You may be enjoying a beautiful, warm day; everything may feel so good that you would expect to spend every single day of your life like this. But one fatal accident of your closest one, even on these kinds of days, is capable of destroying your happiness for a long time. Not only that, the struggle you will go through can be unbearable too. Wouldn’t you want punishment for the person who is responsible for all this? I bet you would seek justice if not punishment.

You will probably seek the help of an attorney from law firms such as Krasney Law. But even a great law firm like Krasney can’t prove a case unless you have the evidence and file the lawsuit in time. In order to establish and win a wrongful death lawsuit, you will have to overcome multiple barriers or challenges of a wrongful death lawsuit. Here are some challenges of a wrongful death lawsuit:

1. Are you eligible to file a wrongful death lawsuit?

The person who died wrongfully may be your best friend, a close colleague, or a person who is vital to your well-being. But the wrongful death act doesn’t consider these relationships as worthy to file a wrongful death lawsuit. Regardless of the fact that every state has its specific instructions on the eligibility, the following persons are commonly considered as rightfully eligible for filing a wrongful death lawsuit:

• A surviving family member of the wrongful death who may be the husband, wife, children, or parents of the person who died.
• If there are no surviving family members of the dead person, his estate also holds the right to file a wrongful death case.
• The local partner of the dead person: the domestic partner of the deceased person is also allowed to file a wrongful death lawsuit since their business or organization is potentially threatened due to the death.

2. When to file wrongful death lawsuit)

Most people face multiple issues after someone important to them dies. Although most people would seek justice immediately after a wrongful death happens, some people may delay and spend too long before filing a wrongful death lawsuit. But the California (and other states) statute of limitations of the unlawful death act states that the wrongful death case must be filed within two years of the date of the death. Therefore, the eligible applicant must submit the wrongful death lawsuit within two years from the date of the wrongful death. If not in two years, the qualified person will not be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit, ever.

Alternatively, if the person who died has loved ones who survived, the statute of limitations act allows an action to be brought under a wrongful death claim. Hence, it is advised to keep these in mind while preparing for a wrongful death claim.

3. Preserving the evidence

The court only trusts evidence. Therefore, your chances of getting justice are only high when you preserve the evidence of the claim with or without the help of an attorney. Proving a wrongful death requires you to present proof of negligence or an eye witness. Proofs should be gathered from the location of the accident. Moreover, you should also make sure that you present the witness while you still have time because the memory of the witness will only become fuzzy over time. Not only that, you may even lose contact with the witness if you wait too long before filing a wrongful death lawsuit. Hence, it is crucial to preserve the evidence in order to win the case.

4. Proving the negligence

Another critical challenge of winning a wrongful death lawsuit is proving if the person is negligent, or in other words, the person is responsible for the wrongful death. In court, you have to have something that proves that the lost one has died as a result of a negligent act of the defendant. Remember that not taking an appropriate action that could have saved the deceased is also considered as negligence. You can find more info about negligence and then decide what was the carelessness and present it in front of the judge.

5. Proving the damages

Finally, a successful wrongful death claim is the one that gets the maximum compensation for the damage. Wrongful death doesn’t necessarily include just the death of a person and damages to his vehicle, but it also includes many other things that are associated with him. This includes his future financial opportunities, salary, work around the house, and other contributions to the family or business, etc.

That is why it is crucial to find out what you have actually lost in the form of a person and measure what you have lost and then file a wrongful death claim to get the justice you deserve.