Los Angeles Wrongful Death Attorney

Unfortunately, in some accidents or incidences involving a third party’s negligence, a victim dies.  When a victim is killed, there may be both criminal and civil charges against the party responsible for the death of the person.  In civil cases, such case is refereed to as wrongful death claim.  Wrongful death claims are very emotional process for the victim’s family and loved ones.  No money can ever compensate for the loss of a human being.  But since our legal system is able to order the party in responsible to fully compensate monetarily for the loss and suffering the family is going through.  That is where our Los Angeles wrongful death attorney comes and works for you to help you receive your compensation.

Civil suit and criminal prosecution are two different cases involving a person’s wrongful death. While the wrongdoer may be charged and prosecuted under criminal laws for criminal homicide theories, the suit where monetary compensation is sought is a civil wrongful death suit. Standard of proof in each case is different – preponderance of the evidence in civil suit as opposed to beyond a reasonable doubt in criminal. It means that it requires less to prove in civil suits to win the case. A good illustration of this is the O.J. Simpson murder case. Although, the prosecution could not prove O.J. Simpson’s murder beyond a reasonable doubt, his wrongful killing of the victim was proven by the preponderance of evidence in his later civil wrongful death suit.

So what claims are included in a wrongful death claim?  It involves a whole spectrum of damages, which otherwise would not have been lost had the person not died.  They include lost wages from the deceased, lost companionship, funeral expenses and any mental anguish suffered by the family.

In some cases, punitive damages can be bought if the wrongdoer’s act of killing was intentional, reckless or grossly negligent. Punitive damages are retributive that it punishes the defendant to deter any future defendant from such act.  Juries are free to impose whatever amount of punitive damages they feel appropriate and they may find higher amount of damages for corporate or otherwise high net worth defendants so long as judges do not find the amount excessive.

You need an attorney if you have lost your loved one and you believe someone else is responsible. As a Los Angeles wrongful death attorney, our firm works very hard for families to bring justice.  Talk to our attorneys.  We can help.