El Monte Wrongful Death Lawyer | San Gabriel Valley
Many people have heard the term "wrongful death" but are not sure what it actually means.
It's simpler than it sounds. If someone died because another person or company was careless, the family they left behind can bring a claim. Had that person survived, they could sue for their own injuries - pain and suffering, medical bills, the cost of recovery. But when the carelessness kills, the law lets the family bring the claim in their place.
A driver who ran a red light. A truck driver who had been on the road too long. A doctor who missed something. A property owner who ignored a hazard for months. A nursing home that neglected a resident. If a person would have had a case had they lived, their family generally has one now to compensate for the loss of their loved one.
Under California law, certain family members can bring it - usually a spouse or domestic partner, children, and sometimes others who depended on that person financially. If you are not sure whether that includes you, one conversation with Brad Hayes Law will clarify it.
Here is a kink in the law. A wrongful death claim is separate from any criminal case, and does not depend on one. Remember the OJ trial? He was acquitted of murder but still found liable in the civil case. The same holds when a loved one dies in police custody or in jail - your family can bring a claim even if the DA never files a charge. But here is the kink in that kink: when a government agency is involved, that claim must begin within 6 months, or you lose it forever.
What a family can recover depends on your relationship to the person - the income they would have brought home, funeral and burial costs, and the loss of a spouse, a parent, a partner in the house. Those are real losses with real value.
Here's the honest part: these cases can go for months or even years. Brad Hayes Law will run the investigation, the filings, the paperwork, and the lawyer phone calls so you won't be bothered.
There is no rush on our end. Whenever your family is ready, Brad will look at what happened and tell you plainly whether there is a case. We are an El Monte wrongful death lawyer. Handling all of it is how Brad Hayes Law earns its fee, paid out of the settlement if we win. But we can't help if you don't call.
Now that you know more about a wrongful death than most,
is there anything you want to ...