to conceal their liability for the death.

State law also limits eligibility to file a wrongful death claim. In most cases, the deceased’s surviving spouse is first in line with the right to pursue a wrongful death action, followed by the deceased’s surviving children or the personal representative named in their estate. If the deceased has no close family or a personal representative, anyone who can provide a valid legal claim to the contents of the deceased’s estate or anyone who can prove financial dependency on the deceased may have the right to file a wrongful death claim.

After meeting the statute of limitations and eligibility requirements for your wrongful death claim, you must determine the full range of damages you can seek in the claim. While a wrongful death claim mirrors a personal injury claim in several ways, the damages in these two types of civil actions are very different. A personal injury claim seeks recompense for the victim’s loss. A wrongful death claim seeks to compensate for the surviving family’s loss. In addition, some claimants could have grounds for survival actions, enhancing the total potential recovery they could obtain.

Proving Fault for a Wrongful Death in Monroe, NC

Success with a wrongful death claim in North Carolina hinges on the plaintiff’s ability to establish a few key facts. First, they must identify the party they believe to be responsible for causing their claimed damages. Second, they must prove their damages with documentation and establish an undeniable link between the defendant’s actions and the damages in question. Finally, in most wrongful death claims, plaintiffs must prove that the defendants they have named are directly responsible for causing the deaths of their loved ones.

Your Monroe wrongful death attorney can help you secure the evidence you may require to prove fault for the recent loss of your loved one. Depending on the wrongful death, you may require physical evidence, eyewitness testimony, and/or input from relevant experts in various disciplines. The most commonly reported causes of wrongful deaths in North Carolina include:

• Motor vehicle accidents are a leading cause of accidental injuries and deaths throughout the United States. An at-fault driver’s auto insurance may only cover a fraction of the damages from a fatal accident and subsequent wrongful death claim. Causing a fatal vehicle accident may also lead to criminal prosecution of the at-fault driver.
• Medical malpractice. While thousands of North Carolina residents trust medical professionals to provide safe and effective care for various medical conditions, medical negligence and medical errors are leading causes of accidental deaths throughout the country. As a result, a wrongful death claim for medical malpractice faces additional restrictions not applied to other wrongful death claims.
• Dog attacks. North Carolina enforces a strict liability statute for dog attacks. This means that if a dog attacks another person unprovoked when the victim is lawfully present at the location of the attack, the dog’s owner is liable for injuries and economic damages their pet inflicts on the victim.
• Workplace injuries. North Carolina enforces strict workers’ compensation laws, and the surviving family of an employee killed at work may be eligible for death benefits from the employer’s workers’ compensation insurance carrier. However, the family may have grounds for further legal action with a wrongful death suit, depending on how the death occurred.

It is essential to find legal counsel you can trust from an attorney with experience handling cases like yours. Ayers, Whitlow & Dressler can leverage our firm’s experience to address the unique aspects of your wrongful death claim.

What Happens If a Wrongful Death Occurs in the Workplace?

When an employee dies from work-related injuries, their employer’s workers’ compensation insurance policy should dictate whether the surviving family can expect death benefits of any kind. Insurers can offer ongoing benefits arrangements or lump-sum settlements for these claims. Working with an experienced wrongful death attorney in Monroe with expertise in workers’ compensation cases means you can trust your legal team to help you secure a fair claim determination from the workers’ compensation insurance carrier.

Ayers, Whitlow & Dressler can provide comprehensive legal counsel when you and your family need representation for a complex fatal work injury case. We have helped many Monroe, NC, area clients with complicated workers’ compensation cases and wrongful death cases. In addition, when a workplace injury proves fatal, we can help the surviving family members of the deceased secure as much compensation as possible to help them transition to the next phase of their lives a bit more easily.

Compensation Available in a North Carolina Wrongful Death Case

Every wrongful death case is unique, and knowing the damages you and your family can include in your wrongful death action is vital. Your Monroe wrongful death lawyer can assist you in calculating economic and non-economic damages available in your civil suit, such as:

• Reasonable funeral and burial costs for the deceased.
• Money for the lost value of household services provided by the deceased.
• Money for the family’s loss of affection, care, guidance, and moral support provided by the deceased.
• Lost financial support provided by the deceased. It is sometimes possible to claim recompense for the income the deceased had been expected to earn in the future had they survived.

It’s important to remember that a wrongful death claim seeks to compensate the family for its loss. However, if the deceased’s estate incurred damages from the wrongful death, the family can file a survival action with their wrongful death claim. A survival action effectively replaces the personal injury claim the deceased could have filed if they survived. The survival action seeks recompense for the deceased’s final medical expenses, lost income between their fatal accident and death, and pain and suffering.

If you believe you have the right to file a survival action with your wrongful death claim, you must hire an experienced wrongful death lawyer in Monroe capable of addressing the unique facets of this type of case. In addition, your legal team can provide valuable ongoing services as your case unfolds, ultimately helping you reach the best possible outcome.

What to Expect From Your Monroe Wrongful Death Attorney

When you choose Ayers, Whitlow & Dressler to represent you in a wrongful death claim, you can expect personalized and compassionate legal counsel through every stage of your suit. For example, if the wrongful death your family recently experienced resulted from a work-related injury, we can help you exhaust your recovery options from the workers’ compensation system before assisting you in building a more expansive civil case.

Our goal in every wrongful death claim that our firm accepts is to help our client understand the legal mechanics of their case, identify their greatest areas of concern, and assess the full range of their claimable damages. In addition, we often identify channels of compensation that clients initially overlook, enhancing their recoveries. Therefore, when our firm handles your wrongful death claim, we will begin by determining your initial options for obtaining compensation before proceeding with a civil action. For example, an auto insurance claim or a workers’ compensation claim could be a necessary step on your way to securing recompense for your family’s loss.

Ayers, Whitlow & Dressler strives to resolve our clients’ wrongful death claims as swiftly and efficiently as possible. We’ll help each client gather the evidence they need to establish the party responsible for their loved one’s death. This could include securing physical evidence, obtaining statements from eyewitnesses who saw the fatal incident in question occur, or consulting experts who can provide valuable testimony about the unique facets of the case.

After helping our client prove fault for their loved one’s death, we’ll move to settle the claim as quickly as possible. However, if a defendant is unwilling to settle or refuses to accept liability for the wrongful death, our team can guide you through litigation until you reach an acceptable result. Ultimately, every wrongful death claim filed in North Carolina is unique, and claimants in these cases need flexible and responsive legal representatives they can trust to address the specific details of their claims.

The sooner you secure legal representation from a Monroe wrongful death attorney, the sooner you and your family can begin working toward obtaining the compensation you deserve. Money cannot replace your lost loved one, but it can make adjusting to your new circumstances easier and remove many of the economic concerns an unexpected death will likely generate in a family. Discuss your case with an expert Monroe wrongful death lawyer; contact Ayers, Whitlow & Dressler today and schedule your consultation with our team.