The loss of a loved one can throw your life into a tailspin. If someone else’s negligence caused your loved one’s passing in Savannah, our legal team will fight for the compensation you and your family deserve. While no amount of money could ever make things right, damages you receive in an insurance settlement or court award could at least relieve the financial burden you are facing.
Let a Savannah personal injury lawyer at Kaine Law represent you in your pursuit of compensation. We will handle your case with compassion and professionalism as we fight to preserve your right to recover damages. Call us today. Talk to one of our legal representatives about your family’s loss during a free case consultation.
What Our Savannah Wrongful Death Lawyers Do to Help Your Case
A wrongful death in Georgia is any death that occurs due to a crime, criminal negligence, any other type of negligence, or property that was defectively manufactured, regardless of whether negligence played a part in the manufacturing.
Wrongful deaths are generally preventable, which is why it makes them so difficult to accept or cope with when they occur.
Our law firm is very sorry for the grief you and your family are experiencing right now. It is our mission to relieve you of some of your emotional burdens by handling your case from start to finish. Your job is for you and your family to recover from this loss.
We will investigate the accident that caused your family member’s death. We will establish liability, negotiate a settlement, and, if necessary, file a lawsuit to represent you at trial.
For a free legal consultation with a wrongful death lawyer serving Savannah, call 404-214-2001
We Handle Your Chatham County Wrongful Death Case on Contingency
The last thing you need to worry about right now is whether you can afford to hire an attorney for your wrongful death claim. Let us put your mind at ease.
We will review your case free of charge and inform you of your legal options. If you decide to hire our law firm, we will represent you and charge you no legal fees unless we win compensation for you. Our fees will come out of your settlement or court award, not your pocket.
Savannah Wrongful Death Lawyer Near Me 404-214-2001
Our Savannah Wrongful Death Lawyers Are Dedicated to Getting Results for Families
Our personal injury law firm is committed to serving the families of wrongful death victims in Savannah, Georgia. Having handled numerous cases over the course of several decades, our Savannah wrongful death attorneys understand how difficult it is to process the loss of someone you love, let alone fight a legal battle for them. You and your family may be facing financial hardships due to the death as well.
We know that money is no replacement for the life of someone you love, but our goal as your legal advocates is to at least get you the compensation you need to ease the burden you are feeling. We are honored to have extended our service to clients in Georgia and achieved results that helped us do just that.
Some of our case victories are below:
- $3,675,000 in a wrongful death claim for a fatal motor vehicle accident
- $650,000 after a victim suffered a fatal car accident
The outcomes for each case will vary, but you can be certain that our injury legal team will put in the hard work to get you the compensation you need and deserve.
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How We Investigate Wrongful Death Claims
When our accident lawyers represent you in your wrongful death claim, we will need to support your deceased family member’s full value of life with evidence.
This means we will begin building your case with evidence from a thorough investigation of the circumstances that brought about your loved one’s death.
Our investigation efforts could involve:
- Gathering evidence at the accident scene
- Interviewing witnesses
- Studying traffic signal or surveillance camera footage
- Reviewing the Savannah Police Department’s accident report
- Collecting medical records
- Working with accident reconstruction specialists
- Reviewing the motorist’s driving record
The evidence we gather in your loved one’s wrongful death will be used in the claim we submit to the insurance companies.
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How Our Lawyers Establish Liability in a Wrongful Death Case
Georgia law requires that we demonstrate four key elements. These elements must be present in a case for it to constitute a wrongful death. Those four elements are often depicted as the following:
Duty of Care
The duty of care is the legal responsibility of the defendant to ensure the plaintiff’s safety. The defendant is required to follow the law and the expected standards of behavior. It is the behavior a reasonable person of the same intelligence and training would take in the situation.
For example, drivers have a legal duty to follow traffic laws and drive safely to keep others from suffering injuries. Doctors have an ethical and professional duty to follow standard medical practices.
Breach of Duty
The breach of duty occurs when the defendant violates the law or deviates from standard behavior. This decision could be an action or inaction to perform. It is any point when the defendant neglects the safety of others.
For example, a driver running a red light has broken the law and breached their duty of care. A doctor could have forgone obvious and necessary testing due to a misdiagnosis.
Causation
Causation is the result of the defendant’s decision. It is the accident and the injuries the plaintiff suffers.
In our car accident example, running the red light caused the at-fault driver to crash into another vehicle, causing the plaintiff to sustain fatal injuries. For the medical malpractice example, an aliment worsens and takes the patient’s life.
Damages
In the final element, the decedent suffered losses, such as medical bills, and the surviving family suffered financial losses from loss of income, funeral costs, and other unexpected expenses.
Our personal injury attorneys will apply the evidence from our investigation to prove negligence so we can hold the responsible parties liable for this wrongful death.
Negotiating a Settlement
To resolve your wrongful death case, our attorneys will negotiate with the liable parties’ insurance companies to arrive at a fair settlement agreement. If the insurance adjusters refuse to offer compensation that we feel accurately reflects your losses, we will prepare to take your case to trial.
