When Does a Fatal Car Accident Qualify for a Wrongful Death Lawsuit?

When a negligent driver causes a fatal car accident, the deceased’s family can file a wrongful death lawsuit. Protect your family’s interests after a tragic loss.

More than 38,600 people are killed on American roadways every year. That’s equivalent to one person killed every 14 minutes, night and day.¹

Fatal road crashes can involve automobiles, trucks, motorcycles, or pedestrians. As in most vehicle accidents, there is usually insurance involved.

When you’ve lost a loved one in a fatal car accident, you have a right to expect compensation from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Here’s what you need to know about wrongful death lawsuits and auto insurance compensation.

What is a Car Accident Wrongful Death?

Wrongful death is defined as the sudden and unexpected death of a person as the result of a wrongful act of another, such as a drunk driver who causes a motor vehicle crash.

Sadly, motor vehicle accidents take the lives of innocent people of all ages, every day.

Common causes of fatal accidents include:

  • Distracted driving involving cell phone calls, texting, personal grooming, or other tasks
  • Driver fatigue, particularly during long drives at night
  • Drunk driving, drug use, or a combination of both
  • Speeding and other forms of aggressive driving
  • Motorists violating a motorcycle driver’s right of way
  • Pedestrians struck by vehicles
  • Bicyclists struck by motorists

Pursuing a Wrongful Death Claim

In the aftermath of a car accident with fatalities, local law enforcement agencies typically conduct an in-depth investigation to determine the sequence of events and driver fault for the crash.

When the authorities decide that negligence caused a fatal car crash, the legal concept of wrongful death comes to the forefront. A wrongful death claim is a demand made by the surviving spouse, family member, or estate representative, on the party whose actions caused the person’s death.

The family of a fatally injured car accident victim has three options for pursuing compensation:

  1. File a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurance company
  2. File a claim with the deceased driver’s insurance company (if the at-fault driver is uninsured or underinsured)
  3. File a lawsuit against the at-fault driver

Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

When the deceased accident victim is a member of your household and the at-fault driver had little or no insurance, you can turn to your family’s auto insurance policy.

Covered household members are those who live with you, including your:

  • Spouse
  • Biological children
  • Adopted children
  • Step-children
  • Child’s spouse
  • Grandchildren
  • Parents

Children are legally members of your household even if you share custody with a former spouse. So long as the child has a bed in your home, they are members of the household.

Parents who shared custody of a fatally injured child may be able to pursue coverage from auto insurance policies in both households.

Uninsured motorist coverage is mandatory in most states for bodily injury. It includes coverage for wrongful death damages if the at-fault driver had no valid insurance at the time of the crash.

Underinsured motorist coverage is usually optional, although in some states the insurance company is obligated to offer underinsured coverage. Underinsured coverage kicks in when the at-fault driver’s insurance has been exhausted.

You know that no policy has coverage that can fully compensate you for the loss of a loved one. Your damages will always exceed the at-fault driver’s limits.

Don’t let the adjuster from either insurance company take advantage of your grief. Always hire a personal injury attorney to handle a wrongful death claim.

Proving Wrongful Death from an Auto Accident

You’ll need to prove negligence whether you file an insurance claim or a lawsuit against the at-fault party. The basis of your lawsuit is that your loved one died because someone did something wrong or failed to do what any reasonable person would do.

Who Is Liable for Wrongful Death?

Liability for a fatal car accident may fall solely on the at-fault driver as determined by the police investigation. Sometimes, there may be additional parties who are liable, meaning financially responsible for the wrongful death of a person.

Potentially liable parties include:

  • Other drivers in a multi-vehicle crash
  • The employer of an at-fault driver who was on company business
  • A corporation, like the manufacturer of the defective airbag system
  • A business person, like the owner of a bar that continued serving an obviously intoxicated customer
  • A government agency, like a state highway department that failed to remove spilled oil from the road

When the Adjuster Blames the Decedent

Don’t be fooled by the insurance adjuster’s condolences. Their sympathy ends as soon as the topic turns to settlement amounts. The insurance company will likely blame your loved one for their death and expect you to go along with it.

Today, only Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia, and the District of Columbia follow the pure contributory negligence rule. In those five states, the insurance company can flatly deny an injury claim if the person was as little as one percent to blame for contributing to their injuries, even fatal injuries.

Under pure comparative fault rules, you can proceed with a wrongful death claim, even when you are certain the deceased person was primarily to blame for the circumstances of the accident.

Most states have modified comparative fault rules. In these states, the deceased person has to be equally or more to blame for the accident before the insurance company can deny a wrongful death claim. If the claim proceeds, the compensation is reduced according to the percentage of shared blame.

The insurance company doesn’t get to have the last word about shared blame. An experienced personal injury lawyer will deal with the insurance adjuster and dispute allegations of shared fault.

Damages in Wrongful Death Claims

Every state has its own wrongful death laws and deadlines. The laws provide a framework for family members to seek compensation for their monetary losses and emotional damages after a death.

Typically, the deceased person’s family can seek damages including:

  • Medical bills for emergency services provided to the deceased
  • Funeral costs
  • Burial expenses
  • Pain and suffering of the deceased before death
  • Loss of anticipated future income and benefits
  • Spousal loss of consortium
  • Loss of companionship suffered by family members, including spouses, children, step-children, parents, and siblings
  • Loss of guidance and mentoring suffered by the deceased person’s adopted or biological children

Each state has different rules governing wrongful death claims. Find your state’s wrongful death laws here.

Protect Your Wrongful Death Compensation

Protect your wrongful death suit from the start by hiring a personal injury attorney. Fatal car accident cases are complicated, time-sensitive, and expensive legal actions.

It’s difficult for surviving family members to know what to do after a senseless death. However, if you don’t file a lawsuit before the statute of limitations runs out, you’ll forfeit your right to seek compensation.

A good personal injury lawyer will fight low-ball offers and accusations of comparative fault to maximize your total compensation. Through the litigation discovery process, your attorney can uncover evidence of liability you would never be able to get to on your own.

Your attorney will find every source of compensation you may be entitled to, such as:

  • Multiple liability policies connected to the at-fault driver or vehicle owner
  • Multiple policies with uninsured or underinsured coverage
  • Dram-shop violations (for serving alcohol)
  • Product liability for defective car parts

Most attorneys offer a free consultation for car accident fatalities. There’s no cost to see how a wrongful death lawyer can help you and your family.

Fatal Car Accident Questions