What Qualifies as a Wrongful Death?

When your loved one gets into an accident, they might suffer from serious injuries. If those injuries are severe enough, or if the accident was catastrophic, they could end up passing away from their physical damages. As their surviving family member who is burdened by the costs associated with their death, you might be wondering if this qualifies as a wrongful death.

You should know whether or not what happened to your loved one qualifies as a wrongful death so that you can decide if you’re able to file a claim against the party responsible for their untimely passing. Let’s take a look at the requirements for a wrongful death claim.

Requirements for a Wrongful Death Claim

When your loved one has passed from an accident that was someone else’s fault, you are likely interested in filing a claim against them so that you can get justice for your late family member. As a general rule in Mississippi, if your loved one had survived the accident and would’ve been able to file a personal injury claim, then it’s likely their death qualifies as a wrongful death.

The general reason you could file a wrongful death claim for your deceased loved one is that another party’s negligence caused their injuries and death. Whether it was a car accident, medical malpractice, a defective product, or a crime that was intentional, as long as negligence was involved, then it qualifies as wrongful death.

For example, if a driver got behind the wheel while intoxicated and ended up crashing into your loved one and that caused their death, then that would constitute a wrongful death case. Their negligence, which was drunk driving, directly caused the untimely death of your family member. In that scenario, you can hold them responsible for what they’ve done and recover damages from them.

Proving negligence is an essential part to a successful wrongful death claim because otherwise you likely don’t have a claim. It’s most beneficial to have a wrongful death lawyer on your side so that they can prove the elements of negligence were present, which include a duty of care existed, the other party was negligent and breached this duty of care, that breached caused their injuries and death, and that resulted in monetary damages.

Who Can File for Wrongful Death in Mississippi?

Now that you know that your family member’s death qualifies as wrongful and you could have a claim against the negligent party, you should know who can file this claim to recover damages for your deceased loved one. According to Mississippi Code, these parties can file a wrongful death claim on behalf of their late family member:

• Personal representative or executor of the deceased’s estate
• Spouse of the deceased
• Parents of the deceased
• Children of the deceased
• Siblings of the deceased

It’s important to note that only one wrongful death claim can be filed for your deceased loved one, but one or more the parties listed above can join in on the filing of the claim. They just can’t each file their own claim.

If you are one of the parties who can recover damages for your loved one’s death, you might be wondering exactly what kinds of damages you can recover in compensation. In general, you’re likely most interested in being compensated for funeral and burial costs as well as any medical bills and pain and suffering that your loved one sustained right before their death.

There are some other costs that your family can suffer from the loss of your loved one. You can also recover lost wages of your loved one if you expected their income to support you, their projected income that they have lost from their untimely death, and loss of consortium and companionship because you lost your partner.

Corban Gunn, Attorney at Law Will Represent You

We understand that losing your loved one in a senseless act of negligence is confusing and can leave you incredibly vulnerable. Even though you want to hold the negligent party accountable for what they’ve done, you might feel like it’s too big of an undertaking right now with your grief. That’s why our Biloxi, MS wrongful death lawyer is here to handle your legal claim for you while you focus on healing from your loss.

At Corban Gunn, Attorney at Law, we’re here to answer all of your questions and guide you through your claim every step of the way. We know how hard this process can be, which is why we’re here to support you and get justice for your loved one. Reach out to us today so we can start working on your claim right away.