Call Kaine Law today for a free case consultation.
We Will Work to Bring You Justice and Compensation After a Wrongful Death
Under Georgia law, you have the right to collect certain types of compensation when someone’s negligence causes the death of a family member. It is difficult to say how much compensation you could receive in your case, as the circumstances of your case are unique.
However, Georgia law stipulates the types of damages to which you could be entitled. Wrongful death damages include:
- Funeral expenses, cremation/burial expenses, and other expenses stemming from your deceased family member’s injury or death
- Medical expenses (such as hospital bills) your deceased family member incurred from the time of their injury until their passing
- The full value of your deceased family member’s life
- Loss of companionship
Our attorneys will explore your current and possible future losses. Our Savannah wrongful death lawyers will hold any negligent parties accountable for damages.
Understanding Full Value of Life in Georgia’s Wrongful Death Law
O.C.G.A. § 51-4-2 states that as a family member of someone who was killed as the result of another person or entity’s negligence, you can make a claim for “the full value of the life of the decedent.”
Georgia quantifies this value from the decedent’s point of view, accounting for both of the following:
- Non-economic: The intangible qualities of the decedent, such as their family and relationships
- Economic: The tangible aspects of the decedent, such as their financial contributions and their contributions to the family’s household
Our Savannah Wrongful Death Attorneys Handle Multiple Types of Personal Injury Cases
Wrongful deaths can occur from a broad range of causes, including:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Dog bites
- Premises liability issues, such as slips and falls, swimming pool accidents, faulty security, etc.
- Defective products
- Workplace accidents
You can speak to a Savannah wrongful death attorney at our law firm about your case regardless of the type of accident or incident that claimed your loved one’s life. Our injury lawyers are available to listen with a compassionate ear and ready to take charge of your case in the pursuit of justice and deserved compensation.
How Long You Have to File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit
Although wrongful death claims typically resolve with a settlement, from day one, our law firm will build your case as though it were going to trial. It is important to note that Georgia’s statute of limitations for wrongful death (O.C.G.A § 9-3-33) generally gives you two years from the date of your loved one’s death to file a lawsuit against liable parties.
By hiring our firm earlier rather than later, you give our lawyers more time to build your case and try to resolve compensation through a settlement—and to file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations expires.
Who Can File a Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Savannah?
Georgia law stipulates that the following people may file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of the decedent:
- A surviving spouse
- In the absence of a surviving spouse, any surviving child
- In the absence of children or surviving children, the parents of the decedent
- In the absence of surviving parents, the executor or administrator of the estate of the decedent
Grandparents, siblings, and other family members cannot file a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of a decedent. Should an executor of the estate file a claim, damages go to the estate to benefit any next of kin of the decedent.
How Does a Wrongful Death Case Differ from a Criminal Homicide Case in Georgia?
It’s understandable that there may be some confusion about how a wrongful death case is different from a criminal case. After all, both involve the death of a victim by the acts of another person, and, as Georgia law establishes, a criminal act can result in a wrongful death. The two diverge, however, on two key points: the outcome being sought and the burden of proof required.
Wrongful Death Claims Are Intended to Bring Relief to the Family
A criminal case is designed to convict a person for intentional or, at the very least, grossly negligent actions that violated the law and led to a victim’s death. The goal is to punish the wrongdoer, usually for inflicting intentional harm.
A wrongful death case, on the other hand, seeks to compensate a victim’s family financially for the death that resulted from someone else’s actions. The goal here isn’t to punish the person responsible but to provide relief to the victim’s family.
Punishment may be a byproduct of a Savannah wrongful death case, but in the eyes of the law, it is not the objective. Oftentimes, neither death nor harm were the outcome the at-fault party intended in a wrongful death case.
A Savannah Wrongful Death Lawyer is More Likely to Win Your Civil Case
In a homicide case, a prosecutor must prove in criminal court that the defendant is guilty of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. That can be tough to do. By contrast, a wrongful death lawyer has a much lower burden of proof because his case is brought in civil court. Your Savannah wrongful death attorney need only prove that there is more than a 50% chance that the defendant caused your loved one’s death through their negligent actions.
With a lower evidentiary standard, your chances of a successful outcome are greater. When your personal injury lawyer goes to bat for you and your family, he or she will be more likely to obtain the compensation you deserve and bring you a form of justice that might otherwise be unattainable.
Our Savannah Wrongful Death Lawyers Are Here for You
The attorneys and staff at Kaine Law are deeply sorry for the loss of your family member. We hope this information about wrongful death claims and lawsuits and how we can help you has brought you some peace of mind. We are dedicated to our clients and securing justice and fair compensation for them.
Please know that we stand ready to assist you in this difficult time. We will work hard to get you the recovery you deserve. Call Kaine Law today for a free case review.
Call or text 404-214-2001 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
