What Are the Chances of Winning a Wrongful Death Suit?

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When your loved one dies because of someone else’s actions, your family may be legally entitled to substantial financial compensation. First, you need to meet your own burden of proof to show that what someone else did caused your loved one’s death. Hiring a Beverly Hills wrongful death attorney is very helpful to your case. The attorneys at One Law Group can help your family pursue financial compensation for a wrongful death in California.

You Can Improve Your Chances of Winning Your Case

It is impossible to give you a numerical estimate of your chances of winning a wrongful death lawsuit. Everything depends on the facts of your individual case and whether you can meet your own burden of proof. However, there are things that you can do that will put you in a better legal position and increase your chances of winning.

The first thing that can help your wrongful death case is to act quickly to begin the legal process. A wrongful death case will take considerable time to resolve from start to finish. Further, the more time passes from the time that your loved one died until you begin the claims or lawsuit process, the more difficult your legal position is.

Wrongful death cases must be proven by a preponderance of the evidence, which means that you need actual evidence to win. Evidence is only available to you for so long until it begins to be lost. It gets more difficult to investigate the facts as time passes. Witnesses can get harder to locate, and their recollections may fade.

In addition, you may actually lose physical evidence that can be used to prove your case. Even if you wait to file a lawsuit, you should at least begin the legal process quickly, so you do not lose crucial evidence.

Hire an Experienced Attorney to Give You a Better Chance of Success

Perhaps the most important step that you can take to help your wrongful death case is to hire an experienced attorney to represent you. The insurance company has little regard for you and your situation. It does not care that you are struggling financially in the aftermath of its policyholder’s actions. The insurance company is a for-profit business whose bottom line reigns supreme over everything.

If you try to handle your wrongful death case on your own, chances are that you will miss a key fact or be subject to the insurance company’s tricks. In every claim or lawsuit, you need an advocate and a fighter to protect your legal right to financial compensation when you have suffered a loss from someone else’s actions.

The Realities of Your Wrongful Death Case

In any wrongful death case, here are some inescapable facts:

  • You have a much greater chance of being in a position for financial compensation when you have an attorney who can obtain the necessary evidence to prove your case.
  • When you have an experienced wrongful death lawyer, chances are that you will receive more compensation than you would have gotten if you filed your own claim (even after paying your attorney’s fee).

In every wrongful death case, your evidence needs to show that the death was, in fact, wrongful. Here, “wrongful” can mean the following:

  • Intentional
  • Reckless
  • Negligent

Proving Negligence in a Wrongful Death Case

Most wrongful death cases center around negligence. While all untimely deaths are tragic, not all of them are negligent. It is up to you to show that there is a responsible party who must pay for your family’s damages.

In a personal injury case, negligence is a legal term with a specific meaning. Not every death is the result of negligence because, sometimes, accidents do happen.

There is a four-part legal test that you must meet every element of to show that someone was negligent:

  • The defendant owed your loved one the duty of care.
  • The defendant breached the duty of care by acting unreasonably under the circumstances.
  • An injury was suffered.
  • The injury would not have occurred had it not been for the defendant’s actions.

The key element in every wrongful death case is often proving that someone acted unreasonably. For each case, the legal standard will consider what a reasonable person would have done under the circumstances.

For example, a reasonable driver does not speed and follows other traffic laws. A reasonable property owner will periodically inspect their property for dangerous conditions and fix them. The reasonable person is not expected to be perfect or a superhero, but they act with ordinary caution.

In your wrongful death case, you will need to prove what the potentially responsible party did, so you can compare it to what the ordinary person will have done. For that, there is no substitute for physical evidence.

Call a Beverly Hills Personal Injury Attorney Today

When you need a tenacious and dedicated litigator to get justice for the wrongful death of a loved one, the wrongful death attorneys at One Law Group are ready to help. Although it may be difficult to speak about your experience, your phone call to a lawyer cannot wait. We will handle your wrongful death case with compassion and diligence. To schedule your free initial consultation, you can send us a message online or call us today at (844) 563-1641.

Wrongful Death Case FAQs

How long will my wrongful death case take to complete?

You should prepare for a lengthy process that can last between one and two years. Although it is possible to close a wrongful death case with a settlement, you should always be prepared to take your case to trial.

Do I need to pay anything upfront to a lawyer for my case?

No. We work for you on a contingency basis and will not ask for anything upfront.

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