3 Elements To Prove Your Wrongful Death Case

Losing a loved one is never easy. The grief that you feel may be compounded when a loved one's loss is sudden and unexpected. If your loved one's life was taken as a result of the negligent actions of another, you could file a wrongful death lawsuit.

The lawsuit will not bring your loved one back or eliminate your grief, but it can provide you with access to the financial resources needed to pay for funeral and medical expenses after your loved one's passing.

Proving a wrongful death case can be challenging, but your attorney will help you address the following areas of concern.

1. Duty of Care

A wrongful death case is a type of civil lawsuit. The basis for all civil torts is a duty of care. A duty of care is a legal obligation that is imposed on an individual requiring that the individual meet certain standards of service or behavior when interacting with others.

You will need to be able to prove that a duty of care existed between your loved one and the individual responsible for his or her death if you want your wrongful death case to be successful.

2. Breach of Duty

Once it has been established that a duty of care existed between your deceased loved one and another person, you will need to be able to show that the other individual breached this duty. A key component of a breach of care is negligence.

Negligence occurs when a person should have been able to foresee the danger in his or her actions. A failure to take the necessary precautions against injury to another is deemed negligence.

You can work with your attorney to show that the person responsible for your loved one's death did not follow safety protocols or violated certain laws in order to establish a breach of duty.

3. Causation

Even if you are able to establish a duty of care and show that the duty was breached, you will need to show causation for your wrongful death case to be a success. The law states that the negligent actions of another must directly cause the death of a person in order for financial compensation to be awarded to the surviving heirs.

The help of a wrongful death attorney service can prove invaluable when collecting evidence that will establish a direct link between someone's actions and the death of your loved one.

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