California Wrongful Death Lawyer

Wrongful Death Attorney Serving Irvine, Orange County, and Surrounding Communities

The phone rings late at night and as you awaken you instantly feel in your gut that the news on the other end of that call is not good. You answer the phone and within seconds you are utterly devastated to find out that a loved one has been killed in an accident. You struggle to gather your thoughts, as your mind is racing. Your emotions begin to overpower you as you come to the realization that someone you love is gone. There is no greater form of loss. There is no greater sense of sadness. There is seemingly no way to work through this sudden, shocking and terrible situation.

If you’re like most who have faced this awful scenario, you soon realize that what needs to happen is that you need to bring your loved ones as close together as possible and you need to work through this collectively. Of course, there is another side to this situation that most people do not want to face. That side involves the costs, paperwork, legalities and incurred losses that are always a part of these tragedies. A sudden death can also be financially devastating.

If you are unfortunate enough to be one of the many people who answers that awful phone call, you need to offload as much of the ‘red tape’ as possible as quickly as possible so that you can focus on what seems most important in the moment. If your loved one was killed by the faulty actions of someone else, please contact a California wrongful death lawyer at Montevideo Law today to schedule a free initial consultation. We can help you work through this as we have with many others.

What Do I Do Now?

Every person who has suddenly lost a loved one at some point faces this very difficult question. It is completely normal to feel overwhelmed by all of this, as grief is one of the most powerful emotions in existence. How are you going to handle all of the things that need to be done? These include:

  • Arrangements for the deceased
  • Funeral arrangements
  • Burial arrangements
  • Medical documentation
  • Insurance claims if necessary
  • Estate administration

Not to mention, you may face the even more unenviable task of deciding whether or not to pursue a financial recovery if your loved one was killed by a negligent, reckless or an intentional act. Too many times, people who are grieving struggle to handle all of these steps and some if not many of them are never completed. That leaves surviving family members in an even more difficult position of having to absorb losses, and in many cases these losses are substantial.

You Deserve Help

Tragically, there is nothing that can be done to reverse what has already occurred. There is no loss more final than death, and the struggle to work towards accepting that reality is excruciating. However, the legal system has put certain laws and standards in place that are designed to help the surviving family members of someone who has been taken from us too soon. If you have been dealt the ultimate blow, you may want to file a California wrongful death lawsuit.
In such a lawsuit, successful plaintiffs can recover the following types of damages to help with their losses:

  • Economic Damages
  • Economic damages are basically direct forms of loss. Examples of economic damages include:
  • Funeral and burial expenses
  • Loss of gifts expected to be received from the person who was killed
  • Loss of household services
  • Loss of financial support

In California, these losses are calculated based on the average life expectancy of the person who was killed.

Non-Economic Damages

A plaintiff in a California wrongful death lawsuit can also recover what are known as non-economic damages, or those that are not directly tied to a tangible benefit. These include:

  • The loss of love, companionship, comfort, care, protection, assistance, etc.
  • Loss of consortium
  • Loss of training and guidance

You can find California’s jury instruction regarding damages in wrongful death cases here.

You Are Not Alone

It’s understandable that you may think that your world is crumbling in front of your eyes and that few people have ever had to face such a terrible situation. Hopefully, you’ll find some comfort in the knowledge that you are far from alone. According to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, the following number of people suffered unintentional deaths across the country in 2014:

  • Total unintentional injury deaths: 135,928
  • Unintentional fall deaths: 31.959
  • Motor vehicle accident deaths: 33,736
  • Poisoning deaths: 42,032

In addition, a recent Johns Hopkins study that was detailed in the Washington Post revealed that more than 250,000 people are killed as a result of medical malpractice in the United States every year, making it the third leading cause of death – overall – in the United States, behind only heart disease and cancer.

Get the Help You Need, Contact an Irvine Wrongful Death Lawyer

If you find yourself reeling, get help as soon as possible as it’s likely that the rest of your family and friends need you right now. You can find emotional help and by way of different support groups that exist in the local area. In order to deal properly with the other aspects of your loss, you need to contact a California wrongful death lawyer at Montevideo Law as soon as possible to schedule a free initial consultation. Doing so will at least give you the peace of mind necessary to know that you’ve looked into all of this and that you can proceed with a solid foundation of knowledge and advice. We wish you the best as you fight through this difficult time, and we look forward to helping you.