The death of a loved one is always hard, but it can be even more difficult after a sudden accident. As Clearlake wrongful death lawyers, it’s our job to help grieving families recover financially and personally after the death of their loved ones.

If you have lost someone you love in a tragic accident in Clearlake or elsewhere in Lake County, contact our experienced injury attorneys at (707) 564-1900 for free, friendly, and compassionate advice.

Our personal injury law firm only takes cases involving critical or fatal injuries. Specializing and focusing our practice means our attorneys are highly experienced experts in a specific field. However, while we do specialize our practice, we also cover several different kinds of accidents, including:

• Auto accidents
• Medical malpractice
• Boating accidents
• Dangerous products
• Bicycle accidents
• Lyft and Uber accidents
• Workplace accidents
• Dog Bites
• Motorcycle accidents
• Construction accidents
• Wildfires
• Farm accidents

Wrongful death accidents are deadly incidents caused by negligent actions or inactions of at-fault parties. For more information about the definition of wrongful death, you can see the California Civic Code of Procedure 377.80.

An at-fault party to an accident can include both individuals and organizations. These parties can typically be held responsible for damages that family members and/or dependents of decedents have suffered. While many people know about negligent parties, such as distracted or impaired drivers whose reckless driving causes fatal crashes. However, people are often unaware of other potential at-fault parties, such as hospitals, restaurants, product manufacturers, and government entities.

Suddenly losing a person in your life can significantly impact your life and the lives of your loved ones. Because of this, the damages that can be recovered through wrongful death cases cover many losses. While each case is different, recoverable damages generally fit into two categories; economic and non-economic losses.

Economic losses are damages that come with an easily determined value. These commonly include things like lost wages or earning potential, medical bills incurred before the decedent lost their life, property damage, lost access to household services, and more. Non-economic damages are more difficult to put a numeric value on. People often refer to these losses as “pain and suffering” damages. These include emotional trauma, loss of parental guidance, or loss of spousal companionship.

Often, families’ losses due to fatal accidents can leave them unsure of how they can afford to move forward with their lives. Fortunately, families can often obtain compensation for their damages by contacting an experienced Clearlake wrongful death lawyer and filing a wrongful death claim. By doing so, many people can hold at-fault entities responsible and claim the compensation they deserve for the above-described damages.

Wrongful death cases are essential, and receiving compensation is often critical for grieving families. Often, people assume that they will not afford an attorney or that quality legal assistance is out-of-reach. However, we firmly believe everybody deserves excellent legal assistance after deadly accidents.

We operate based on contingency to ensure that all our clients can afford our help. This means the people we help do not make up-front payments and aren’t responsible for paying lawyer’s fees unless we can successfully handle their claim. By taking our cases on contingency, we can help everybody who needs legal representation in severe accidents, regardless of their financial situation.

Deadly accidents can affect many people, and because of this, multiple parties are often eligible to obtain compensation for wrongful death damages. In most cases, eligible parties include family members and people who depended financially on the decedent. While more than one person may receive compensation, California’s wrongful death payments are released as a single sum. After being released, the money is divided privately among the involved parties.

To learn more about who can claim wrongful death compensation, watch this video:

One of the questions we often ask is, “Will my case require a trial in court?” The answer to this question depends heavily on your specific case. However, more than 90 percent of wrongful death cases do not require a courtroom trial. Before your attorney files a civil suit, they will negotiate with the at-fault party’s insurance company. In most cases, wrongful death claims are settled during this negotiation phase.

However, having an experienced wrongful death attorney in Clearlake will be invaluable if your case goes to trial. If negotiating a settlement isn’t possible, your lawyer may decide to proceed with a court case. If the case is tried, your attorney will take up the responsibility of filing the suit and arguing for your rights in court, drafting pleadings, collecting admissions and documents, taking depositions, and other essential functions.

Losing a person you care about is a tragedy. If you have lost a family member in an accident due to someone else’s negligence, contact our experienced Clearlake Wrongful Death Attorneys for free, friendly, and compassionate advice at (800) 404-5400 or (707) 564-1900. See our past settlements and verdicts.

^{Editor’s Note: updated [cha 7.10.23] Image by drippycat from Pixabay ms cha [cs 890]}