Types of Wrongful Death Cases
In the United States, wrongful death law is rather simple. The specifics are decided on a state-by-state basis, but they all have more in common than not. A wrongful death is one in which the defendant caused the death of the victim, or that the defendant was negligent in some manner that directly caused the death of the victim. Monetary damages to the victim's family are the normal result.
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Medical Error
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Medical error is a common cause of wrongful death lawsuits. In these cases, a doctor or other medical professional had to have acted in a negligent manner in caring for a patient who died while under her care. In most of these cases, a doctor has proscribed an inappropriate medicine or failed to diagnose a condition correctly. The victim's family must prove that the medical professional had the requisite knowledge concerning the case and failed to use it properly.
Automotive
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Car accidents can be part of a wrongful death suit if the driver was drunk or on drugs when driving, or was driving in such a manner that the accident and the resultant death was clearly the fault of the driver. The victim's family must prove that the driver was behaving in a negligent manner. Therefore, drunk drivers are an easy mark for this lawsuit.
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Workplace
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Workplace deaths are also a common form of wrongful death case. In these cases, an employer is found liable for wrongful death if the victim's family can prove that the employer did not take the appropriate safety measures in the workplace, thus causing the accident that led to the death. These are important laws with regard to construction sites, offshore oil rigs or work with dangerous chemicals.
Product Related
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Product-related wrongful death cases derive from the proper use of a product that leads to the death of the user. For example, an automotive manufacturer fails to warn people about faulty brakes on a new line of cars. Any deaths from this failure are wrongful deaths, and the manufacturer is liable for all monetary damages. In these cases, the victims must either prove that the product was defective (without manufacturer knowledge), or that the manufacturer knew that they were defective and did not warn the consumers. In the former scenario, the victim's family must prove that the firm was incompetent in its manufacturing techniques. In the latter case, the victim's family must prove that the manufacturer knew about a defect and failed to warn consumers.
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References
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