NJ Wrongful Death Attorneys

Wrongful Death Liability

In order to establish wrongful death liability, the plaintiff’s attorney must be able to prove the defendant’s conduct resulted in the victim’s death. This involves proving the victim would still be alive were it not for the defendant’s actions or neglect. The time between the victim’s death and the defendant’s actions/neglect is not a factor if the attorney can prove the defendant caused the death.

There are instances in which a defendant may be shown to be only partially responsible for the death of the victim. In these cases, they may be found comparatively or contributorily negligent. To determine the liability involved in your case, discuss it with a wrongful death lawyer in NJ.

Each state has its own laws for assessing liability. States may base these on comparative negligence, contributory negligence, or a combination of both. Due to this varying nature, it helps to discuss your case with a New Jersey wrongful death lawyer.

Assessing Damages

In wrongful death cases, the goal when assessing damages is to provide the proper, appropriate degree of compensation to the victim’s family members. It’s important to understand that courts may evaluate many different factors when assessing damages. Thus, it’s necessary to consider each claim individually and consult with a wrongful death attorney in NJ. Some factors, like the expenses associated with medical and death costs, are relatively easy to determine.

There are also less obvious factors that are not always as easy to assess. For example, future earnings, loss of benefits, and loss of companionship can be difficult to assess, because doing so involves anticipating the victim’s potential lifespan and determining the way their death impacted the surviving family members.

These factors are still important, but it can be a challenge to assign a dollar value to them. This is especially true when evaluating the impact of loss of companionship. This is a subjective factor that can’t be measured empirically. Instead, assigning a dollar value to this factor requires measuring emotional pain. Therefore, you need a  New Jersey wrongful death lawyer that has the experience needed to assess what you may be entitled to.

One additional damage point to assess is punitive damages. Instead of compensating for a specific loss, punitive damages serve as a punishment for the defendant. They may be awarded if it can be shown that a defendant’s actions were intentionally or grossly negligent. Punitive damages can also benefit the general public by discouraging similar defendants from committing similar acts.